Average age of cars imported into Ukraine grows by 2.5 times – OpenDataBot

OpenDataBot, a business data registration monitoring service, says Ukraine in 2019-2021 cleared 1,179,167 imported cars, of which more than half (604,319 cars) were vehicles over 10 years old.

Read alsoRada to vote for customs clearance worth EUR 1,000 of cars with foreign registration – lawmaker"According to statistics, in 2016-2018, the registration of imported cars did not exceed 220,000 units per year, while their average age did not reach five years. Later, both indicators soared by 2-2.5 times: 563,087 cars were cleared in 2019, some 422,544 in 2020, and 193,536 in the first quarter of 2021. The average age of such cars was from nine to 11 years," OpenDataBot's press service said, referring to the Unified State Register of Vehicles.

The quantitative "leap" occurred due to the fact that laws were passed in 2018 that made customs clearance cheaper, establishing large fines for violating its terms. The laws have stimulated the owners of the so-called 'evrobliakhy' [cars with foreign registration plates] to replace semi-legal foreign plates with Ukrainian ones. At the same time, many of them ignored the new tariffs, hoping that the cost of customs clearance woul eventually be significantly cut or canceled altogether.

"Draft laws Nos. 4643-D and 4644-D passed by the Verkhovna Rada [Ukraine's parliament], which have recently been enacted by the president, stipulate another privilege for customs clearance of cars imported into the country before the end of 2020. A new wave of 'evrobliakhy' registrations is expected, but so far we can only guess what their total number will be," the report said.

Background

On April 15, the Verkhovna Rada passed a bill in the second reading and as a whole to amend the Tax Code regarding customs clearance of cars with foreign registration plates, which proposes a new formula for customs clearance of vehicles imported before 2021.