The FINANCIAL — The business of antique car rental for weddings and parties is becoming popular on the market, now competing with limousine rentals.
Georgia claims to have about 70 antique cars dating back as far as the year 1928. They are assembled manually. However the majority of them don’t have original parts and accessories. They’re just an imitation of old cars, in reality only the frameworks are factory produced.
Exclusive Auto is a new company and the only one renting out antique cars. The company showcases 16 cars. All of them are assembled manually and most cars are unique examples of their model in the whole Caucasus region. These 16 cars are the minority out of the whole Georgian antique car collection which are originals in every detail.
“We’re waiting for a boom in our business,” said Kakha Kharchilava, Director of ExAuto to The FINANCIAL. “Currently Georgian society is ready for high class service. Test-drives have showed that interest and demand is high. Limousines as the most common vehicle hired for weddings and parties has for a long time now seemed provincial. Our cars will be leaders of rentals. The prices are affordable, not dramatically high.”
The company now runs the website exauto.ge. Cars are parked at the former residence of Badri Patarkatsihvili, the Georgian billionaire who died in London in 2008. However company representatives say their business is not linked to Patarkatsishvili’s family.
Exauto owns the oldest car in Georgia, produced in 1928 in the USA. A Studebaker – a car with wooden spokes and manual window wipers. The current price of renting that for 5 hours is 650 GEL, after 5 hours – 50 GEL per hour. The price of service includes fuel supply and driver.
The company also offers an Excalibur produced in 1995 for the same price. Both of these cars are the only ones of their kind in the Caucasus. The 4 door Excalibur sedan in red is rare and outstanding not only in this region, but in the whole world.
“We have a Zil which was owned by the last President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev,” claims Kharchilava. “But the white Bentley Azur is the most elegant car in our fleet. Its rental price is 600 GEL for 5 hours and after that – 50 GEL per hour.”
Besides these 16 antique cars there are about 50 cars considered antique but their owners have equipped them with modern parts to make them suitable for modern daily life.
Generally a vehicle is antique when it isn’t produced anymore and has everything factory produced.
“If a vehicle is missing even one little factory produced detail, it isn’t really antique,” said Mevlud Meladze, President of the Georgian National Automobile Federation. “They then don’t have any value for car collectors. Most ordinary cars’ fans are their owners. Such vehicles can’t take part in official antique car shows and exhibitions.”
They aren’t as valuable as real antique cars, but restoring old cars and selling them has the potential to be a very profitable business. In Georgia no one is running such a business. There are only several cases of a car-lover repairing an antique car with modern parts and selling it for a greater price. Owners’ attitudes toward their cars differ from business attitudes.
“Friends aren’t sold,” Vazha Mindadze, owner of a BMW 321 produced in 1936, said to The FINANCIAL. “I sold two cars, the same ones of mine, one in America and another here in Georgia. I brought them from Grozno 30 years ago, repaired them and sold them for 70,000 USD, which is quite high compared to the price I bought them at. But still I can’t look at my cars as a business. I just love this job.”
Another antique Mercedes Benz car produced in 1935 is on sale now. Avto Kakhniashvili, owner of the car, also has an Opel Olympia produced in 1938 and a Moskvich produced in 1953. He has been restoring these cars with new parts and accessories for several years with his friends’ assistance. But now because of financial reasons he is having to sell the Mercedes.
“The price is quite low – 15,000 USD. This car means much more to me than that. But my family has material problems and so we have to sell it,” Kakhniashvili said.
“My Mercedes was used in the filming of several movies and videos. I rented it out for weddings but not for every couple. For me it’s more than just a car. I don’t rent it to people who can’t appreciate its value and need it just to show off in,” he added.
There are 28 antique military cars in Georgia. Merab Gujabidze is the owner of a Vilis produced in 1942, which is in the best condition of any other military car in Georgia. Gujabidze has been repairing the car for 15 years. Now the price of the vehicle is quite high – about 20,000 USD, but he isn’t going to sell it.
“Restoring and having an antique car is a culture and not a business for me,” said Gijabidze. “I have the status of knight as I’m a member of the Club of the American Vilises’ Knights. I’m really proud of my car. But many in Georgia can’t estimate it properly. There was an antique military car’s world exhibition in London and two cars from Georgia were invited. One was mine. But no one financed out trip and so sadly we couldn’t show our treasures to the world.”
Shalva Zamtaradze found a GAZ 67 in the yard of an old house in Tbilisi. Repairing the car cost about 4,000 USD and now its market price is 20-25,000 USD. But as with other antique car owners Zamtaradze isn’t going to sell it.
Service for antique cars in Georgia
There aren’t many antique cars in Georgia and most owners don’t consider it a business in spite of its potential. The importing of an antique vehicle is a simple process.
“We don’t have any age limit for importing vehicles. And especially if a car is antique, a problem won’t occur. The price of custom service is calculated according to the bulk of the engine, as in ordinary cars’ cases,” said Lasha Tsiklauri, Manager of Autobild.
Getting parts for antique vehicles isn’t problematic in Georgia. Parts of reequipped cars are available in the country without any problem as they are new. Parts for real antique cars cost a lot. But one can find them with very low prices or someone may even give them for free, antique car owners say.
“We provide our consumers with any type or age of car parts and accessories. If they exist in any country, we import them according to order. But it takes quite a lot of money and a long period of time,” said Avtandil Khutsishvili, Service Manager at Tegeta Motors.
What’s more problematic is antique car insurance. Exauto wanted to ensure all its cars, but couldn’t.
“We negotiated with almost all insurance companies. All of them except one refused to insure our cars, as they don’t have experts to value antique cars and set their prices. Only one company was ready to insure them, but the price was dramatically expensive,” said Kharchilava.
Representatives of insurance companies Aldagi BCI and GPI Holding said that they don’t have a special service for antique cars but if a case presented itself they wouldn’t reject it as they can calculate price and therefore properly insure an antique vehicle.
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