Thread by @bigbrovar

I am currently active in the Chinese EV market and have been for a while. I would like to share some lessons I have learned to help anyone interested in importing cars from China. I am typing this in real time, so this will likely be a long thread. 🧵

The usual caveat: I am not an importer or a car dealer, and I am not doing this to sell cars. Please do not come to my DMs to buy a vehicle. I am simply sharing information that people might find useful so they can avoid costly financial mistakes.

Although this thread will focus on EVs, the same principles generally apply to internal combustion engine (ICE) cars and plug-in hybrids. ( avoid plug-in hybrids. lol)

Where do you start? If you want to do this yourself and avoid using an agent, the best places to shop for Chinese EVs sight unseen are Alibaba and AutoCango. I generally prefer AutoCango because it is a platform specifically built for cars

If you choose the Alibaba route, note that most sellers there are middlemen, so you have to be careful. Filter for verified suppliers and insist on making all payments via Alibaba Trade Assurance. Do not compromise on this.

The 180-Day Rule: The Chinese government bans the export of all new cars purchased in China, as well as used cars that were purchased new less than 180 days ago. This makes it difficult to buy a brand-new car directly for export.

Most sellers bypass this rule by buying a car, registering it, and keeping it for six months. After that period, it is sold as a "zero-mileage used car." If you are buying any vehicle, make sure it is export-compliant.

As with any used car market, fraud exists, and you must protect yourself. I was once offered a car advertised with 800km on the dash. I asked for the VIN, ran a check, and discovered the car actually had 13,600km.

Standard services like Carfax or AutoCheck do not work in China. However, I used , which is one of the most comprehensive sites for checking Chinese car histories. A full report costs $24, and I paid easily with my GTBank Naira Mastercard.chinavehiclehistory.com

Pre-Purchase Inspection (PPI): Once you identify a car, do your due diligence, even if you are purchasing through a Nigerian broker. Hire a PPI company to carry out a deep inspection of the vehicle.

A lot of the cheap cars you see offered for sale in Nigeria have been accidented or flooding etc. PPI would check their through history.

Some of the best inspection services for EVs are 268V and Dr. Cha. They will go to the car's location and conduct a thorough inspection. For EVs, they specifically check battery health, verify that the mileage has not been altered, and ensure everything is functioning correctly.

from my experience, these services are not optimized for outsiders. It is best to find someone based in China such as a relative, a friend, or even your broker to help engage these inspection companies on your behalf

Another critical point for EVs: Before purchasing any Chinese car, understand that they are designed to operate in China. They will not natively support Western services like Spotify, Google Maps, Android Auto, or Apple CarPlay.

A number of these cars do not even support English on their infotainment displays. You must do your research carefully. Some brands are more accommodating and have English localization built into their settings.

For example, BYD and Xpeng (the two brands I explored) support English language settings. Conversely, brands like Deepal (a sub-brand of Changan) do not support English at all. They are work around this but they might interface with Over the air updates to the car or be reset when there is an update. Better to have native english support

There are workarounds. Some cars, like BYD, easily support sideloading applications, allowing you to install alternatives for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Others make this very difficult, so research what it takes to get the localization and apps you need.

Lastly, many EVs allow you to use your phone to control the car, but you need the official app. This can be frustrating because it requires a Chinese phone number to activate.

You can get around this by purchasing a virtual Chinese SIM card and working with the seller to transfer the car's ownership to that virtual number.

Yes the car would work fine but mobile phone app is a very nice to have quality of life improvement.

I believe this covers everything I have gathered so far. I hope this information helps someone out there navigate the market safely.

Let me know if you want a similar thread for getting clean cars from the US.