BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 16
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
The coronavirus pandemic has dealt severe blow to car rental sector, which stopped working, Trend reports with reference to Georgian media.
According to the founder of Auto Plus Giorgi Arbolishvili, this business is focused on foreign tourists as local citizens rarely use this type of services.
“During the crisis, everyone is trying to spend less and buys only the most necessary. Car rental in our company costs from 80 lari ($26.20) to 130 lari ($42.58) per day depending on the model that is expensive for the locals. In previous years, locals more actively rented cars, but now everyone is trying to save,” he explains.
Arbolishvili noted that there are 15 cars in the company’s garage, and now they are inactive. Auto Plus stopped working with insurance companies as it has no money to pay for insurance.
“Despite this, we are not going to shut down, and we hope that soon international tourists start arriving, and we’ll be able to make money,” director of the Auto Plus firm said.
Giorgi Gachitashvili, the founder of Lux Car Rent, says that his company is on the verge of bankruptcy, since he is paying interest on loans that makes 6,000 lari ($1,965) per month amid a lack of work.
“Our firm has seven cars, and we had to sell two of them. We are not going to shut down but I can’t say what will happen in next three months. Our business has not yet received any assistance from the state. In the current situation, the biggest support for our business is to postpone the repayment of loans,” Gachitashvili pointed out.
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