Car Insurance in Shanghai

By Jian Shuo Wang on 2006-03-28 23:30 · Car

It is time to figure out how to buy another year of car insurance. The new car comes with 2 years of car insurances. It ends this month. I even didn’t notice that.

Car insurance is enforced. It is several thousand RMB per year - not cheap.

People like to ask about living cost in Shanghai. My simple answer is, to live the local live cost less than US, while to live U.S. live in Shanghai causes even higher than U.S.

Car is an example. Car is much more expensive than those in U.S. - a Volkswagon Polo is 10K RMB (or 12 K USD), and everything related to car is more expensive.

I guess that is the reason why Shanghai is ranked as one of the most expensive city for expat - because to play Golf in Shanghai is way far expensive than playing golf in U.S.

P.S. The suspension nightmare is not over yet. The lunarpages.com guy is sending email again, and may want to suspend the site due to the wrong calculation of CPU usage they use. I am thinking about bluehost.com. They are amazing in my first few telephone call - they pick up the phone almost instantly - or to be more exact, within 10 seconds. I’d say it is a little bit better than the 27 minutes expected waiting time from ipowerweb.com

21 Comments

Last summer when typhoon struck Shanghai, many vehicles were 'washed' in their underground parking, insurance companies refused to compensate the same due to policy non-coverage. The vehicle owners took the cases in the street and staged public rally against the complex developer to no avail, therefore, obtaining a full coverage is essential for your vehicle.

Cars are not cheap in US and Canada, e.g. a Camry v6 with medium dressing would cost 200k rmb plus sales tax, and a litre of gas is at 7rmb, for me, car is a must in my daily transportation and I cannot evade the cost. Personally I think quality housing is the major contributor to put Shanghai in the golden list.

— stephen · 2006-03-30 23:32

Can you re-post your last artical on Shanghai hotel. Thanks

— loretta · 2006-03-30 23:33

Insurance is enforce but child safety seats are not, as I recall. That would be a major undertaking

— Andrew Leyden · 2006-03-30 23:33

neither nor seat-belt!

— stephen · 2006-03-30 23:34

you might also want to consider www.dreamhost.com too,

— hui · 2006-03-30 23:35

If being paid with US salary and living US life in Shanghai, nothing to complain at all (well, weather and traffic are exceptions maybe). With $2 meals everywhere and $300 rent, there is a reason for the existence of luxuaries, like golf in Shanghai.

— LL · 2006-03-30 23:35

The market for second-hand car is not so popuplar and mature in Shanghai, otherwise for an expat, getting a second-hand good car is also a good option. Like in Germany, BMW produced in 1998, you can get it for around 4-5 thousand Euro. (of course, insurance not included). It always costs a lot.

— chenwood · 2006-03-30 23:37

JS, what is the US lifestyle you are referring to.......

If a young professional....

*work hard and play hard

*live in suburb and work in urban

*lunch at Mcdonald and dinner at Hyatt

*motor vehicles as prime transportation

*hiking, biking, boating and golfing during the weekend

*willing to travel extensively and make adventure

these are the lifestyle of YUPPIE and obviously it does come cheap.

— stephen · 2006-03-30 23:37

10K RMB for a VW Polo?? I think you mean 100K. If not, I need to go out and buy a car!

— John · 2006-03-30 23:51

The car price is cheap in US, and also cheap in China. The quality is different, for example, the fule emission standard. Talk about car price, Singapore is the most expensive one - 250K RMB is a starter. Check my singapore blog http://spaces.msn.com/oncerest/

— Oncerest · 2006-03-30 23:52

while to live U.S. live in Shanghai causes even higher than U.S.

~~~~~

should be "costs" ^_^

— dbv · 2006-03-30 23:53

How doe rates compare not New Jersey in the USA?

— New Jersey Auto Insurance · 2006-04-03 12:27

Yes. Car is cheaper in U.S. than in Shanghai.

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2006-05-07 23:16

For those who are looking for updated informaiton about auto insurance in Shanghai:

http://www.shangcar.com/buy_your_car_insurance_in_shanghai.htm

— David · 2008-01-03 23:02

@David, I would suggest you to stop promoting shangcar using different ways, and different stories. It almost crossed the border of over-promoting on the site. To keep a positive community, please stop doing that. Thanks.

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2008-01-03 23:17

Thanks for the providing good information - this is really helpful for car insurance.I found another good one that helped me find an incredible rate http://www.carinsuranceassistant.com/index.php?id=New+Car

they give you the best rates from lots of local providers

— mark · 2008-10-21 13:58

Hey Thanks for the great information! here's some good resource for car insurance quotes and rate comparison which helped me to find good rates.

http://www.carinsuranceassistant.com/index.php?id=New+Car

they give you the best rates from lots of local providers

— Shaun · 2008-10-24 13:19

Thanks for the providing good information - this is really helpful for car accident insurance.I found another good one that helped me find an incredible rate they give you the best rates from lots of local providers Car Accident Insurance

— Fairy · 2008-11-27 20:17

— alina · 2008-11-27 22:49

Excellent site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i really like it.

thanks

— Best Car Insurance · 2010-08-19 03:42

Trying to Understand Car Insurance company policies in Shanghai is difficult. the meaning of full comprehensive means nothing here! you get no claims assistance when third party at fault and your insurance company doesn't even initially help for the repair and when the third party defaults even if Police said third party at fault it ends up costing as your insurance advises you to claim and then hits you the next year! ( This is Ping Ang ) what a con!!!!

watch out for those who have drivers because they may begetting fines/caught on camera and you may not know about till a year later when time to renew insurance!

— Andre · 2011-06-08 16:53