How much does a good UAZ 469 or UAZ 452 cost?

Uaz prices vary widely, from under €1000 to over €20 000. Let us take a closer look and see what we can buy and at what prices.

Firstly, we have to admit, that the market of UAZ 469 or UAZ 452 is weird. The chances of buying a fully original specimen are low… There are a few reasons for that.

Most of UAZ 469 and 452 cars in Poland and the rest of Warsaw Pact were bought either by their Armies, or other uniformed services. These vehicles were modified in the factory to meet procurer’s requirements. And these varied greatly – from simple troop carriers to specialized versions like command cars, NBC reconnaissance vehicles – each had different special equipment, accessories and looks.

At least these institutions kept their UAZ 469 and 452 in a fairly original condition. Although often they used whatever was available in their warehouse to fix damage parts or body panels. So it is not unusual to see an UAZ 469 from 1976 with a bonnet introduced in 1985 and 1987 side windows. Not a big problem, but if you’d like to own an UAZ with all body parts matching its manufacturing year, this might mean quite a lot of work for you.

Private owners are a completely different bunch,

Since UAZ cars were called “gniotsa, nielamiotsa” (literally meaning “bending, but not breaking”) and newer models like UAZ Hunter are still available, especially in the 90s and early 2000s, no one considered them as classics. So they were plainly repaired with a hammer, two spanners a piece of a wire and straw baler string.

These were used and abused for many years, performing murderous work in agricultural and forestry business. Weird engine conversions, including battered 1970s Mercedes engines, or even motors from tractors (sic!) can be found in these cars. Guess how good are they for normal use nowadays. 😉 We explored more of this topic in our previous blog post, which you can find [here].

On the other spectrum of the scale private owners often restored and modified their cars for better off-road performance. In the end capricious engines and difficult to use gearboxes are the worst features of an UAZ 469 or UAZ 452. These usually sport more powerful engines, fully synchronized transmission and stronger axles. All of this means, that you can find a drivable UAZ for €750 and for €20 000.

So which one of these prices is optimal and how much does a good UAZ 469 or Uaz 452 really cost?

An UAZ under €1500.

Abort! Abort! Abort! Kill this idea before it lays eggs! Any UAZ car in this price range will most likely be a bucket of rust, full of mechanical negligence and weird conversions. UAZ 469 or 452 in this price range can make sense in only one case. If you can source one locally and want to use it as a toy, which will be scrapped, when it breaks down one too many times, than this could be a car for you. A toy like that for €500, which can give a lot of fun may make sense, especially, because you’ll probably will be able to get most of that money back at the scrapyard. Anything more expensive is a waste of your time and money.

There is no other case, in which such a purchase would be reasonable. A car like that will need way too much time and effort to be rescued. But beware! You can expect rusty frames with holes in them, so having fun in one of those cars may be very dangerous.

Completely destroyed UAZ
Very badly modified UAZ, which was available for sale in Poland at about €1300.

UAZ 452 or 469 From €1501 to €2500 – not for the faint-hearted!

You either have no fear or too much time. A complete restoration of an UAZ 469 or UAZ 452 can take over 1000 work hours. In reality this means, that you’ll need a year or two to complete the process. You can either put a lot of money in it, or replace the cash with your own time. One to two years of work and you’ll have a fully functioning UAZ in your garage.

Of course, that is assuming that you have a big, fully equipped workshop and have an extensive knowledge of cutting, welding and repairing bodywork. Besides many mechanical issues, rust will be your biggest enemy. A local sandblasting facility and a few friends with good mechanical skills will also come in handy. Lots of determination will help too, as doubts will swarm you more than once.

PS. How are your electrical skills? Because a completely new electric wiring will also be needed.

UAZ 469 or 452 costing from €2501 to €3500

As the comrade Diatlov said, not great, not terrible.

An UAZ car in this price range won’t be great, but it also won’t be terrible. Having a large garage and moderately equipped workshop will also be needed.

In this price range you should expect your UAZ to have a healthy frame, quite a bit of smaller mechanical issues and some rust here and there. You’ll have to fight it off, before it turns to a much bigger, time and money consuming problem.

How about and UAZ 452 or UAZ 469 costing from €3501 to €5000?

Decent. If there would be one word, in which we could describe an UAZ in this price range, it would be decent. No more, not less. It is also probably the cheapest UAZ, which you could put on your front lawn and keep in good shape by yourself.

It won’t be a car, which will win you awards on military vehicles shows, nor will it be reliable enough to drive around with full comfort. But when you learn all of its quirks and caprices, with some time and effort you should be able to bring it to a very good shape by yourself. Liking for tinkering will be very helpful, because every UAZ has its own issues, which you’ll have to work out. The learning curve in this case should be a lot less steep, than with any of the previously described cars.

The lower end of this price range is where ex-military UAZ cars start to show up. These usually have pretty high mileages, are missing the side rear seats, or even the rear bench, have old and often torn canvas and are generally in need of much work. On top of that they are usually in poor visual shape. Dented hood from soldier’s asses, dents and rust here and there – these are not cars, which could be safely driven from day one, but are a decent base for a restoration.

UAZ 469 for sale
An ex-military UAZ 469B in NBC reconnaissance version. This car is straight out of the Army and will need to be completely serviced before delivery to a client.

UAZ Hunter cars from 2000s also start to appear in this price range. They are rare and often have over 100 000 kilometres on the clock, which is a lot for an UAZ, but they can be found. Personally we prefer low-mileage, old school ex-Army UAZ 469 over them, because they much more resemble an SUV, than the legendary ancestor.

A decent UAZ 452, nicknamed “Bukhanka” (because its resemblance to a loaf of bread) can also be found for this kind of money. They are much rarer, than the UAZ 469 and therefore more expensive. Unfortunately cheaper specimens are usually very rusty and in need of an urgent and complete rebuild of their bodywork. Contact us here if you are interested in buying one of them.

What about UAZ 469 and UAZ 452 for €5001 to €6500?

Now we’re talking! This is the first price range, in which you can expect your UAZ to be a completely serviced, good-looking, rust free vehicle, which you could drive daily. Your expectations and requirements can start to rise, depending on in which part of this scale you’re looking.

  • Very little to rust? Definitely!
  • No oil leaks? Da!
  • Completely adjusted, smoothly running engine? Of course!
  • New, better than original cloth canvas? Yes!
  • A more powerful and reliable diesel or petrol engine? Possible.
  • Disk brakes? If you’d like to.
  • Power steering? Why not?
  • Heated seats? If you fancy

Most likely you won’t be able to find an UAZ with all of these modifications at once. But you can be really picky and expect a very high quality vehicle.

This is also the price level in which we usually offer UAZ 469 or UAZ 452 cars to our customers. It allows us to thoroughly prepare the vehicles to failure-free use by their new owners. A complete check-up and service maintenance takes at least several dozens of work hours.

We always start with cleaning up the fuel tanks and replacing all fluids and filters. Then we start the engine to see how its running. If it’s good, we start the test drives to see, what else is wrong and we eliminate the problems, either by replacing parts, rebuilding complete systems, or adjusting them to fit within factory tolerances.

Thanks to all of this work, we can be sure, that the vehicles, which we deliver to our customers are trouble free and will serve them well for many years to come. If you’d’ like to learn more about what we do and how we do it, you can read our blog post on this topic here.

UAZ cars costing from €6501 to €8000

Here we’re entering the territory of either completely restored or very heavily modified cars. You can be very picky about what you want in your car and choose from the best available cars, or order a restoration of one accordingly to your specification.

Not every UAZ in this kind of price range will behave and look like new, but you can definitely expect many years of trouble free service from your car. All that you’ll need to take care is regular maintenance as with every other car on the market.

UAZ cars costing above €8001

Sky is the limit! With this kind of budget you can either totally customize your car

Do you want an off-road beast with modern engine, brakes, stronger portal axles, a winch? A car, which built quality will be a lot higher standard than the factory’s? You can start thinking about that for this sort of money.

Or a completely rebuilt UAZ 469B, which was stripped to the last bolt and nut, tweaked exactly like you wanted it to be and put back together from the best possible parts, to be your pride for years? That could also possible. Highest attention to details and technical nuances must be expected.

For more details, please fill our contact form here: [click].

A several years old UAZ Hunter or even UAZ Patriot will also be within your reach. If you want something more modern, then this is the kind of money, which you need to prepare. Alternatively, if you have about €18 000 to €25 000, you can buy yourself a brand new UAZ straight from the factory.

Summing up

We hope, that this detailed breakdown answered your question of how much does a good UAZ 469 or UAZ 452 cost. We did our best using our over 10 years of experience in this business to clarify this topic. As you can see, one can buy an UAZ for almost every kind of money, and if you know what are your skills, expectations and budget, you can find one for yourself. If you have any questions feel free to contact us through email, WhatsApp or on our social media. Please share this post with your friends, if you find it informative.

We will be honoured to be able to help you to get a reliable, great looking UAZ, which you could be proud of for many years. We have a few of them in stock, which we’ll reveal in the coming weeks and we have the knowledge and experience in shipping these vehicles abroad.

In the next few days we’ll also post more about our testing and servicing procedures, when we prepare a vehicle for a client abroad. Thi knowledge is universal and you’ll be able to use them with your vehicle(s), assuming that you have the skills and facilities required.

Soon we will also write about the details of importing a 30 years old ex-Army UAZ to the USA and the United Kingdom, so if you’re interested in these topics please like and follow our profiles on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. We regularly post there valuable information about buying, owning and servicing Russian military vehicles. Recently we have also opened our YouTube channel which soon will be filled with videos showing our past and current work, so feel free to subscribe, so you won’t miss out on any of that valuable content.

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