Guides
Buying, shipping and clearing a Chinese car
The questions buyers ask before they know which car they want: where a Chinese car can legally go, how the cost stacks up, how it compares with Japanese supply, and how the re-export hubs work.
GuideHow to import a car from China, step by stepImporting a car from China takes four things: a market where the car may legally be registered, a unit inside that country’s age limit, a conformity certificate issued in China before loading, and a sailing. From confirmed order to arrival, expect six to eight weeks, with most of the waiting in certification and in the next available vessel.Read the guideGuideCan you import a Chinese car? Where the answer is yes, and where it is noYes, in any country that drives on the right and admits the vehicle’s age. The obstacles are structural rather than political: a right-hand-drive market cannot register a Chinese left-hand-drive car at all, and a market with a hard age cap refuses old units. Where neither applies, Chinese cars clear normally.Read the guideComparisonUsed cars from China vs Japan: which supply actually fits your marketThe drive side settles most of it. Japan exports overwhelmingly right-hand-drive cars, so it owns left-hand-traffic Africa and South Asia. China builds left-hand drive, so it competes where cars must be left-hand drive: the Gulf, West Africa, Central Africa and South America. Where both can sell, China’s edge is newer cars at a lower price.Read the guideGuideWhat it costs to import a car from China, line by lineBudget five lines: the car at FOB, freight and insurance, customs duty and taxes, port and agent fees, and registration. Duty is the largest and least predictable line. On a $12,000 FOB car, expect landed cost to run roughly 10% above CIF in the UAE and around 37% above CIF in Ghana or Nigeria.Read the guideGuideImporting cars through Dubai and Zarqa: how the re-export hubs workDubai and Zarqa exist because they clear fast and re-export cleanly. Jebel Ali and Sharjah move vehicles on to Iraq, Yemen, East Africa and the Indian Ocean, and Aqaba feeds Jordan’s Zarqa Free Zone, which is the established route into Iraq. The extra leg costs money but removes clearance risk.Read the guideGuideThe cars that actually work in West AfricaIn Nigeria, saloons and compact SUVs of 1.5 litres and under, aged three to six years, clear cheapest and resell fastest. Ghana and Guinea reward pickups and light commercials. Angola and the Gulf buy larger SUVs. Engine size matters twice: it sets Ghana’s duty band and Nigeria’s Green Tax.Read the guide
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