How the Falling Ruble is Resulting in Cheaper Cars from Russia

Devaluation of the ruble has created a market for car buyers from CIS nations.

With the Russian ruble continuing it’s slide, residents of CIS countries are seeing an opportunity. Instead of buying cars in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, they are taking advantage of favorable exchange rates by purchasing cars from Russia.

For example, at a current exchange rate of 63 rubles to a dollar a 2010 Lexus LX 570 is only $34,500. A similiar vehicle in the US costs $58,000 after factoring custom duties and transportation costs. Just 3 month ago, when the currency was hovering a little over 30 rubles to a dollar this vehicle would have cost over $70,000 in Russia.

Shipping Cars from Russia

Some car buyers drive the cars home themselves, others choose to ship cars via the rail road. When shipping on the rail, buyers are able to enjoy a very short transit time to their destinations. What makes buying cars from Russia even easier is the fact that some of the CIS countries are also a part of the Eurasian Customs Union. Meaning that they get to enjoy easy import & export as nations of the European Union do. There is also talk of a unified standard for vehicle passports being introduced in the future.

Read More About What You Need to Know About Shipping Cars to Russia

Since many are rushing to buy outside of the country, dealers at home are losing sales. In an attempt to continue to compete with autos from Russia, some dealerships are cutting the price of their own cars by up to 10,000 dollars. But this will only last as long as old supplies of cars are still being imported from Russia. Car prices are expected to grow once the supply of cars purchased at the old exchange rate are sold out.