President of the Kazakhstan Automobile Union, Anar Makasheva, stated at a Cabinet briefing that digital tools can assist Kazakhstani citizens in purchasing cars and outlined the challenges they encounter with trade-ins, according to the website infohub.kz.
"Cases have been identified where a consumer goes to a dealership to trade in their car, only to find out that the car is encumbered in another country. For instance, it may be under loan or lease abroad. Essentially, it cannot belong to our citizen, but they were unaware of this. When they bought the car, it was brought to them, purchased through social media or acquaintances, without checking its legal status. That is the core problem: our citizens lacked tools to safely verify a car before purchase to protect themselves," Makasheva said.
According to her, the technical passport contains "truncated information" – basic details like the VIN, license plate, and the owner's surname. "You can't check anything else. Under Kazakh law, the 'special notes' section includes encumbrance information if the car is under loan or lease in Kazakhstan. If the car comes from another country, that passport has nothing. So in terms of digitalization, Kazakhstan has introduced an electronic vehicle passport," the speaker added.
Another option is to check via the eGov portal. "You can enter the car's VIN and see its legal status. Currently, the database is not complete – only cars registered under the electronic passport are included. It will be updated, and eventually the entire vehicle fleet will be in the database, allowing consumers to see all information," Anar Makasheva summarized.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov emphasized the need to develop measures to prevent gray imports of cars into Kazakhstan.