Buying a Chinese car from Lebanon, step by step

Choose the car and the trim

Start on the car pages: /en/cars holds the cars we quote, and /en/china-market shows the makers' own guide prices inside China. Those China guide prices belong to the makers, so treat them as a reference point and not as our offer. Trucks and machinery sit on /en/industrial.

A car on our list carries a price only while the quote behind it is under ninety days old. Older quotes show "on request" until we check them again with the exporter. The car itself is the same model sold to buyers in China.

How the quote is put together

Once the car, colour and add-ons are settled with the exporter, you receive one quote. It has three separate lines: the car, the work done in China, and the sea freight. Our fee on the car is fixed per car and agreed before you order.

Freight comes from the forwarder for the sailing your car will take, so it can move from one month to the next. That is why it sits on its own line and is never folded into the car price.

The pro-forma invoice and payment

A pro-forma invoice is a quote laid out as an invoice. It normally names the seller and buyer, the goods, unit prices, the delivery point, the payment terms, an estimated shipping date and how long the offer stays valid. Changes to it should only be made with the buyer's agreement.

You pay against that pro-forma, on the terms printed in it. Payment terms differ between exporters, so read the schedule on your own invoice rather than assuming a standard split.

The export licence in China

Since 1 January 2026, China requires an export licence for pure electric passenger cars. Four agencies, MOFCOM, MIIT, the General Administration of Customs and SAMR, announced the rule on 26 September 2025 as Announcement No. 54 of 2025. It covers passenger vehicles driven only by an electric motor, reference customs code 8703801090.

Firms apply for the 2026 licence through MOFCOM's online system, and the qualification rules follow a 2012 notice on car and motorcycle exports. We buy new cars at factory-order prices through licensed exporters in China, so the licence sits with the exporter and not with you.

Work done in China before loading

Between the factory and the ship, the car goes to our installation partner near the export port. Paint protection film or a colour change goes on there, and the technicians we work with set up the electronics: English menus, Apple CarPlay, your apps and a slot for a Lebanese SIM, where the car allows it.

Before loading, you are sent photos and video of the fitting and a filmed test of the car's electronics. Every film is covered by a warranty card from its maker, issued in China. Prices for film, colour and the other work done in China are on the services page, /en/services.

Shipping as dangerous goods

Amendment 42-24 of the IMDG Code became mandatory on 1 January 2026, after a voluntary year in 2025. It gives vehicles powered by lithium or sodium-ion batteries their own Class 9 entries, UN 3556 to 3558. A battery electric car now ships as UN 3556 rather than under the older entry UN 3171.

In practice your car sails as dangerous goods. A 40 ft container takes two or three cars depending on their size, and one car can go alone in a 20 ft box at a higher price per car. The freight is quoted for each sailing, and the crossing to Beirut takes about a month.

Clearing customs in Beirut

Lebanon's Budget Law No. 40/2026 took effect on 10 February 2026. Customs decision No. 9/2026 gives new, fully electric cars a full exemption from customs duty and the internal consumption tax, for five years to 9 February 2031. A summary of the budget law also lists a 70% cut in first registration and mechanical fees.

VAT and the import fee are still charged, and a licensed clearing agent handles the file. The decision applies to new cars only. A car already registered in China may be treated as used, so before you commit we ask the clearing agent for the customs ruling on your car.

What to ask before paying, and what stays uncertain

Before you pay, ask which electronics your car supports outside China and how each one will be set up. Ask to see the three lines of the quote side by side, and check the validity date on the pro-forma.

Driver assistance outside China works at the level the maker enables abroad. We test it on your car and tell you which features work in Lebanon, rather than promising them in advance. Remote functions through the maker's app are checked on each car in the same way.

Software is the other open point. When the licence rule was announced, CnEVPost reported that cars sold abroad through unauthorised channels had often drawn complaints about limited software updates and weak after-sales service. An English menu flashed by a third party may be wiped by the next factory update, so we prefer the maker's own update wherever it brings English and CarPlay. After delivery you keep the same WhatsApp contact you bought through.

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