When you bring a foreign car into China temporarily, customs charges a deposit. By regulation it's 50–65% of the vehicle's declared value — a European motorhome worth RMB 800,000 would require a deposit of RMB 400,000–520,000. But experienced overlanders know that in practice, most drivers only end up paying RMB 10,000. How does that work? Why do some drivers pay hundreds of thousands while others pay just 10,000? This guide explains what the customs deposit actually is, why our guarantee reduces it to 10,000, who you pay it to, when it must arrive, how long after exit it's refunded, and under what conditions it might be withheld.
I've been doing this for nearly ten years, and the customs deposit is the question I get asked most often. "I heard it's hundreds of thousands?" "Why do some people only pay 10,000?" "Who do I pay it to?" "When do I get it back?" Let me walk through the whole thing.
1. What is the customs deposit for?
The logic is simple. When you drive a foreign-plated car into China temporarily, what is customs worried about? They're worried you'll sell the car, or just leave it in China and drive away. After all, you're a foreign national, the car has foreign plates — if you truly abandoned the car and disappeared, who would they go after?
So customs holds a sum of money as a guarantee that "you will definitely drive the car back out." That's the customs deposit. If you drive the car out on time, you get the full amount back. If you don't, customs keeps it.
This mechanism exists at customs offices worldwide — China didn't invent it. Different countries just set different percentages.
2. The official rate: 50–65% of vehicle value
By Chinese customs regulation, the deposit for a temporarily imported foreign vehicle is assessed at 50–65% of the vehicle's declared value.
Here are some examples:
- Toyota Prado, value RMB 300,000 → deposit RMB 150,000–195,000
- European self-propelled motorhome, value RMB 800,000 → deposit RMB 400,000–520,000
- Motorcycle, value RMB 100,000 → deposit RMB 50,000–65,000
Think about it: you're coming to China for a three-month road trip, and you have to freeze hundreds of thousands in a customs account. Many foreign visitors hear that number and give up right there — not because they don't want to travel, but because putting up that much cash all at once is too much of a financial burden.
3. Why do you only pay RMB 10,000 with our guarantee?
Here's the key. We are a licensed outbound travel agency — we've posted a RMB 1.6 million quality guarantee with the tourism bureau, and we've been operating for over three years. We can issue a guarantee letter to customs, saying: "This vehicle is guaranteed by our travel agency. The owner will definitely drive the car out on time. If they don't, our agency is responsible."
With that guarantee on file, customs doesn't need you to freeze hundreds of thousands. Customs figures: a travel agency can't just disappear — it has RMB 1.6 million on deposit with the tourism bureau, and it's far more reliable than an individual. With an agency guarantee in place, customs is comfortable only collecting RMB 10,000 from you.
What is this RMB 10,000? It's a symbolic deposit. Whether your car is worth RMB 100,000 or 1,000,000, as long as our agency is guaranteeing it, you pay 10,000. Cars, motorhomes, motorcycles — all the same 10,000.
Why is it the same price for cars, motorhomes, and bikes? Because the guarantee logic is identical — we guarantee you'll drive the car out. Customs doesn't care how much your vehicle is worth; it cares whether a reliable institution is standing behind you. We issue the guarantee letter, you pay 10,000, done.
4. Who do you pay this money to?
This is the second critical question. Many people assume the 10,000 is our service fee. It isn't.
The RMB 10,000 is wired directly to customs' corporate bank account. From your own bank account, via international wire transfer, straight to customs' business account. We never touch this money — we just handle the paperwork, give you the account details, and confirm when the funds have arrived.
Why do I emphasize this? Because you need to know this money isn't going to us — it's going to customs. When you exit the country, customs refunds the money back to the same account you paid from. It never passes through our hands. We earn our service fee separately; the deposit is customs' money.
5. When must the money arrive?
Timing is critical, and I stress this to every client: the RMB 10,000 must arrive in customs' corporate account no later than 3 days before you enter.
Why 3 days? Because customs needs to confirm the funds have arrived before they can generate your customs declaration. If you show up at the port and the money hasn't arrived, customs won't process your entry — you can't come in that day.
International wire transfers take time. Sending money from abroad to a Chinese customs account typically takes 3–5 business days. So our timeline is:
- Send us your documents 20 days in advance — we start the declaration process
- Wire the RMB 10,000 at least 5 days before your entry date (leaving 2 days for bank processing)
- Confirm the money has landed in customs' account by 3 days before entry
Don't cut it close. I've seen too many clients make this mistake: they wire the money when they arrive at the port, then wait 3–4 days for it to clear, staying in a nearby hotel for a week at several hundred yuan per night. That time and money is completely avoidable.
6. What if the money is late?
If your entry date arrives and the funds haven't reached customs' account, customs cancels the declaration. The service fee for that batch is non-refundable.
That's not our rule — that's customs' process. The declaration was generated, the money never showed up, and customs gave that slot to another vehicle. Next time you come, you re-declare and pay the service fee again.
So don't delay. The amount is the same whether you wire it now or later — wire it early and you'll have peace of mind.
One thing people don't account for: international wire transfers have fees. Sending RMB 10,000 from a foreign bank to a Chinese customs account passes through one or two intermediary banks, and each intermediary deducts a fee. Typical international wire fees are USD 15–30, or roughly RMB 100–200. That money goes to the banks — not to us, not to customs.
This means the amount that actually arrives at customs may be slightly less than 10,000. For example, if you wire USD 1,400 (about RMB 10,000) from a US bank, and the intermediary bank takes USD 25, customs might only receive USD 1,375 — less than RMB 10,000. That's a problem: customs sees the deposit as incomplete and won't generate your declaration.
My advice: wire a little extra. Send USD 1,500, and after fees you'll still have USD 1,400+ arriving — comfortably over RMB 10,000. Customs refunds the excess later. Don't wire exactly RMB 10,000 — once intermediary fees come out, it'll be short.
7. When do you get the money back after exiting?
After you drive the car out through the port, customs does an "exit verification" in their system — confirming the vehicle has left China. Then their internal approval process takes another 3–5 business days, and the RMB 10,000 is wired back to the same account you paid from.
Note: "business days," not calendar days. If you exit on a Friday, the weekend doesn't count — customs starts processing Monday, and you'll see the money Wednesday or Thursday. At month-end or year-end when customs is closing books, it can take 7–10 business days, but I've never seen it exceed two weeks.
The refund requires three conditions:
- You exited within the temporary plate validity period — no overstay
- There are no unresolved traffic violations
- The vehicle has no outstanding customs issues (e.g., the vehicle state at entry matches the state at exit)
If all three are met, you get the full RMB 10,000 back. If any one fails, customs holds the deposit until you resolve the issue.
8. Practical tips
Keep your bank receipt. After wiring the RMB 10,000, photograph the bank transfer slip and send it to us for our records. If customs' system doesn't show the payment, we can use the receipt to reconcile with them.
Keep your entry declaration. We give you a vehicle declaration checklist — keep a copy for yourself. At exit, customs checks the vehicle's condition; if you've replaced parts or had repairs, keep the repair shop invoices.
Tell us a week before you exit. Let us know which port you'll exit through and roughly when, a week in advance. We'll check whether you have any unresolved traffic violations anywhere in the country — if there are, we'll get them sorted before you exit, otherwise your refund gets held up.
Common questions
Q: Can I pay the deposit by credit card?
A: No. It must be a bank wire transfer from your personal bank account directly to customs' corporate account. Credit cards, WeChat Pay, Alipay — none accepted. That's customs' rule, not ours.
Q: I'm bringing two vehicles — do I pay two deposits?
A: Yes. RMB 10,000 per vehicle. Two cars = 20,000. Each vehicle is declared separately, each has its own deposit, and each is verified and refunded separately at exit. Bring a convoy? You'll need one deposit per vehicle.
Q: When the deposit is refunded, what exchange rate applies?
A: The money is in RMB the whole time. You wire RMB-equivalent, customs refunds RMB back to your account. You don't need to worry about exchange rate fluctuations — the amount is denominated in RMB from start to finish.
Final thoughts
The customs deposit comes down to this: with our travel agency guarantee, you pay RMB 10,000 — not hundreds of thousands. The 10,000 goes to customs' corporate account, not to us. It must arrive 3 days before entry, and it's fully refunded 3–5 business days after exit. Drive responsibly, exit on time, clear your tickets, and the 10,000 is just a formality — it's yours in the end.
If you have more questions about the deposit — which account to use, when to wire it, how long the transfer takes — send us your entry port and date, and we'll send you the account details and timeline.
Zara — WeChat and WhatsApp: +86 13759155671. Email: [email protected]. Deposit is RMB 10,000, must arrive 3 days before entry, fully refunded after exit. Send us your documents 20 days in advance and we'll arrange the whole process.