China build?

[Badmiker]

Hi friends,

My wife and I currently live in Shanghai, China for work (and life experience of course). Now, we are about 3 years away from early retirement and were thinking of returning to the USA for the first time since 2003 to build an expedition vehicle to take 'round the world for a decade or so. However, getting back into China with a foreign vehicle is .... a bit of a headache. So... we had a thought.

In about 2 years, move over to a different visa. Move to a 3rd tier city. Buy something like a DFAC 3.5t delivery truck (think Chinese NPR with a 13' shipping container body on the back). Then doing a basic build. Bed.,small kitchen, composting toilet, small solar setup. No pass through, no AC, small heater and some roof vent fans, no extra windows, added man door, and some spray foam insulation. We are only 2 people but we have 3 dogs and a cat so a #vanlife build would be very tight. If we get an extended van we need to go up a drivers license class either way. Our Chinese licenses stop at 9 passengers or 3 tons. The big extended vans are above that class. Same class as the NPR clones.

Then kicking about this giant country for about a year.

At the end we rock up to a dealer, hand the keys over and take whatever they offer us. Lose the lot in costs but it should be pretty low to start with. A new truck costs ~15k USD, the quick costs I have calculated bring the whole cost to about 20k USD. If we get 8k for the truck we'd be more than happy. We calculate that getting into the country for one vehicle for 3 weeks with no guide would cost ~4.5k USD so spending 12k for 12 months seems pretty OK to us. Plus, as we speak some Chinese, and would have our own visas, we wont need a guide.

So, does this seem stupid?

I am just wanting some rationality check to make sure we aren't being incredibly stupid.

 

[sg1]

Sounds good. It is always easier and more fun to explore a country with a locally licenced truck because you attract far less attention. I have 2 RVs on 2 continents and this is not unusual. I know somebody with 4. If it is legally possible why not. The only suggestion I have is to use sheet insulation instead of foam or better still get a body for a refrigerated truck. Foam is a mess to work with and smells.

 

[Badmiker]

Since labor is so cheap here... we'd be paying a company to insulate the truck with the spray foam. For the sheet insulation, the body style is congregated much like a shipping container. Mater of fact, for all intents and purposes, the boxes are shipping containers minus the corner locks.





Please note, while this picture shows a BEV, we would be looking for a diesel vehicle. ~3l engine, ~90kw, not fast, not glamorous, 2 wheel drive, manual trans, ~95kph max speed. But then, things here are much slower than the western countries.


We have looked at the reefer trucks but the initial purchase price as about 5000 USD higher than the non-refrigerated boxes. I have a quote for ~800 USD to insulate the area of the box so it's hard not to look at the metal boxes.

 

[plh]

I've been bumping back and forth from USA to China multiple times per year for 15 years, Nice hotels in the 3rd tier cities are cheap, and you get big buffet breakfast. Just saying...

 

[TernOverland]

The only thing I can see possibly hanging you up is selling the truck here. Does the truck meet our EPA requirements? Are there any parts here? The low power and highway speed are limiters. I think walking up a dealer would likely not work so well. A better idea might be to prearrange a sale through a website like this. Otherwise I think the plan is great.

As a side note, we really love the time we spend in China! Wonderful people, and our ties there just keep getting deeper. There are things that we buy there now that save us zero money over a US supplier, but the quality is better. The service and attitude is better. I can get a sample product and a quote in my hands from China before I can get anyone here to return my call. If we ask for a custom product, the cost is fair. Here the cost is punitive We need to learn a little Chinese too.

 

[Badmiker]

Hey Tern Overland,

Yeah, we have found the same thing. The products here are either superior quality for the same price or a lower price for similar quality to what we could get in the UK and the US. I suppose since most things are made here.

We would be leaving the vehicle here in China before we leave as exporting a vehicle is even more impossible than getting one in. We would only build a very basic build knowing it would be sold off in 1 year.

We've been here in Shanghai for nearly 3 years now and will probably be here for another 2 or so before the build starts. Our friend lives up in Dongbei area and has repeatedly invited us to her home, we may have a 'base' from which to build up there with a local to help with the more complex translation and negotiation during the build. We could employ her family member as a personal assistant for the 1-2 months we would be building.

Now....all I gotta do is keep sane in an insane work culture for the next 400 working days.

 

[Badmiker]

So,

Current challenge here is how to get a bigger license category. I currently have a C1 category and think I need either a B1 or B2 category (Middle passenger vehicle, or Heavy Goods Vehicle). I have our HR looking for a school for me.

If this goes ahead... I'll do a basic build log.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Another idea would be to build a habitat that could be used on a different truck once you return to the USA. Build it so that it would fit in a 20' container. No worries importing it and finding a truck should not be too difficult. That way you could take advantage of the lower labor rates to build the habitat to a high standard.

 

[SootyCamper]

Why not purchase a ready made RV in China? doesn't sound like you are needing/wanting a robust 4x4 so why all the hassle.

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

m.alibaba.com

 

[biggoolies]

Please educate me. I have no desire to travel through that country. They make you take a guide along when you travel there for $300 per day. Immediate mistrust. So you are considered a criminal the day you want to explore there. They come to our countries and they can freely go wherever they want. To me there is something wrong with that. There are so many other countries in the world to explore where you are not treated that way.

 

[biggoolies]

Of course the word “guide” is the biggest joke out there.

 

[Badmiker]

Please educate me. I have no desire to travel through that country. They make you take a guide along when you travel there for $300 per day. Immediate mistrust. So you are considered a criminal the day you want to explore there. They come to our countries and they can freely go wherever they want. To me there is something wrong with that. There are so many other countries in the world to explore where you are not treated that way.

Well.. We currently live here. I have traveled many places here in China for work and will be leaving in a fey days for another 3 weeks on the road.

As for a guide, I think I can offer some ideas on why one would want one.

1. The road sighs, menus, rules, etc., are all pretty much written only in characters. Even though over a billion people read these, not many foreigners do.
2. There are very few people here that speak English outside of the biggest cities. We live in Shanghai and found that without taking about a year of Mandarin life was much harder. We don't speak much but the amount we do makes all the difference.
3. Yes, China is a 'closed' country. No they don't have a lot of the freedoms that the west enjoy. Yes there are a lot of things politically that people may disagree with or agree with depending on your own political leaning. We have found that >90% of the individual people we have had any interaction with, are lovely, genuine, and warm. People who have toured other repressive countries have expressed the same. I feel that by expanding communication, learning, and sharing experiences we can change the world for better.

As for seeing this country, it is larger than the USA, has some absolutely amazing locations, a rich culture and heritage, and as global travelers, should be on anyone's list. We are in the fairly unique position of already living here. We are also in a fairly unique position that we may be able to transfer to a visa that will continue to allow us to freely travel in the country. We are also fortunate enough to have a potential build location, and help with the language through friends who want to show the outside world their piece of it.

We would hope that anyone who was also looking to travel the world would understand. Of course YMMV

 

[Badmiker]

Why not purchase a ready made RV in China? doesn't sound like you are needing/wanting a robust 4x4 so why all the hassle.

This product is no longer available.

This product is no longer available.

m.alibaba.com

We have looked at those, the cost of them can be much higher than we really want to spend, the 'hassle' of building them is part of the fun. Further, we have lived in a traditional RV and are looking for something a bit different. The roads here while not needing 4x4 and huge ground clearance are still exceptionally poor in many locations. We need something robust, and stealthy. These delivery trucks are as ubiquitous as a F150 in the USA or a Transit in the UK.

Of course, if the right vehicle becomes available..... anything is possible. At this point, we are just starting to lay some initial ground work. This last weekend our friend, Xu, told us we would be welcome to live with her family for 6 months to a year and that her brothers and family are in trucking and truck maintenance so... that is promising. Our other friend, Debbie, has offered to help us get our entrepreneur Visa paperwork in order, another small step in the process.

 

[offroadite]

Thats the nicest truck Ive ever seen in Shanghai-they all seem to be 30 yrs old and only the cars are new. Have you looked at the smaller domestic market buses? Not sure about pricing or eventual resale.

 

[Badmiker]

Thats the nicest truck Ive ever seen in Shanghai-they all seem to be 30 yrs old and only the cars are new. Have you looked at the smaller domestic market buses? Not sure about pricing or eventual resale.

It kinda helps that I am diesel aftertreatment calibration engineer and many of my customers make these things. I am currently working on a van with a 2.8l diesel and bringing it kicking and screaming up to CN6 emissions standard. We have about 4 or so of the latest DFAC trucks on site that I have been eyeing. Other customers are also making similar vehicles. New prices are about 150,000 kuai, we hope to pick one up lightly used.