Bringing a car into China

Hi- Have you been to China before? Been to Beijing? Only those with nerves of steel could handle driving here. Its been said that if you can drive in Beijing, you can drive anywhere, but I'm not brave enough to risk it. A car would most likely be way more trouble than its worth. Besides, to drive in Beijing/have a license you must have a residence permit. The bus, subway and taxi are easiest ways to get around. Or if you have the funds, hire a driver.

I know some cars here retail for as little as 32000rmb new, so you might be able to pick up a car here for less than what it would cost to import it. But... driving here is a nightmare, nobody cares about the road rules and getting a licence is near impossible.

It's way not worth it with the hassle. Your basic qualification is that you have more than 1 yr residence permit and the company that hires you must have import/export right. If I were you I'd rather buy a used car produced by a jointly invested company (ShangHai VW, DongFeng Nissan, etc.) Hiring a driver w/ car could cost around 5000RMB a month for a standard sedan, pretty much the same price for a basic apartment in a middle class neighborhood. Contact me if you need more information on obtaining a Chinese Driver's License and a used vehicle.

Thanks for your input everyone, I really appreciate it.  It probably isn't economical to bring a car to China, but it would be cool to be the only guy in the country with a Pontiac lol.  I guess I will just buy a car when I get there...GM sells more cars in China than in US now...how sad is that.

i thought about this also, glad i found this thread

Agreed that it is not the hassle to import a car. Not sure I agree about driving. I drive here, just go with the flow and you'll be okay. I prefer to trust my driving skills and instincts to that of a taxi driver.

It is actually cheaper to import a car from the US than to buy a same model in China. If you are a business man investing in China, you have the right to import a car for private use.You will get a discount when you pay the importing duty,so the price end up cheaper.
The most practical way is to buy a couple years old used car and ship it to China, get a custom clearance agent to do the paper work for you. for a 500,000 yuan car you can save up to 100,000 yuan.
I think that is the only benefit left for foreign investors, most of the other benefits have been removed.

I don't think you can bring you a car into china, you can by a used car easily in the local market. but form my point of view, the traffic in the big city of china is really not worth to drive buy yourself,by taxi and subway is a more advised choice.

You should maybe check the quality of the fuel as your engine may need adjustment.

As for driving in Beijing....do you remember the old arcade version of Pole Postion ??

I think there is some policy where if you work in China for 1+ years then you are able to bring a car with you. Though I think the car can't be brand new. Also I think you have to pay more taxes if your car is more than 3.0L and V6.

As far as driving is concerned, you'll get used to it. You just need to have some patience in the beginning and then you'll learn to drive like everyone else:) Personally, I think it's like driving in a video game which is fun most of the time. Traffic sometimes is a nightmare though...

You can do it, but you've really got to want your car in China to deal with everything that goes with it. Like others have pointed out, it can be a real headache, not just driving in Beijing, but getting a car from the U.S. to meet harmonization standards for China. Then there's the whole matter of taxes and shipping costs. It's a lot to take on. That said, I do have a friend that shipped a car from the U.S. east coast to China with A-1 Auto Transport and was happy with how everything turned out. Just make sure you know what you're in for if you make the attempt.