Several thousand Belarusians lost their earnings and side jobs on used "Beemers"
Russia's increase in recycling fee tariffs undermined the business of many Belarusians who were involved in reselling used Western cars to Russia. BMW was especially popular until December 2025. This was written by Sergey Tselikov, editor of "Autostat", in his Telegram channel, as noted by the publication "Belarusy i rynok".
Illustrative photo. Photo: autoplius.lt
As noted, the maximum volume of imported used passenger cars through Belarus fell on 2023-2024. Then import volumes amounted to 45.4 and 45.9 thousand, respectively. However, in 2025, import volumes more than halved (—58%) to 19.1 thousand units.
Ahead of the change in recycling fee tariffs (from December 1, 2025), a monthly surge was recorded (4079 units), writes the expert. Subsequently, in December, imports decreased almost 4-fold (to 1088 units), and in January, only 613 used cars entered the Russian market from Belarus.
Sergey Tselikov also drew attention to the fact that the structure of car imports changed radically. Before December 1, cars with engines over 160 horsepower accounted for almost two-thirds of imports (63.1%), while after December 1, they accounted for just over a quarter (26.2%).
Before the introduction of the preferential recycling fee threshold, every fifth used car imported through Belarus was a BMW (20.4%). Volkswagen (7.4%) and Chevrolet (7%) followed significantly behind in second place. Mercedes-Benz (6.8%) and Audi (6.7%) were not far behind.
And after December 1, the Bavarian concern's share halved (11.3%). Volkswagen emerged as the leader (12.1%), and Peugeot unexpectedly rose to third position (9.4%). Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz held onto 4th position (7.2%), and Audi didn't even make it into the top ten.
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