Documents you need to import a vehicle from China

A car sits at the destination port for one of two reasons: money, or paperwork. Money you can plan for. Paperwork is where shipments actually get stuck — a missing certificate of origin, a name that does not match between invoice and bill of lading, or an age rule someone forgot to check before the vessel sailed.

What the exporter issues

• Commercial invoice — must show the buyer name, the vehicle identification numbers, the year, the unit price and the total. The name here has to match the bill of lading exactly, down to the punctuation.
• Packing list — how the units are distributed inside the container, with VIN or chassis number for each.
• Certificate of origin (CO) — usually issued by the CCPIT or the customs authority, and in the form a preferential trade agreement requires if you are claiming one.
• Export declaration and licence — the Chinese side of the departure, issued or filed by the exporter.
• Inspection and condition report — photographs and findings, per unit. Not a customs document, but the only record of what was loaded.

Issued by the shipping line or forwarder

• Bill of lading (B/L) — the carrier issues it to the shipper. Confirm whether you are getting an original set or a telex release: an original set must physically reach you before the cargo can be released, and couriers do get lost.
• Arrival notice — from the line at destination, listing the charges payable before release.
• Freight invoice and container deposit terms — so you know the demurrage clock and where it starts.

What you arrange in your own country

• Import declaration and duty assessment — through your customs broker.
• Pre-shipment inspection certificate where the destination requires one (many West African and Middle Eastern destinations do).
• Type approval or vehicle registration paperwork — plates, roadworthiness and emission rules differ by country and, in several places, by region.
• Proof of conformity to local age limits, if applicable. Some markets bar vehicles older than a fixed number of years; that rule is checked before the vessel sails, not after.

The three delays we see most

• Name mismatch. The buyer on the invoice, the consignee on the bill of lading and the importer of record have to be the same entity. A holding company on one and a trading name on another costs days.
• Age rules discovered late. If your market caps import age, the model year and first registration date have to be checked when you order — a car that is refused on arrival is a car you pay to store and re-export.
• An invoice value the destination customs will not accept. Under-valuing to reduce duty is the surest way to trigger a valuation review, and the storage clock runs the whole time.

One habit prevents most of this: keep every document for a shipment in one folder, named by container number, before the vessel sails. When the broker at destination asks for the CO at 4pm on a Friday, the answer should be a file, not a search through email.

Tell us your destination country when you request a quotation and we will flag which of these the shipment will need, and what the age and inspection rules are for that market.