Is it worth importing a car from Germany to Russia?

This article is dated as shown. Laws, fees and prices have changed since then. Check the figures before you rely on them.

This article was first published on 17.05.2018 and compares the costs of buying and importing cars at that time. Today, any possible delivery to Russia first requires a separate check of the current export and sanctions restrictions. The old calculation is not a permission to carry out a deal.

Analysing the costs

But can the purchase be worthwhile once you have to include your own spending on:

• payment for the car sourcing service;
• the price of the vehicle, taking into account the year of manufacture, equipment and condition;
• the cost of bringing the car from Germany to Russia: this is quite expensive at present;
• state fees and customs clearance, and the installation of GLONASS.

The 2018 article discussed ERA-GLONASS and eCall. The presence of eCall does not confirm that a car meets the requirements for import into Russia and does not lift export restrictions. The current conditions for a specific car and recipient are checked separately.

Cars up to 3 years old.

Prices, exchange rate, costs and the conclusion about profitability refer to the calculation of 17.05.2018. The current import regime and recycling fee are not confirmed by this example. From the article of 17.05.2018: “The list of costs is considerable, and today it is still cheaper to buy a car in Russia. For example, in Russia a BMW 640d xDrive 3rd series (10800 km, 2017) costs 4,579,000 roubles, while in Germany a BMW 640d xDrive 3rd series (15300 km, 2017) costs 3,989,064 roubles. Customs clearance alone for this car in Russia will come to 1,903,671 roubles. In total, without sourcing, delivery and other expenses, such a car will cost 5.8 million roubles. Do the maths yourself.”

Cars from 3 to 5 years old.

From the article of 17.05.2018: “Let us look at a car aged 3 to 5 years. As an example I took a 2015 Audi A8 with under 100,000 km. Across the whole of Russia the choice is rather thin, only 11 cars, and there is no guarantee they are all in excellent condition. In Germany there were 131 options at the time of the search. I chose one of the very first options from an official dealer. They are usually a bit more expensive, but the condition should also be better. The price of the 2015 car in Germany with 40,000 km is 33,500 euros NET. I highlighted the word NET for a reason, see here what it means. The price of a customs-cleared 2015 car in Russia from an official dealer with a declared mileage of 100,000 km is 3,200,000 roubles (43,600 euros). If we buy the Audi A8 in Germany, what do we gain? Yes, of course, the mileage, a German car with no mileage in the CIS, that is certainly worth a lot. But let us look further. For this A8 we need to pay customs of 9,700 euros + transport + services. If we ship it by car transporter, roughly around 1500 euros per car. Collecting it yourself depends on air fares at the time of purchase, and let us not be stingy, we are going to Germany after all and would like to buy a few souvenirs and drink some German beer +1000: 1300 euros. Car purchase assistance services + 300: 800 euros depending on who is helping you.”

From the article of 17.05.2018: “Shall we add it up? It is plain to see that we have already gone over the budget of the Russian car's price. And we have not yet dealt with GLONASS and the other costs for various certificates. Of course the car's mileage is 60,000 km lower, and it is clear that it will be in much better shape. But our experience shows that people do not want to overpay and deal with transport, customs and all the paperwork, and on top of that pay around 1 MILLION extra for the same car.”

Customs formalities

From the article of 17.05.2018: “The question of how much customs clearance for a car from Germany to Russia costs is one of the main ones when buying. The cost varies from 1.5 to 5.7 euros per 1 cm3, depending on the price of the car itself, the engine capacity and the age of the car. Besides the question of how much it costs to clear a car through customs in Russia, bear in mind that customs clearance requires documents:”

• a passenger customs declaration;
• copies of the vehicle documents;
• a guarantee certificate and a receipt from the customs inspector.

When it comes to paperwork, once again it is simpler and cheaper at home.

How to bring a car from Germany to Russia

From the article of 17.05.2018: “Transport also involves considerable expense. These days it is not really worthwhile to bring cars over from Europe. The total cost depends on the delivery method:”

• Collecting the car yourself. This also requires documents that cost money:

• a passport for foreign travel;
• an air ticket;
• insurance for the stay in Germany;
• a Schengen visa.

This adds up to a tidy sum, not counting accommodation and meals.

• Transport by car transporter. You pay a fixed amount for a place on the transporter under a sales contract.
• Delivery in a container. Despite the more comfortable transport conditions for the car, this option is quite expensive and does not pay off, except for high-value or rare cars.

To decide whether to bring a car from Germany to Russia, analyse the market carefully. The price difference will have to be spent on customs duty, transport and other additional services. And although used cars from Germany show less wear than used cars in Russia with similar mileage, thanks to the quality of European roads, it is much easier to inspect a vehicle for sale in person in your own country than abroad. Not to mention that you will also end up overpaying once you compare prices and the other costs.

My personal opinion: until the euro to rouble exchange rate settles at around 55 roubles per euro, it only makes sense to bring exclusive cars to Russia that simply do not exist there. As long as the euro hovers around 70 roubles per euro, buying a car in Europe or America is a rather questionable undertaking. And note that this is written by someone who benefits from people ordering cars from Germany. Think about that. Our goal is not to make money, but to buy people a quality car!

Kind regards, Denis Rem

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