Continue to answer SSC’s list of question:
– What about driving costs, like registration, oil, parking, tolls, fines, etc.?
I have a car category in my blog. You can see many article related to having a car.
There are several part of cost related to a car.
Buying a Car Itself
Not surprisingly, buying a car costs a lot. Cars in China is more expensive than in U.S.
Cars under 100,000 RMB are classified as cheap cars, like FIAT, Buick SAIL, VW Polo, VW Gol, Golf…
Cars between 100,000 – 200,000 RMB are referred to as middle-class cars, like Honda Fit Salon, Toyota, Volkswagen Bora, Satana…
Above 200,000 RMB are expensive cars, like Volkswagen PASSAT, Audi, BMW, Benz…
Of cause if you count the luxurious cars, there is no limitation.
Registration Fee
This is the license fee. In Shanghai, license fee is very expensive. Since its price is settled in a bidding process, it varies from 20,000 RMB to recent 40,000 RMB.
People workaround this buy getting licenses outside Shanghai.
Annual Fee
Every year, you need to pay the annual fee, and the so-called “Road Maintenance Fee”. It is around 1400 RMB (again, I have no idea about the real price.
Gas
It is 4.90 RMB per liter today. Two year ago, it was 3.2 RMB per litter.
Parking
In Shanghai, most of places (90% places I go) charges 10 RMB per hour for parking. Underground parking is more likely to charge according this price.
Some places charges lower, like 5 RMB, or 20 RMB per day, 50 RMB per day, depending on how many customer they have.
Fine
Typical fine is 200 RMB, for example, if you park at the wrong place.
Car Insurance
Depending on how expensive is you car, you need to pay for the insurance. It is mandatory. It is like 2000 RMB for a car of 100,000 RMB per year.
P.S. Correct me on any numbers I gave for sake of readers’ benefit. I am not sensitive to money, and I cannot remember the price clearly.
The cost to have a car is like the cost to have a baby.
You forget the insurance.
Penny, good point. Let me add it.
250RMB/month for road fee in Shanghai.
Insurance – I pay 8500/year for insurance to cover 1.000.000 RMB.
And I had to push the agent hard for this high amount – quite unusual, he said.)
(To say this, in my home country my car is insured for a maximum damage of 110.000.00RMB. And I pay 6.500RMB/year.)
The car insurance business is very un-developed in China.
Mainly because of the extreme amount of accidents !
When will the CCP do something to educate all people, young and old,
into the “new age of traffic” ?
If done well, then even the top of CCP can drive their Mercedes and Audi W12 safely through a city without having to abandon all the traffic for hours before approaching :-)
Progress, or ?
Drive safely !
250RMB/month for road fee in Shanghai.
Insurance – I pay 8500/year for insurance to cover 1.000.000 RMB.
And I had to push the agent hard for this high amount – quite unusual, he said.)
(To say this, in my home country my car is insured for a maximum damage of 110.000.00RMB. And I pay 6.500RMB/year.)
The car insurance business is very un-developed in China.
Mainly because of the extreme amount of accidents !
When will the CCP do something to educate all people, young and old,
into the “new age of traffic” ?
If done well, then even the top of CCP can drive their Mercedes and Audi W12 safely through a city without having to abandon all the traffic for hours before approaching :-)
Progress, or ?
Drive safely !
carsten: You have a car worth 1 million RMB? That’s $128,700. What do you drive?
I have a 2001 Honda Civic, worth about $9,000 right now, insurance is $752 per year.
Just imagine you crippled a person in a traffic accident, and a million RMB is a small amount for the victim to live for the rest his life not to mention the medical care required.
In Canada, most auto coverage started at CAD 2 millions.
Sorry, David (Давид) (I have been i Bryansk, Russia), but a car insurance have to cover all the ´damage you make to others, eg. when you slam into a crowd of school children and kill them all, or you hit a bus, who later runs off the mountain road and…, etc.
That’s why I have an insurance in my home country worth of 11.000.000 Euros.
JUST IN CASE !
I guess there has never been this amount actually paid to the victims,
but it will cover most of it if you’re prosecuted for this WORST accident.
It is not considered the value of your OWN car (YOU make the damage, so who cares about YOUR car). It is what you have to pay for the damage to others.
Remebmer, I pay less in my home country for a much higher coverage, because people ther drive much more considerate and carefully.
The basic school teaches the children how to behave in the traffic as well.
CCP – begin here. In Europe most countries have 7 years of traffic training in school…
carsten: I see. That is a lot of insurance. My insurance coverage is a lot lower. Maryland law sets the minimum levels of liability coverage that motorists must maintain:
* $20,000 per person for bodily injury
* $40,000 per accident for bodily injury
* $15,000 per accident for property
So, the maximum insurance payout for any one accident is $55,000 ($40,000 for medical bills, $15,000 for property).
About traffic in general: I am an aggressive driver when I am behind the wheel in the United States. But the way people drive in China scares me. There was an article in the New York Times about the chaotic Chinese traffic. Primary cause: a nation of new drivers.
The Car Insurance cost in this article need to be updated. It’s not like 2000 RMB or something like that. Even for a car of 100,000 RMB per year.
For very basic car insurance in Shanghai. You have to have at least 4 insurance products to cover your car. Which are:
A. Traffic compulsory insurance
B. Third party liability insurance.
C. Car Damage Insurance
D. Car Theft Protection Insurance
It will be approx. RMB 4,300 if you covered above.
I found out that Shangcar provides a very informative intruction about car insurances in Shanghai: http://www.shangcar.com/buy_your_car_insurance_in_shanghai.htm/
The link for shangcar doesn’t work.
oops… it’s http://www.shangcar.com/buy_your_car_insurance_in_shanghai.htm
Hi Jian Shuo:
I will be in Shanghai in March with my MBA team from the State University of New York, University at Buffalo. As part of an international business course, we will be conducting research on how to establish auto insurance operations in China. Would it be possible for you to provide the e-mail address of an auto insurance carrier or perhaps an auto insurance agent you are familiar with and which I might be able to send an inquiry to?
Regards,
Blair