Alexander wan2ted EvsinIn June 2025 a tourist on their first visit to Tbilisi asked the city's Reddit community why so many cars on the streets had no bumper. The question has 128 votes and 36 comments. The answer with the most votes was this one:
Most of the cars come from the secondary market of USA. Many of them are damaged and currently undergoing repairs. Sometimes, people drive these cars while they are still missing parts.
a Reddit user, June 2025
Not every damaged car gets repaired. Some are taken apart and sold piece by piece. In Tbilisi the places that trade in these parts are called "dashlilebi" (დაშლილები). Translated from Georgian, the word means "the dismantled ones".
This article explains where the cars for dismantling in Georgia come from, which models are taken apart most often, how the dismantling yards work, where people buy used parts and what changes for sellers and buyers in 2026.
Where the cars for dismantling come from
According to the National Statistics Office of Georgia, 240,359 passenger cars were imported into the country in 2025. Of these, 189,839 came from the United States — almost four cars out of five.
Damaged cars from the US have been shipped to Georgia since 2006. Most of them are sold by American insurance companies. After a crash, a flood or a theft, the insurer pays the owner compensation and puts the car up for auction. According to TBC Capital analyst Andro Tvaliashvili, Georgia earns most from these cars by repairing them. He told Investor.ge:
The major value-add Georgia has to offer is the renewal and servicing of these vehicles.
Andro Tvaliashvili, TBC Capital, as quoted by Georgia Today, February 2023
Some of the repaired cars stay in the country and some are sold abroad. In 2025, 111,265 passenger cars were exported from Georgia. The country has no car industry of its own, so all of these exports are resales of imported cars. There is more on this in the article on the car market in Rustavi.
An imported car has to be either cleared through customs or taken out of the country. A car that has not been cleared cannot be sold for parts. So what happens if someone dismantles a car that was never cleared? In April 2022 the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance arrested two people. According to the investigation, in 2019–2021 they imported 325 cars, did not clear them through customs, took them apart and sold the parts. Investigators estimated the damage to the budget at 1,474,921 GEL. The accused faced 11 to 15 years in prison, the online newspaper Netgazeti reported.
Which cars are dismantled
The classifieds site myparts.ge has a separate section for cars sold for parts. On 23 September 2026 it held 3,589 listings from 1,045 sellers. 77% of the listings were from Tbilisi and 156 were from Kutaisi.
The chart shows the most common makes among cars for dismantling.
Listings of cars for dismantling by make, 23 September 2026. Data: myparts.ge
Among models, the Toyota Camry has the most listings — 96. Next come the Toyota RAV4 with 80, the BMW X5 with 60, the Hyundai Elantra with 53 and the Tesla Model 3 with 47. The Ford Escape and the Subaru Outback have 46 listings each, the Hyundai Sonata 45 and the Toyota Prius 42.
The cars being dismantled are younger than the cars on Georgian roads. Half of them were built in 2018 or later, and 38% in 2020 or later. Only 415 of the 3,589 were built before 2010. Among the cars registered in the country, more than 80% are over ten years old. There is more on this in the article on what cars drive in Georgia.
How dismantling yards work in Georgia
The legal route of a car to the dismantling yard has five steps. It has to be bought, cleared through customs, registered, deregistered and only then taken apart. This is how Aleksi Noniadze, founder of the Georgian Car Importers Association, described the procedure on air at Commersant in May 2023. For parts sellers, he said, the car itself is only raw material:
იმ იმპორტიორებისთვის, რომლებიც მეორადი ავტონაწილების ბაზარზე მუშაობენ, ავტომობილი არის შუალედური პროდუქტი, საბოლოო პროდუქტი არის ავტონაწილები.
For importers working in the used car parts market, the car is an intermediate product, and the final product is the car parts.
Aleksi Noniadze, Georgian Car Importers Association, Commersant, May 2023
A whole car is cleared through customs as a car, with excise duty. To import it under the customs code for parts, the car is cut up while still abroad. According to Noniadze, this costs up to 400–600 US dollars per car. The association proposed letting importers mark in the declaration that a car is going to be dismantled and pay VAT on it, as on parts, instead of excise duty. By its estimate, this would save about 1,000 GEL per car.
Cars cut up abroad can be seen at the yards themselves. In March 2026 the author of the Russian-language YouTube channel "Avto iz SShA, Avto iz Gruzii i OAE" ("Cars from the USA, Georgia and the UAE") showed them at one of the Tbilisi yards. He imports cars from the US himself:
Они не завозятся как целая машина. Они проходят по документам как запчасти.
They are not brought in as a whole car. On paper they go through as parts.
the "Avto iz SShA, Avto iz Gruzii i OAE" channel, March 2026
Sellers at the yards specialise in particular makes. The same video from the "Avto iz SShA, Avto iz Gruzii i OAE" channel shows a stall that dismantles only Subarus and a separate one for older Nissans. In May 2023 the Eliava market was filmed by Dmitry, author of the YouTube channel BillAvto. His team helps people buy cars in Georgia and the US. According to Dmitry, a whole row is given over to the Toyota Camry, while only two sellers deal in Hyundai Elantra parts. He had to search the whole city for one small Elantra part.
He showed prices on his own purchases for a 2019 Hyundai Elantra. A non-original door made in Taiwan cost 400 GEL, an original one 800 GEL and a rear quarter panel 1,000 GEL. The seller was paid about 100 GEL more to cut the panel out of the body. The video shows how it is done: the spot welds are drilled out along the edge of the panel, and where needed it is cut with an angle grinder.
Body parts make up the largest share of what is on offer. On myparts.ge almost half of the listings for used parts are body parts: 20,081 of 44,354. Engine parts have 6,014 listings, and suspension and steering parts 4,925. What does not sell is not kept at the yards. According to the author of the "Avto iz SShA, Avto iz Gruzii i OAE" channel, small parts are thrown away and old cars on the lot go for scrap: "There used to be piles here, but they've cleared it all out. All the cars were taken away and handed in for scrap."
In 2026 there are fewer cars to dismantle. "Very few cars," says the author of the same channel in the March video. He does not name the reasons. According to the National Statistics Office, 9.6% fewer passenger cars were imported into Georgia in January–July 2026 than in the same months of 2025.
Where to buy used parts
Used parts are sold at the Eliava market in Tbilisi's Didube district, by Agladze and Khosharauli streets. The market opened in 1995 and covers 15 hectares on the left bank of the Mtkvari. Besides car parts, it sells building materials, tools and plumbing supplies. One of the market's owners, Aleko Kakhiani, estimated that about 15,000 people work at and around the market every day. Chai Khana reported this in 2019.
There are dismantling yards in other parts of Tbilisi too: in Lower Isani, on Peikrebi Street and in Dighomi next to the car market. Since 2008, members of the Georgian forum forum.ge have been posting sellers' addresses and phone numbers in a thread called "Used car parts, the so-called dashlilebi". It runs to 147 pages. It also has complaints about prices:
არაადეკვატური ფასები აქვთ ტიპებს, 400 ლარს ამორტიზატორში მეუბნებიან და ახალი ღირს 400 ჩამოტანიან ყველაფრიანა და რა მუღამიაქ ვერ ვხვდები :/ ბამპერის სამაგრები ვაფშე ჩამოტანაზე ძვირი
The prices are unreasonable: they ask 400 GEL for a shock absorber, and a new one costs the same 400 with delivery. I don't see the point. Bumper brackets cost more than the same ones shipped from abroad.
a forum.ge member on parts for a Mitsubishi Lancer, June 2019
In July 2025 a traveller looking for parts for a Skoda Octavia got this answer in the Reddit community:
its a bunch of no name stores selling scrap parts, u will need to find store that sell skoda parts and see if they have what u need. ask around for directions
a Reddit user, July 2025
People also look for parts online. On 23 September 2026 myparts.ge had 129,431 listings for car parts, 44,354 of them for used parts. The search has a separate "with warranty" filter.
What changes for dismantling yards in 2026
Tbilisi adopted rules for trading in parts of end-of-life vehicles in 2020, but they only took effect in 2026.
On 28 February 2020 the Tbilisi City Council, the Sakrebulo, passed resolution No. 54-35. It covers used tyres, scrap metal, end-of-life vehicles and their parts, and flammable and dust-producing materials. Selling them is banned in residential, recreational, transport and some other zones of the city. Where trade is allowed, it may only take place in a building with walls and a roof or on a fenced site with a hard surface. The purpose is to keep substances leaking from cars and parts out of the soil. This is how the portal droa.ge summarises the resolution.
The start date was postponed several times: first to 1 January 2024, then to 2025. In November 2024 Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze pushed it back one more year, to 1 January 2026. He said the sellers were not ready for the new requirements. The news agency Accent News reported this.
In November 2025 the municipal inspectorate confirmed to the outlet BPN that the rules would take effect on 1 January 2026. The Eliava market is in a zone where trade is allowed. It will stay where it is, but its sellers have to meet the requirements of the resolution. According to the inspectorate, the rules cover more than 14 large sites. Up to 10,000 small and more than 1,500 medium-sized businesses work there, BPN reports.
One of the markets may disappear altogether. In March 2026 the company Real Investi submitted for environmental review a project for a residential district on the site of the "Isani dashlilebi" market at 71 Ketevan Tsamebuli Avenue. The plot covers 17.5 hectares. Leases with some of the tenants have already ended, and the rest will be terminated in stages. The northern part of the market, by Ketevan Dedopali Avenue, will be cleared last, Commersant reported.
Fines for breaking these rules are set out in Article 152⁴ of the Code of Administrative Offences. On 1 January 2026 they rose fivefold. Before that, the fines ranged from 500 to 6,000 GEL, the news agency Novosti-Gruzia reported. The table shows the fines in force now.
| Offence | Individual | Company |
|---|---|---|
| Trading where it is banned | 2,500 GEL | 5,000 GEL |
| The same, repeated | 5,000 GEL | 15,000 GEL |
| The same, in a cultural heritage protection zone | 5,000 GEL | 10,000 GEL |
| The same, in a cultural heritage protection zone, repeated | 10,000 GEL | 30,000 GEL |
| Breaking storage and sale rules at a permitted site | 1,000 GEL | 2,500 GEL |
| The same, repeated | 2,500 GEL | 5,000 GEL |
For now these fines apply only in Tbilisi. From 1 October 2026 they will apply in every municipality in the country. This is provided for by Law No. 1523 of 28 April 2026. The places where trade is allowed are set by each municipality's Sakrebulo.
Georgia still has no procedure for recycling the end-of-life vehicles themselves. Under the Waste Management Code, technical regulations have been adopted for batteries, tyres, electronics and waste oils, but not yet for end-of-life vehicles. In November 2025 the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture discussed such a regulation with car importers for the first time. Deputy Minister Solomon Pavliashvili called the handling of end-of-life vehicles "one of the challenges". He promised to agree the regulation with business before it is adopted. The ministry's press service reported this.
Buyers' rights for used parts
The general rules for purchases in Georgia are set by the Law on Consumer Rights Protection, in force since 1 June 2022. A buyer can make a quality claim about a new item within two years. If a defect is found in the first six months, it is the seller who has to prove it was not there at the time of sale.
The two-year period does not apply to second-hand goods. Under Article 20 of the law, the seller's liability in this case depends on what the parties agree.
A part bought at a distance, for example online with delivery, or away from the shop's premises can be returned within 14 days without giving a reason. This right does not apply to purchases made in a shop.
FAQ
What are "dashlilebi"? That is what dismantling yards and shops selling parts from dismantled cars are called in Georgia. The word comes from the Georgian "dashlili", which means "dismantled".
Where can I buy a used car part in Tbilisi? At the Eliava market in Didube, in Lower Isani, on Peikrebi Street and in Dighomi next to the car market. Online, people search for parts on myparts.ge, which has more than 44,000 listings for used parts.
Why do so many cars in Tbilisi have no bumper? Almost four out of five passenger cars brought into Georgia come from the US, mostly from insurance auctions that sell cars after crashes. Some of them are driven before the repairs are finished.
Do used car parts come with a warranty? Only if you agree on it with the seller. The two-year period for claims does not apply to second-hand goods. On myparts.ge, listings with a warranty can be found with a separate filter.
Can I return a part bought online? Yes, within 14 calendar days and without giving a reason. The law provides this right for distance purchases. It does not apply to purchases made in a shop.
What is the fine for selling parts in a place where it is not allowed? 2,500 GEL for an individual and 5,000 GEL for a company; for a repeat offence, 5,000 and 15,000 GEL. From 1 October 2026 these fines will apply across Georgia, not only in Tbilisi.
How are end-of-life cars recycled in Georgia? There is no single procedure yet. The technical regulation on recycling end-of-life vehicles has not been adopted; the Ministry of Environmental Protection began discussing it with importers in November 2025.
There is no need to collect the car from an office: delivery brings it anywhere in Tbilisi in about half an hour and picks it up the same way. You can choose a model in the fleet.
Write to the concierge on WhatsApp or Telegram at +995 557 437 034 or to concierge@autohub.ge, give the model and the dates, and the documents and deposit will be checked before the car is delivered.
Cover photo: a car without a front bumper in Gori, May 2018. Tiia Monto, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
