Evgeniy Ustinov, General Director of AutoPapa, states that the pandemic has negatively impacted the auto business.
In an interview with BM.GE, the Head of Rustavi auto markets says that the company fell into a particularly difficult situation in spring after the state of emergency was announced.
According to him, foreign customers are still unable to come to Georgia and buy cars in person, so the company has quickly changed its sales method and technology.
"We were able to act quickly and completely change our sales technologies. After the state of emergency was lifted in spring, we formed a distance sales department - hired new staff and retrained them. For example, today it can be done through WhatsApp," said the CEO of AutoPapa.
The head of the Rustavi auto market says that today Ukrainian citizens can buy a car in Georgia without leaving home because the sales process is carried out 100% remotely - starting from selection and registration, ending with transportation and shipping to Ukraine.
"The main thing is reputation and trust: buyers want to know everything about the car. We provide complete information, but it is still difficult to pay even 10,000 USD for a car, which you have not seen or tested”, Ustinov said.
Ustinov notes, that the market enacted special benefits on parking lots amid the pandemic.
“We reduced parking fee 10 folds. If parking fee amounted to 30 GEL on week-ends, after March 23, the price was declined to 1 GEL, while from June 1, it became 3 GEL”, Ustinov said.
