MOSCOW, October 2 – Novosti, Natalia Dembinskaya. Prices for the most popular auto parts in Russia have more than doubled. According to market players, there are no global problems due to the departure of European manufacturers. However, there is a severe shortage of windshields, body parts, engines and consumables – oil and fuel filters. Not everything can be imported through parallel imports. Dealers, car services and experts spoke about the situation with components and what to expect next.
Depending on the brand of car, spare parts have risen in price by 35-65 percent since January. This is a consequence of the tense geopolitical situation, and the departure of European manufacturers, and the instability of the exchange rate, and a significant complication of logistics.
“In connection with the sanctions, deliveries are organized by detours. Transportation costs have increased, and this is superimposed on an increase in the cost due to the growth of raw material prices,” says Danil Solovyov, co-founder of the Fit Service international network of car services.
According to estimates by insurers, the average price of spare parts for passenger cars increased by 32 percent. In the top are components for Ford, Subaru, Suzuki, Renault, Audi, Mazda, Volvo. So, according to one of the largest Russian car service networks, engine oil for mass Kia Rio and Hyundai Solaris added 40 percent, front and rear pads – 65. Air filter for BMW – 65, synthetic engine oil – 40.
Glasses, engines, filters
The premium segment has suffered even more as parallel imports are dominated by inexpensive models.
As Sergey Demidov, a representative of the “Renaissance insurance” company, said, there are still problems with spare parts for BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, Lexus, GM, Porsche. In short supply, first of all, body parts, which in some cases have risen in price by 50 percent.
“The issue with consumables was resolved quite quickly, including at the expense of analogues. It is more difficult with body parts, they are not so profitable to bring. The cost of windshields reached 500 thousand, a million rubles. car service “Avtodom Altufievo”
The service for automation of auto-disassembly and analysis of the market of spare parts “Stock Pro” confirmed: there are difficulties with original spare parts of premium German brands – Mercedes, BWM, Audi, Porsche. “Especially with body parts, windshields, complex components (gearboxes, engines, differentials). These components are either very difficult to find, or prices have increased five to ten times. For example, a windshield for Mercedes crossovers costs 300-500 thousand rubles,” said Artem Potekhin, CEO of the service.
“It is clear that the owners of BMW, Mercedes or Jaguar will be temporarily left without spare parts, because they will be the last to think about: there are fewer of them than the rest. It will take six to eight months,” Danil Solovyov believes.
But there is also a deficit in the budget segment. So, Fit Service said that there are no windshields, front bumpers and shock absorber struts for Toyota Camry. “Even in online stores, it’s basically impossible to get the original now. They buy used ones from private traders,” the company explained. According to market experts, the most scarce are still oil and fuel filters required for scheduled maintenance.
Outages with spare parts have affected the cost of repairs and maintenance. So, maintenance at an authorized dealer is now 50-100 percent more expensive.
Parallel import started working at the end of May. Most distributors are just mastering this scheme and mainly bring non-original products from China, Taiwan, South Korea, India, and Turkey.
“There are practically no originals on the market. For example, our share of sales of spare parts packed in a car manufacturer’s box is eight to nine percent. The rest is analogues,” Fit Service noted.
But experts say that the quality is often even higher than the original. “Customers after the end of the warranty service can use very good components without overpaying much,” emphasizes Dmitry Polunin, general director of auto design studio Larte Design.
However, more and more counterfeit. As Gleb Lubennikov, CEO of the Tencar cloud service, points out, the market was littered with fakes even before the sanctions. And now their deposits from warehouses went to store shelves.
According to Aleksey Gulyaev, Deputy General Director for Service at AG Avilon, it is better for car owners to contact large companies that know exactly the origin of the parts.
However, the auto business has many questions about the scheme of parallel imports.
“Only the brands of car manufacturers were included in the list of allowed ones, and this is a small share of the spare parts market. They have entire groups of subsidiaries. In addition, only manufacturers also issue certificates,” Artem Potekhin from Stoke Pro notes. Roman Timashov from Avtodom Group of Companies adds that within the framework of parallel imports, due to the threat of sanctions, it is impossible to bring products with a unique VIN number. For example, electronic components or an engine block.
Therefore, a new trend has arisen: consumers are offered second-hand original spare parts. Often this is the only way out in case of major breakdowns. Insurers also began to use body parts for hull repair. “Used vehicles are very actively supplied, they even import cars for parsing,” said Stoke Pro.
According to market participants, by the end of the year, components may rise in price by another 15 percent. The cost of services will also increase by 10-15. Experts do not rule out that the shortage of the most popular spare parts can be overcome in a few months.
