About a year ago, we looked into renting a car to drive around Shanghai and over to neighboring cities. There happens to be a car rental place just across the street from us. They have electric cars and standard gas cars: mostly compacts and sub-compacts (like the Honda Fit). And buying a car then was still very expensive and out of the question. Not only are cars were very expensive, but parking is non-existent (or very expensive) just about everywhere, gas is expensive, and its hazardous with people walking riding everywhere and drivers driving and parking everywhere (legally or not). License fees cost as much as the car. And getting a drivers license took months and thousands of Yuan (like ~10,000¥).
Things are changing
Some cars are cheaper now – especially if they are made in China: Volkswagons and Hondas, and Chinese makers. Buick, believe it or not, is very popular and inexpensive as well with some models cheaper than in the States. License plates are still very expensive as the local government is trying to control congestion on the roads by limiting the number of plates sold each month – thus driving up the prices to a fixed ceiling of 95,000¥ each. Your odds of actually getting a license each month is about 1 in 20. However, if you buy electric, or hybrid, they license plate may be free!
Then just last month, the rules on getting a drivers license for overseas license holders changed…so we jumped on it.
Now all you need is your passport, 90 days left on your visa, a foreign drivers license and your local residence registration paper, a physical and written test…and about 185¥. This is one of the few times is turns out to be cheaper and easier to be an expat in China.
The Process
Its about a 1 week process, from start to finish, to get a license…if you pass all the tests.
First you must get you foreign drivers license translated at one of just two approved translations companies. This costs 50¥ each and takes just a few minutes.
Then you take all your documents, with photocopies of everything, to the license bureau main building to have them checked and approved .
After that, it off to another building to get yourself photographed. If you wear glasses, they give you goofy frames without lenses so as not to reflect back. And then you pay a fee of 25¥ for that.
Now off to the medical building for your physical. You’re weighed and measured height and grip strength, then heart rate and blood pressure, an eye exam with colorblind test, and a hearing test. Another fee of 60¥ is paid for all that.
If all that’s good, it’s back to the main building in the foreign license section to schedule your written exam, in a week, and pay yet another fee of 40¥ for that.
Now you go home and study, and study, and study some more.
There are two apps available for your smartphone, China Dive and ‘A drivers license first whiff’ (translated from Chinese), that are very helpful in preparing for the test. The exam consists of 100 randomly selected questions out of a total of 1,300 or so, and both apps cover most everything. The apps are free, but not perfect. Some of the questions have the wrong answers and a few of the test questions weren’t in the apps. But its better than nothing.
A week later, its back to the main building of the license bureau. You’re given 45 minutes to answer 100 questions of true/false and multiple choice. Some have pictures, like road signs or intersections and traffic police gestures, but most are just questions like:
What is the maximum speed allowed on any expressway? A) 80 kph B) 100 kph C) 120 kph D) 140 kph
It’s all on computer and a web cam watches you all the time – so no cheating!! The test is given in Chinese or English and you must get 90 correct to pass. If you fail, you must schedule another test, but its free.
And we did! (Pass, that is)
So it was off to the second floor to pay another fee of 10¥ for the actual license and the book to keep it in, and then pick up our ready made drivers licenses!
(I am also licensed to drive a motorcycle in China – yikes!)
The licenses are good for 6 years, but you’re not allowed to drive on the highway for the first year. If you have 0 points against your license in the first 6 years then your next license is good for 10 years. If you get 0 points against that in 10 years, your next license is good ‘forever’ (or age 70, whichever comes first). You’re not allowed to drive past age 70 no matter how fit you are physically or mentally.
The Future
So, a quick jaunt over to the car rental place sometime soon and a drive around town with family. Should be fun, if not a bit hair-raising!
Perhaps in a year or so, if our plans pan out, we may even buy a car. I know. I know! I’ve said before ‘you’d be insane to own a car in Shanghai’. We’ll just have to see how our plans turn out to not break this rule…