Hi, thanks for all your questions, I'll gladly answer them.
After the Soviet Union broke things started to look better, Toyota dealers came here, there's still a shop where they fix cars, but I think the real dealers left, but they left the sign which is still there, so ordering parts from them would be the same as ordering them myself. Although there is some kind of dealership that sells new cars, I think they're based in Dubai and have a branch here. I don't hink they service older cars.
Kazakhstan, our neighbour country is better developed and they have official dealers and better prices for parts. The closest city from me would be about 100 miles, BUT it takes up to 6 hours to get across the border..
I live in the capital, Tashkent, which is pretty big, 2.5 mil people.
There are plenty auto stores but they all have specific parts. Most brands we have here are Russian brands like Lada (which I also have), Moskvich and Volga (VAZ), there is a Korean/American plant now Daewoo/Chevrolet, and bits and peices of everything else, old Japanese and German cars.
The way we usually get parts that are not available in stores (and it seems like nobody in the city has parts for 3VZ-E in store..) is by ordering them through the store, you give them the description of what you need, your VIN, and they tell you APROXIMATE price, but you never know it exactly till the parts arrive, because it has to do with different "gifts" for customs guys and things like that. Parts usually come from Dubai.
My Runner I found at the car market. Like I said earlier, in early 90's, people used to go to Germany and bring cars from there. Back then customs fees were low enough. Now to bring in a $5000 car you have to pay the government another $7500 approximately. Depends on the year and horse power. It's crasy, It started in 1993 I think. It has straight connection with the Daewoo plant we have here. Government is trying to make people buy local cars therfore they basically closed the borders for foreign cars. But this year something really strange is happening, the car that used to cost $10000 (a new Daewoo Nexia) is now about $16000, that's in like six months. Don't know what it has to do with. Lots of corruption here.
Anyway, that's how and when my Runner ended up in Uzbekistan. I think I even saw it on the streets when I was graduating from my high school.
And, yes, I can still order parts and I'm sure the company will ship here, but it becomes very very expensive shipping, what I usually do is ask someone who is in the States and going to go to Uzbekistan, to order and buy it for me with their credit card (we still don't have credit cards here, that's the difficult part, we are just starting to go into Webmoney, just like Paypal) and I pay them cash, or if I go to the States (I've been there twice now) I buy them myself. With specific parts like the hubs, I could do that. And the guys at our local stores.., I don't think they will understand what I need unless the cars has it as the standard feature, this aftermarket/upgrade stuff is hard for them to understand.
Hope you find it interesting and/or useful (or at least entertaining).. Thanks,
Take care.
