Hialeah business supplies spare parts for Cuban autos

Posted on Wednesday, 10.03.12

Hialeah business supplies spare parts for Cuban autos

Drivers in Cuba who need to keep their cars running look to Hialeah for
hard-to-find spare parts.
By Juan Carlos Chavez
jcchavez@ElNuevoHerald.com

Fernando Sardiñas uses his weekends to work as an illegal taxi driver in
Havana. He does it in his loyal but beaten up Moskvich, a car from the
Soviet era that continues running thanks to the ingenuity and creativity
of its owner. But also thanks to the spare parts Sardiñas manages to
find through a friend who frequents a business on the other side of the
Florida Straits.

The business is located at about 229 miles away from Sardiñas' house —
in Hialeah. Here, at the epicenter of exile, a creative and able
entrepreneur of Russian-Cuban origin, Fabián Zakharov, implemented an
idea that not only has surpassed his expectations but has also opened up
wide-range, mid-term possibilities.

"It came to mind when we needed to get a part for one of those little
cars, a Lada 1600," said Zakharov, a 38-year-old electrical engineer. "I
found the part, and someone sent it to him in Cuba."

Zakharov lived in Russia with his parents during his early childhood.
Then he went back to the island and finally ended up setting up shop in
South Florida six years ago.

The beginning was complicated. Zakharov could have found a job
associated to his profession or perhaps pursue another career. However,
fate and the necessities of the Cuban auto-parts demands took him on a
different path.

"The most extravagant thing they have asked me is to bring a complete
Lada," Zakharov said from his shop at 552 Hialeah Drive. "But we work
with spare parts that can be adapted mainly to models of the 1990s and
the 2000s."

Zakharov acknowledges that the need for original spare parts for
automobiles in Cuba, like the classic Lada and Moskvich, has been
growing as the economy on the island has tightened.

In an attempt to downsize bureaucracy and improve productivity in state
resources, the Cuban government announced a labor reorganization. The
government also ordered the gradual layoff of hundreds of thousands of
workers nationwide, 10 percent of the workforce. Another million state
workers could be laid off in the next few years.

In the context of the economic adjustments, there are openings for
foreign capital as well as expanding self-employment in dozens of
categories.

Cuban-Americans who travel to Cuba to visit their families take spare
auto parts and other needed items in their luggage. Others hire
specialized agencies that can use a recently established direct and
regular maritime shipment of merchandise, a first in the 50 years of a
U.S. embargo against the island. The service allows transporting
merchandise that Washington categorizes as "humanitarian aid," which
includes medicine and clothes, electric appliances and furniture, even
construction material and automobile spare parts.

Zakharov has increased gradually the size and type of spare parts
available for his Cuban clientele and customers in Latin America and
Europe. His inventory includes Aleko parts, as well as cylinders, brakes
and complete kits to repair Lada engines for models 1600, 2105 and 2107,
among others.

"We have paid for three containers from Russia to Miami and are working
on the fourth one," Zakharov said. "We are analyzing opening another
shop in Miami because there is ample demand."

According to Cuban-American exiles and residents who send packages to
family and friends in Cuba, the auto-parts service provides an exchange
that favors Cuban families on both sides of the Florida Straits.

Luis García, who lives in Southwest Miami-Dade County, said that he is
renting various Lada cars in Havana. A couple of them recently needed
transmission maintenance, which required a kit of original spare parts.

"In Cuba, we talk about a scarcity of parts that, when you find them,
they charge the price they want," García said. In that context, he added
that a carburetor could cost $150 in Miami while in Havana it can easily
reach a price of $230.

Disney Serras started in this line of business three years ago. Serras
is the owner of MZParts Miami, 5706 W. Flagler St., which sells spare
parts for automobiles and motorcycles. He focuses on the sale of parts
for Lada, Jupiter and MZ, Java and Karpaty. His business is regularly
visited by clients who need a part right away.

"I started out with something really small," Serras said. "Our initial
inventory was $300 and now we handle more than $500,000. This should
give you an idea of the existing demand."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/10/03/3032361/hialeah-business-supplies-spare.html