Experts of the Institute of Car Market Research together with representatives of the NGO "Auto Euro Power" discussed live how the law on legalization of so-called "Eurobills" works and further prospects of the Ukrainian car market.
According to the head of the Institute of Car Market Research Stanislav Buchatsky, a small part of the owners of cars with foreign registration — about 50 thousand — will take advantage of the special conditions of customs clearance. "Eurobonds" that do not make sense or do not want to be cleared through customs, in theory, can be taken abroad by paying UAH 8,500 "voluntary contribution" (otherwise — a fine of 170 thousand hryvnias).
According to experts, a selective approach to solving the problem of "Eurobills" is the way to nowhere. Preference was given to those who violated the law in one way or another. It can happen that on the same day at the same customs post for customs clearance of a car that was previously a "Euro", the owner will pay 1 thousand dollars, and the owner of the same recently officially imported car — 5 thousand dollars.
The reason for the appearance of "Eurobills" — the imperfection of the legislation and low purchasing power of Ukrainians. 60% of the Ukrainian car market are cars worth from 3 to 10 thousand dollars. This is the money for which most Ukrainians can buy a car. As there are not enough funds for new cars from the showroom, and in Ukraine there is virtually no national car manufacturer, no available lending programs or government programs to buy new cars, the demand for cars is met by importing used cars from abroad. Thus, it is possible to replace old non-ecological cars with newer used ones, but with a higher ecological standard.
Member of the Board of the Institute of Car Market Research, Director of WEST AUTO HUB Yulia Rykovska noted that the automotive business is important for certainty, predictability and common rules for all. In her opinion, the transfer of Eurobills to the legal channel is, in general, the right step, but the approach should be comprehensive and systematic. Regarding the import of vehicles from abroad, here, according to the representative of the car business, there are many comments on the procedure for determining the customs value. Directional taxes depend on this figure, so there are huge corruption risks, over-bureaucratization of processes, huge influence of the human factor. Businesses would like most procedures to be automated.
There are also many issues to the culture of car sales. For example, today in Ukraine there is no responsibility for twisting the mileage, nowhere is recorded the history of the vehicle. All this contributes to fraud. I would like the Ukrainian car market to become civilized and European, says Yulia Rykovska.
Mykhailo Katruk, co-founder of Affordable Car, mentioned on the air about the experiment with customs clearance of Ukrainian Zaporozhets in the European Union, and stressed that nothing has changed in Poland since then. There are no restrictions on the import of used cars from abroad, and for customs clearance of vehicles from third countries there still have to pay the same 30-40% of their value.
Since Polandʼs accession to the European Union, the import of used cars from abroad in this country has cut several times, said Stanislaw Buchatsky. About a million used cars are imported to Poland every year. In Ukraine today, this figure is about 430 thousand used cars. The level of motorization in Ukraine is about 250 cars per 1,000 people. In the European Union — about 600 cars per 100 people. Therefore, the potential for growth in the number of cars in Ukraine is significant.
More in the video.
- 14:17 — how many "Eurobills" are left in Ukraine
- 17:18 — what to do with "Eurobonds", which do not make sense to clear customs
- 20:24 — how the preferential customs clearance of "Eurobills" affects the car business and that it "hurts"
- 26:44 — how to solve the problem of fraud with "twists" of the run
- 34:00 — why a selective approach to solving the problem of "Eurobills" — the road to nowhere
- 35:28 — why Ukrainians buy used cars from Europe, instead of new cars from salon
- 37:50 — what has changed since the customs clearance of Mykola Zaporozhets in Poland in 2017
- 43:44 — why not be afraid of the "invasion" of used cars from abroad
- 44:37 — what can replace old non-environmentally friendly cars
- 47:41 — why in Ukraine automobile factories of world brands donʼt work, and in a grain-knot way make cars from Russia
