Buying a Car for Foreigners

Buying a car for China local resident involves a lot of paper work, and it is hard to do it. Not to mention buying a car for foreigners. L (just short his name to protect privacy) asked me a lot of questions about it. You may agree after reading the questions, L asked very good questions. The questions reached my email box 3 weeks ago. It took me three weeks to get all the answers to the questions. Here you are.

Hi

Firstly, thanks for your blog. It makes interesting and helpful reading and often pops up within my searches for help.

I’m English and have been living in Shanghai for a number of years now. My wife (Shanghainese) thinks it’s time we get a car and I’m having difficulty in finding someone that can help me with the right info. I’ve read your car blogs with number plates etc with interest but my being a foreigner, would you know:

1 - restrictions on foreigners buying cars, how many etc ?

2 - any savings a foreigner has over Chinese people on buying a foreign car? Less import tax or value tax for example?

3 - I understand that a persons name is tied to a new car for three years, or is it just a foreigners rule? What if you want to sell the car within three years?

4 - what if the car was say lent to a friend, reference number 3 above, and had an accident or something. Would the owner or named/registered person of the car in the first three years always be responsible for legal aspects etc or what would the registered owner be responsible for? If I did sell the car within the first three years, would I still be responsible during this period?

5 - What if the car I want is not available in Shanghai or China, what import restrictions are there?

6 - What would I require/need in order to buy a car here as in passport etc? (import or local or are the doc requirements the same for any car) (I’d rather the car is in my name than my wife’s, knowing it’d probably be easier for my wife to “buy” it but then I may have some tax savings she doesn’t)

7 - Are there any differences in the rules etc if I bought a Chinese car and I mean say a Brilliance car rather than a Shanghai GM made car (or are the GM’s and VW’s made in China considered Chinese cars - I don’t know).

8 - is the insurance related directly to the car or the driver? If the car, as long as the driver has a valid license to drive that kind of car, can anyone drive the car? Who though is legally responsible? How is the insurance rate for a year worked out? Is the insurance “fully comprehensive”, “3rd party only” or what - this relates to what the insurance covers and by how much they will pay on a claim. Is there a lot of variations on the insurance available? What is a good insurance company to be with - not too expensive but quick in paying out kind of thing?

9 - how do bank loans on cars work? Are they 100% or a minimum deposit? What kind of rates/repayments are there?

10 - any good websites in English and that are current that deal with foreigners buying a car? Any places you know where I can go and get the info I’m asking about.

I’ll stop here as I know I’m asking a lot of questions. Unfortunately my wife is not good at asking all these kinds of questions, she just thinks about buying a car and sort any problems out later.

Any answers, advice, pointers or people you think could help etc will be much appreciated. With my face a car salesman is not the first person I would trust to answer these kinds of questions factually (no offense intentioned) since they would more than likely agree so they can make a sale and not lose face.

Look forward to your reply and many happy returns for the 18th.

L

Restrictions

1 - restrictions on foreigners buying cars, how many etc?

2 - any savings a foreigner has over Chinese people on buying a foreign car? Less import tax or value tax for example?

3 - I understand that a persons name is tied to a new car for three years, or is it just a foreigners rule? What if you want to sell the car within three years?

4 - what if the car was say lent to a friend, reference number 3 above, and had an accident or something. Would the owner or named/registered person of the car in the first three years always be responsible for legal aspects etc or what would the registered owner be responsible for? If I did sell the car within the first three years, would I still be responsible during this period?

5 - What if the car I want is not available in Shanghai or China, what import restrictions are there?

6 - What would I require/need in order to buy a car here as in passport etc? (import or local or are the doc requirements the same for any car) (I’d rather the car is in my name than my wife’s, knowing it’d probably be easier for my wife to “buy” it but then I may have some tax savings she doesn’t)

7 - Are there any differences in the rules etc if I bought a Chinese car and I mean say a Brilliance car rather than a Shanghai GM made car (or are the GM’s and VW’s made in China considered Chinese cars - I don’t know).

8 - is the insurance related directly to the car or the driver? If the car, as long as the driver has a valid license to drive that kind of car, can anyone drive the car? Who though is legally responsible? How is the insurance rate for a year worked out? Is the insurance “fully comprehensive”, “3rd party only” or what - this relates to what the insurance covers and by how much they will pay on a claim. Is there a lot of variations on the insurance available? What is a good insurance company to be with - not too expensive but quick in paying out kind of thing?

9 - how do bank loans on cars work? Are they 100% or a minimum deposit? What kind of rates/repayments are there?

10 - any good websites in English and that are current that deal with foreigners buying a car? Any places you know where I can go and get the info I’m asking about.