One of Ashgabat correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that owners of light grey and beige cars are selling their vehicles amidst rumours that starting from next year these colour will be banned and only white cars will be permitted on the roads.
As has been previously reported, an official ban on driving vehicles of all colours except white and light silver or beige is currently valid. These colours are referred to by locals as “open” (açyk reꞑk).
Some drivers who own cars of “open” colours are now repainting their vehicles despite the fact that the service is quite expensive.The repainting fees have reached 7 to 10 thousand manats ($290-420 at the “black market” rate), whereas car maintenance shops charge even a higher fee to repaint off-road vehicles and executive class cars.
Nevertheless, car owners think that in case a ban is introduced, the сost of this service will further increase. Moreover, repainting will be time-consuming due to an increasing number of customers, which happened following ban on vehicles of dark colours.
Drivers are outraged not only by the ban of certain colours but also by the fact that they are not notified of new regulations by the authorities in advance and that their cars might be suddenly stopped and sent to a car impound.