Importing cars .....

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stranded

Newbie

Joined: Jan 04, 2006
Posts: 1

Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 04, 2006 - 10:54 AM
Post subject: Importing cars .....

Hi All,

I am really stuck with this guanxi thing. One of my good chinese friends has been asking me for a favour and I really dont know what to do. He wants me to buy an imported second-hand car, as I being an expat get it duty free or on lesser duty, keep it on my name for a month and then re-sell it to him. He is willing to pay for all the expenses incurred and wants me to only use my expat documents to get it cheaper.

I have no idea about the legalities of this. His goal is to save some money as he intends to use that car for his new business venture. Some people have told me that being a foreigner on a Z visa, I really can buy the car cheaper, and can re-sell it within a month as well since they are no laws prohibiting such a sale. But unfortunately as the case is in china, there is nothing black and white, rules are what you are told it is and not what it is supposed to be in first place.

Please offer your suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

shanghaiceltic

Board Royalty

Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7149
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline

Posted: Jan 04, 2006 - 11:02 AM

I would politely turn him down. You could not really sign a legal contract with him to make sure that any import duties are covered, plus other fees like shipping and checking to ensure the car complies with any local regulations and additionaly the agreed price for the car. Plus you would have to arrange an importing company(at a fee) to do the legal paperwork.

As it is a second hand car it might not comply with the CCC marking now being insisted on for imported cars. Is it a vintage car? or some car of marque?

What about registration? You would need to register the car here for its licence plate, Shanghai reggo's are expensive and you would have to attend the auction with no guarantee of getting a plate.

If you are using a company registration then you can get a free plate, but there is still the hassle of sorting that out and selling it on and re-registering the car in the new owners name. That too could be construed as illegal.

You could be letting yourself in for a lot of trouble in doing a favour like this.

I have both a privately registered car (the wifes)and a company registered car (as I run a rep office we were entitled to one free plate), I am pretty sure that the foreigner on a Z visa does not have the rights to import a car duty free on a personal basis, only the company is allowed to do that.

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