The global crisis has had a devastating impact on car sales in Russia and a huge fleet of car transporters is now stuck outside Moscow. The dealer the consignment is intended for is refusing to accept the vehicles saying there is no room to store 500 cars
The new cars are bound for Renault showrooms in the city of Tula 200km south of Moscow. The truck drivers have already been there from six to ten days without any food or having a place to sleep at night except for their uncomfortable cabins. They are not receiving any help from the local authorities and the first hot food they got was delivered by volunteers. The truck drivers can’t even afford to keep their engines going because they won’t be paid by their companies for the diesel fuel used. So they are forced to shiver away in their cabins at night. The reason for the problem is that the car sales have fallen by 50 per cent in October alone because of the credit crunch. Almost half of the cars in Russia are bought on credit, and lenders have stopped granting car loans because of the global financial crisis.