Want to import Chinese cars, but worried there's no local after-sales if they break down—what to do?
Chinese products have long taken "high quality and low price" as their core competitiveness. Since the rise of China's electric vehicles, more and more people have wanted to import an electric vehicle from China. However, because many Chinese brands have not yet established after-sales service centers in your local area, you may have concerns: if you buy a Chinese car and it has a problem, will there be no way to repair it?
Yes, this is indeed a valid concern. For large consumer goods like cars, after-sales service is really a crucial aspect. However, you need to look at this situation from different perspectives. If you are buying a fuel-powered car, you don’t need to worry too much about this issue. This is because there are relatively few independent Chinese fuel-powered car brands; most fuel-powered car brands sold in China are produced by European, American, or Japanese automakers in their Chinese factories. The models and sizes of the spare parts they use are mostly compatible with those available at local repair shops, meaning they can be used directly. Among the best-selling fuel-powered car brands in China, Volkswagen, Buick, Sylphy, Excelle, and Audi are all non-Chinese brands. Therefore, if you import such a car, you can easily resolve any maintenance issues locally if they arise.
If you are buying a new energy vehicle, such as a pure electric vehicle or a hybrid electric vehicle, you may need to focus more on the maintenance issue. The good news is that the situation is not that complicated, and this article is believed to help solve most of your doubts.
First, understand these key backgrounds to reduce maintenance concerns
Electric vehicles have relatively lower failure rates
First of all, electric vehicles have far fewer components than fuel-powered vehicles. An average fuel-powered vehicle has about 30,000 components, while an electric vehicle has only 10,000 components. This determines that the possibility of maintenance issues for an electric vehicle is much lower. On the other hand, electric vehicles hardly require maintenance. If a fuel-powered vehicle needs maintenance due to your lack of a regular maintenance habit, such a situation basically does not occur with electric vehicles.
The core part where fuel-powered vehicles are prone to failures is the engine, as it is relatively sophisticated and part of the core power system. However, in comparison, the electric motor used in electric vehicles has a much simpler physical structure than the internal combustion engine. Therefore, if there is a problem with the power system, the overall maintenance and replacement costs will also be lower.
Most common automotive parts are universal
Due to China's well-developed industrial system, for an automobile manufacturer, the most cost-effective way is to directly purchase mature parts from the market for vehicle assembly. This is quite different from Tesla. Because the industrial foundation in the United States is relatively weak, more than 90% of Tesla's components are self-developed. In contrast, the components of vehicles produced by Chinese independent brands are much more universal. For example, commonly problematic parts such as tires, car lights, windows, and car paint can all be found as low-cost universal parts in local auto repair shops. Therefore, if there is a need for maintenance due to minor scratches or collisions, you don't have to worry about this issue at all.
What should you focus on most?
Choosing well-known brands
First of all, you need to pay attention to the brand of the vehicle you are going to buy. Please try to choose well-known brands for purchase. Because their quality is more guaranteed, and it is very likely that official direct-sale after-sales service centers will soon be established in your local area. Their components are also easier to purchase. Well-known brands in China include BYD, Geely Auto, Li Auto, etc. You can find most of China's automobile brands here. You can learn about the top automobile brands in China through the following article: Which Are the Best Chinese Automobile Brands? The vehicle quality of these brands is very reliable, and they are currently actively developing overseas sales markets and building after-sales centers.
Disabling automatic software updates
After you purchase the vehicle, it is strongly recommended to disable the automatic update function of the vehicle's software system. Although this is a very important feature of smart cars, due to the differences between the local network environment and that in China, failures may occur during the update process, such as system crashes, screen blackouts, and inability to start the vehicle. Technically, these problems can be solved, but since you are not in China, the automobile manufacturer may not have engineers who can speak your language to help you solve the problems, which will bring you great trouble.
In addition, there may be certain differences between the software version used by the vehicle and your language. After the vehicle is updated via OTA (Over-the-Air Technology), you may not be able to understand the changes in the vehicle's functions in a timely manner, leading to operational errors when using the vehicle. The first version of the software system pre-installed in the vehicle at the factory is usually the most stable and reliable. If you do not pursue the "novelty" of the vehicle's functions, be sure to remember this point.
For some intelligent vehicle models, if the system detects that your location is outside China, it may automatically disable the update function. If you don't know how to manually disable the automatic software update, you can contact the salesperson who assisted you with the purchase.
When you purchase the vehicle, some Chinese agents can provide language conversion services, such as converting the Chinese interface of the vehicle machine system to the local commonly used Russian or English. This is very beneficial for you to use the vehicle machine system, but such services usually require an additional fee, for example, about 1,000 US dollars (the specific fee varies depending on the vehicle model). You need to contact your purchasing agent for details.
Battery health is the core
The battery is the largest cost component of an electric vehicle and is also the health issue you should care about the most. With your use, the actual cruising range of the battery may decrease, but if you have good usage habits, you can actually greatly extend the service life of the battery.
In principle, the batteries used in current electric vehicles are mainly lithium-ion batteries, and the electricity of the battery comes from the flow of lithium ions from the negative electrode to the positive electrode.
There are three types of structures inside the battery, namely the positive electrode, the negative electrode, and the separator in the middle. The key to maintenance lies in reducing the attenuation of these three structures.
- Charge in a timely manner
When you use the vehicle with low battery power, leading to over-discharge of the battery, the number of lithium ions in the negative electrode will decrease excessively, causing the molecular structure of the negative electrode to collapse. This will make some of the negative electrode materials lose the ability to continue charging and discharging. The longer the over-discharge lasts, the more serious the attenuation of the negative electrode will become. It is recommended that you start charging when the battery power is less than 20% and try to avoid using the vehicle when the power is lower than 5%.
- Avoid over-charging
Similar to the principle of over-discharge, over-charging will cause the attenuation of the positive electrode material and also reduce the service life of the battery. Currently, many Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers set the battery to automatically stop charging when it reaches 90% capacity at the factory. If the vehicle you bought does not have this setting, you can manually set the charging limit to 90% yourself. This will greatly extend the service life of the lithium battery.
- The impact of extreme weather on the battery
Batteries usually experience cruising range attenuation in cold environments. For example, a car with a cruising range of 400 kilometers in summer may only have a cruising range of 350 kilometers in winter. This is because low temperatures slow down the movement speed of lithium ions, which is a normal physical phenomenon and will not cause irreversible damage to the battery. If you have the condition, parking the vehicle in a garage and avoiding prolonged exposure to extremely low temperatures is advisable.
When charging, you should pay special attention to avoiding charging in high temperatures. Because the movement speed of lithium ions will be very fast at high temperatures, and charging at this time may cause damage to the internal structure of the battery. In summer, you should try to charge the battery in a cool place. Or, when charging after the vehicle has been driven for a long time, you can let the vehicle stand for 10 minutes first to allow the battery temperature to drop slightly before starting the charging process.
Specific fault solutions
First of all, if the vehicle has any scratches that require maintenance, please go to the nearest repair shop first. It is believed that they can solve 90% of your problems.
If the local repair shop cannot solve the problem, you can contact the salesperson who sold you the car and ask them to help you find a remote diagnostic technical expert in China. Generally, the expert will first ask you to show the specific location and symptoms of the vehicle fault through a video. For some problems that are difficult to judge visually, they may suggest using an automotive diagnostic tool for testing. At this time, you can ask the local maintenance center for assistance. Of course, if you have an automotive diagnostic tool at home, you can also perform the test yourself. The diagnostic tool is quite cost-effective, usually costing around 500 US dollars. If you are interested in vehicles or have multiple cars at home, it is a good idea to have such a tool on hand.
It should be noted here that even if your purchasing agent does not have an after-sales center in the local area, you can still contact them for assistance if any fault occurs in the vehicle. Therefore, when purchasing a vehicle, try to choose a service provider you consider reliable. Even if their service fee may be slightly higher, they will do their best to help you when problems arise, which is worthwhile. For example, ZEEX AUTO is a reliable automobile export service provider, with all employees having a bachelor's degree or above, and its service level is leading in the industry.
Due to the very fast iteration speed of electric vehicles in China currently, it is very likely that the new vehicle model you buy has good quality and rich functions, but there may be no corresponding compatible parts available for sale in your local area. If this is the case, you need to purchase the parts from China yourself. However, due to the developed network and logistics system, this process will be very smooth. I will sort out the following channels for you to quickly obtain the parts you need.
- E-commerce platforms
There are many e-commerce platforms specifically for export. Different from Amazon, these platforms target bulk export customers. Behind them are often some local factories in China, which will ship directly from China and provide multiple logistics options such as land transportation and sea transportation.
Alibaba.com (Alibaba International Station) is your first choice, as it has the largest number of merchants, and you can find almost any product you need here. Even if you cannot find the parts for the corresponding vehicle model, you can contact the online customer service to help you find them. Because merchants on the platform will not list all their products online, the customer service can usually help you connect with more accurate suppliers. Made-in-china.com (Made-in-China.com) is a very good choice. Its scale is slightly smaller than that of Alibaba, but it is also outstanding in the professionalism of segmented categories and can be used as a supplementary option to expand your purchasing scope.
- Professional Auto Parts Exporters
There are many service providers in China that specialize in auto parts export. ZEEX AUTO also engaged in related businesses in the past.
APEC AUTO is a relatively professional one that I have learned about. You can also search for more similar professional auto parts exporters through Google or other search engines.
- Keep in Touch with Your Car Salesperson
Always remember that the salesperson who served you when you bought your car is your last line of support. If you encounter any usage issues with your car—including situations where you cannot find a place to purchase parts for malfunctions—you can contact them and ask them to help you buy the required products in China.
Of course, they may charge a certain service fee, but please remember to maintain a good relationship with your car salesperson after purchasing the vehicle. Therefore, when choosing a supplier (or dealer), you must also select professional candidates who possess a service-oriented mindset.
