Comfort minus: taxi companies are preparing a sale of used foreign cars
Taxi companies are preparing for the mass sale of used foreign cars. Their share in the fleets of carriers today exceeds 80%, and the entire volume is expected to be released to the market starting in March. Starting next year, businesses will be required to purchase only domestic cars and will not be able to lease and re-register old foreign cars. Despite the impressive discounts, cars that left in a taxi differ significantly from cars owned by a private individual, due to the longer mileage and not always high—quality repairs. The extent to which such used models will be in demand is described in the Izvestia article.
What are the threats to business
Industry representatives told Izvestia about the mass sales of foreign cars from taxi rental services expected from March 2026 during the International Eurasian Taxi Forum (MEFT). The reason was the requirements of the laws on localization of transport for taxis and on passenger transportation.
According to one law, starting from March next year, carriers will not be able to purchase foreign cars and re-register foreign cars already used in taxi companies in the transport register. And according to the second (FZ-580), it is forbidden to rent cars to drivers with the status of an individual entrepreneur (IE) without reissuing the permit, which undermines the current business model, market participants noted.
— Probably, when these laws were being prepared, the "pitfalls" of the industry and the specifics of the business of passenger transportation by taxi rental services were not taken into account, in which cars are often reissued for different drivers, — Arkady Lodyagin, CEO of Main Way Taxi, suggested in an interview with Izvestia.
With the entry into force of the law on the localization of taxi cars from March next year, only cars of domestic production can be entered into the register. Those vehicles that have already received permission before 2026, it would seem, can work, but if they are reissued to another carrier, their permission will be revoked, and it will be impossible to get a new one, a market participant believes.
Almost all taxi companies in large cities operate by renting cars to drivers, Victoria Zakharcheva, a representative of the Yellow Rhinoceros company, explained to Izvestia. Last year, many of them had the status of self-employed, but now drivers apply for a more profitable sole proprietorship status.
When renting a car to an individual entrepreneur, FZ-580 (the Taxi Law) requires its reissue in the transport register with the issuance of a new permit. And starting in March, this will no longer be possible for foreign cars. All that remains is to sell them and close the business, the carrier notes.
— Leasing foreign cars that are already operating in taxi companies are also prohibited from being re—registered in taxis, - Spartak Zabolotsky, an investor in Chocolate taxi, told Izvestia.
Since 2023, carriers have been actively purchasing foreign cars on lease for a period of three to four years. Some of them have the number of such cars approaching 80%. And in 2026-2027, the time is coming for their purchase and re-registration into ownership, the market participant notes.
According to Spartak Zabolotsky, it is possible to register cars as property, but it will no longer be possible to work for them in a taxi. They will not be included in the transport register due to insufficient localization, which means that it will not be possible to obtain permits for passenger transportation. These cars will have to be sold on the secondary market, the carrier believes.
According to the Chocolate taxi, 27 thousand imported cars were purchased in Moscow in 2023, 90% of them leased. They will need to be reissued next year.
As Gazprombank Avtolizing told Izvestia, it is not yet clear whether taxi companies will be able to use leasing cars in business that do not fall under the terms of the localization law after the lease expires and the owner changes.
— Now there is a standard that, when changing the owner of a taxi car, it is necessary to add the new owner to the register of carriers, — explained Dmitry Vissarionov, regional director of the sales department of this company.
If the law remains in its current form, about 20-25 thousand three-year-old foreign cars from leasing will not be able to work in taxis, Spartak Zabolotsky notes. Instead, you can only buy Lada or Moskvichi, which are guaranteed to meet the requirements of the law on taxi localization. Thus, these cars will be eliminated from fleets much more actively than promised, and the purchase of new vehicles will become an additional burden on carriers, the market participant notes.
How much will taxi cars cost in 2026
According to the National Agency for Industrial Information (NAPI), 791,000 vehicles currently have a valid work permit for taxis. In 2022-2024, 336 thousand cars received permission from this volume, and only 15% of the Lada model and 2% of the Moskvich.
According to CarCad leasing company, in addition to domestic brands, Haval, Geely, Belgee and Solaris brands are popular in taxis.
The agency "Autostat" estimated that when resold on the secondary market, a taxi car loses more than half of its value. If the Haval Jollion crossover was leased in 2022 for 2.22 million rubles, then in 2025 it is already worth 980 thousand rubles on the secondary market, which is 46% of the initial cost.
For comparison, the same three-year-old car from a private owner costs about 1.68 million rubles.
Izvestia sent inquiries to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, leasing companies and large taxi companies.
"Renting cars is used for the taxi business model in large cities, but taxis work differently in the regions," Maxim Shusharin, head of the Maxim service, told Izvestia. — There, drivers more often drive personal cars that they have long acquired ownership of.
However, if you need to purchase a replacement car, you will have to buy only a domestic model, the market participant notes.
AvtoVAZ showed a long-wheelbase Lada Aura designed for taxi driving at a price of about 2.7 million rubles at the MEFT. According to Autostat, the weighted average price of a new foreign car suitable for taxis has reached 3.17 million.
Cars from taxi companies have very high mileage with a calculation of up to 100 thousand km per year, which is why their technical condition is noticeably worse, auto expert Igor Morzharetto told Izvestia.
— They were driven by several drivers, and it is not fully clear how high-quality the maintenance was. But this product also finds its buyer," the expert believes.
According to taxi companies, Chinese engines and transmissions are not yet reliable enough to travel 250-300 thousand km without problems, said Peter Shkumatov, auto expert and coordinator of the Blue Bucket Society movement. For comparison, Korean cars can easily drive up to 500,000 km without major repairs, while Chinese cars have their first serious problems by the time they reach 150,000 km.
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