The 87 rest stops on Austria’s motorways, which were closed due to the corona pandemic, must be unlocked again by June 15. According to Asfinag, you have an operating obligation.
But the three classic car restaurants and motels in Guntramsdorf and Zöbern (Lower Austria) and in Pack (Carinthia) remain closed. The corona crisis was only the final stab in the dagger, says classic car founder Anton Kothmiller. The actual reasons are the deterioration of the economic environment, the high fuel prices at the motorway filling stations and the alleged softening of the area protection by the motorway operator Asfinag.
The fact is: 100 classic car employees are registered with the AMS for termination. “There have been major changes over the past ten years that have slipped us away from the economic success,” says Kothmiller about the KURIER. “The mineral oil companies charge such outrageously high prices that no sensible driver wants to fill up on a motorway service station. Fuel on the freeway costs up to 75 percent more than in the subordinate road network. “
For example, drivers would still fill their tanks at petrol stations on the outskirts of the city, leaving the motorway service stations on the left.
Oldtimer did not lease the service stations directly from Asfinag, but from three different mineral oil companies; the petrol stations themselves operate other tenants.
But the restaurateur is also tough on the Asfinag. In spite of the existing area protection between Wiener Neustadt and Guntramsdorf, the highway operator had set up two priority parking lots (Triestingtal, Leobersdorf) including coffee machines.
“These two priority parking spaces take away the two million euros in sales we need each year,” says Kothmiller. “We reinvest up to 200,000 euros in each of our operations every year.” In the past two years, however, the Guntramsdorf rest stop, which was built 20 years ago by seven million euros, has posted losses. Since Kothmiller has no direct contract with Asfinag, he cannot sue the motorway operator for protecting the area.
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