The full process of China's used car export (2026 official compliance full version)

1. Enterprise qualification filing (no qualification cannot be exported)

1. Enterprise access conditions

Circulation and trading company: independent legal person in China; fixed business site;3 certified used car appraisers (the company's social security); no record of serious breach of trust or violation of laws

Automobile manufacturers: Enterprises included in the Motor Vehicle Announcement of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology can only export second-hand vehicles of their own brands

2. filing materials

Business license, venue certificate, assessor qualification + social security, financial audit report, overseas sales plan, compliance commitment letter

3. handling channels

Online application for the unified business system platform of the Ministry of Commerce → Approval by the Provincial Department of Commerce and qualification for used car export business

Official export 8 steps complete operation process

Stage 1: Vehicle screening + domestic acquisition and transfer (source compliance)

1. Hard vehicle screening red line (no export)

1. Less than 1 year since mandatory scrapping, vehicles have been scrapped

2. Mortgage, seizure, theft and robbery, unresolved accident, smuggling and assembling vehicles

3. Major accident/soaking in water/burning/operating taxi/online ride-hailing

4. Vehicles registered in China for less than 180 days (the after-sales maintenance confirmation letter from the vehicle company can only be released)

5. Emissions, vehicle age, and rudder direction do not match target importing country standards

2. Core operations of transfer registration

1. Sign a purchase contract with the car owner and issue a unified transaction invoice for used cars

2. The vehicle management office inspects the vehicle and recovers the original license plate and driving license

3. The registration certificate is endorsed and transferred for export, and a temporary number plate for up to 60 days will be issued

4. Key points: The vehicle owner must be changed to an export-qualified enterprise, and personal vehicles cannot be directly exported

Phase 2: Vehicle preparation + national standard compulsory third-party testing (WM/T 8-2022)

1. preparation

Clean the exterior interior, replace oil and water, repair lights/brakes, and eliminate fault codes; new energy detection batteries have no bulging and normal insulation

2. One inspection for one vehicle (necessary, core material for the license)

Qualification of testing institution: The Ministry of Commerce recognizes third-party testing units and performs all testing in accordance with WM/T8-2022:

1. Document verification (VIN, engine number consistency)

2. Accident investigation (structural cutting, soaking in water, burning)

3. Chassis, braking, lighting, OBD emission testing

4. New energy extra: battery health SOH, tertiary power failure, high-voltage insulation

5. Take photos and keep files (frame number, mileage, multiple angles of the entire vehicle)

3. document production

"Quality Inspection Qualification Report on Used Car Export"+ institutional compliance statement, unqualified vehicles will be directly eliminated and prohibited from being exported

Stage 3: Apply for destination country access certification in advance (complete before shipment to avoid withholding goods at the port)

Apply in advance according to the requirements of the target country (customs clearance cannot be achieved without doing it):

Middle East: SASO/GSO; Russia: SBKTS; Nigeria: SON VEHCAP; Kenya: KEBS CoR; EU WVTA

General documents: English vehicle condition notarization, certificate of origin, battery test report (new energy)

Stage 4: Apply for a used car export license (national control, one ticket, one license)

1. Handling rules

Whoever exports and applies cannot be handled on behalf of him; one certificate per batch, and a maximum of 20 units can be declared at a time

Online channel: Electronic declaration on the unified platform of the Ministry of Commerce's business system

Timing: Provincial Department of Commerce will review the electronic license within 3 working days

2. Full set of application materials

1. Online application form for export license

2. Motor vehicle registration certificate endorsed "transfer pending export"

3. Second-hand car purchase invoice, Chinese and English foreign trade sales contract

4.WM/T8-2022 Third Party Conformity Test Report

5. Corporate Compliance Commitment

6. Vehicles registered for less than 180 days: after-sales maintenance confirmation letter from the automobile company

3. important limitation

The license information (VIN, vehicle age, displacement) must be completely consistent with the registration certificate and test report, and it will be directly rejected if it is incorrectly filled.

Stage 5: Trailing to port/yard, booking, and encasing

1. Drag the vehicle to the exit port yard with temporary license plate

2. Shipping/land booking (full container/single truck ro-ro ship)

3. Vehicle fixation protection: glass film, tire fixation, power failure prevention, interior protection

4. Make packing lists and commercial invoices (core customs declaration documents)

Stage 6: Customs declaration, inspection, and release (customs clearance process)

1. reporting channels

International trade single window paperless declaration

2. Required documents for customs declaration

Export license (electronic online verification), commercial invoice, packing list, foreign trade contract, copy of vehicle registration certificate, test report

3. Customs declaration specifications

The product name is filled in uniformly: old + brand + displacement + model, and the 17-digit VIN code is fully entered

4. Inspection and release

1. Low-risk paperless direct release; high-risk on-site verification of frame number, vehicle condition, and document consistency

2. The customs will verify the bottom account of the license, and issue an export goods declaration form (collection verification copy) after completion

3. Vehicles are shipped/shipped out of the country. Vehicles that have been cleared are prohibited from being returned to China

Stage 7: Foreign exchange collection and tax filing (financial link)

1. The foreign buyer pays foreign exchange to the corporate foreign currency account, and the bank issues a collection receipt

2. The tax bureau makes an export filing: there is no export tax refund for used car exports (old motor vehicles do not enjoy the tax refund policy)

3. Keep a complete set of customs declaration, foreign exchange collection, and vehicle files for future reference for at least 6 years

Stage 8: Vehicle registration at the Vehicle Management Office (mandatory, overdue lock system)

1. time limit requirements

The vehicle must be cancelled within 2 months after leaving the country. The system will be locked out after the time limit, and no new export license can be applied for.

2. Write-off materials

1. Original export declaration form

2. Enterprise business license, handler ID card

3. Registration certificate, temporary number plate

4. All vehicle violations and accidents have been handled

3. Completion results

The vehicle management office endorsed the vehicle export cancellation, the domestic motor vehicle files were cleared, and the process was completed

Overall cycle reference (regular sea export)

1. Acquisition and transfer: 1-3 days

2. Vehicle inspection and preparation: 1-2 days

3. Export license: 3 working days

4. Port packing customs declaration: 1-3 days

5. Sea voyage (Middle East/Southeast Asia) 7-30 days

6. Cancellation of return home: completed within 2 months after the ship leaves

Key rules for high-frequency pit avoidance

1. Vehicles must be transferred to the exporting enterprise first. Vehicles under individual names cannot apply for export licenses.

2. The test report and license VIN cannot be wrong, and all wrong orders will be invalid and reprocessed.

3. The certification of the destination country must be completed domestically, and the re-application in Hong Kong will result in huge detentions, fines and even reshipments.

4. Cancellation will be cancelled within 2 months after customs clearance, and enterprises exceeding the deadline will suspend their export business processing authority

5. Only a very small number of backward countries can access national three vehicles, and the lowest in the mainstream market is national four (Europe 4)

Source: Small amount of cars

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