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I heard that no driving license is needed for scooters. What about motorbikes (200+ cc)? Can I drive with B (cars) category big bikes?
Regards
Quote:I heard that no driving license is needed for scooters. What about motorbikes (200+ cc)? Can I drive with B (cars) category big bikes?You need a license for a motorbike or gas powered scooter, but foreigners often ride both unlicensed without issue. It’s technically illegal but 90% of the time foreigners get away with it. I think any motorcycle over 400cc or so is also not allowed or is obscenely expensive (except for the Changjiang vintage bike with sidecar).
Getting a licence is pretty simple if you have a driving licence in your own country. Get in notarized, get the most basic health exam ever(basically they check that you are living and have 2 hands). Then swot up the driving test, there are 1345 questions if I remember correctly, at first there looks to be no logic but you soon discover there is a certain pattern to answers and head to the driving centre to sit your multiple choice test. Chances of getting caught are low but beats spending 15 days in a Chinese jail if you get caught. Laowai are getting a bit of a bad rep in China these days and with the 100 day crack down on illegals it’s best to do things the correct way I think. Peace
Quote:Get in notarized, get the most basic health exam everDo you know where you can get it notarized, or which health exam is required and where you can get it? I was planning on going to the traffic office outside Chengdu to find answers to these questions but it’d be great if I could skip that trip and go there with everything prepared.
Quote:Laowai are getting a bit of a bad rep in China these days and with the 100 day crack down on illegals it’s best to do things the correct way I think. PeaceI agree with you. Personally I’d rather not have to worry about it.
Getting a licence is the easy part. Getting your motorbike registered is difficult.
I had dinner with one of the Policemen in charge of licencing a couple of weeks ago. He told me that a real licence for a motorbike costs 20,000 rmb.
On June 1st stricter regulations were meant to come into play. Automatic fines of 2000 for driving without a licence and 1000 for driving an unregistered bike, or possible 7-14 days jail time from what I heard.
I got stopped by police outside the 2nd ring road 2 weeks ago, whipped off my helmet immediately and ting bu dong’d it. Last time wasn’t so lucky.
I take it that virtually no foreigners have registered bikes then, in addition to the majority not being licensed.
Quote:Last time wasn’t so lucky.What happened?
A friend in Beijing just got a CQR 250, a 250cc Zongshen dual sport which is manufactured in Chongqing. He says it’s working great so far, and costs about 6,000 rmb new which is dirt cheap. It looks like a great bike for the price, even though the last time I had a 200 cc Chinese dual sport I swore off sub-10k bikes due to their unreliability. I asked about the license, he says that cops in Beijing don’t really check or care.
Here’s a Taobao link and photo.
Quote:I take it that virtually no foreigners have registered bikes then, in addition to the majority not being licensed.Yes, and most registration plates are probably fakes.
Think I posted the story about getting my bike taken off me by the police in this thread before.
Quote:Think I posted the story about getting my bike taken off me by the police in this thread before.Oh, right. Sacrificing the 500 yuan bike to avoid the 1,000 fine. Rough.
Quote:I asked about the license, he says that cops in Beijing don’t really check or care.Yeah, 99% of the time that is true but you could be unlucky and get your expensive bike taken off you. I don’t think its worth spending a lot of money on one for use inside the city.
I’m very careful about how I drive in the city now. I normally stop 50 metres before traffic lights (that is the main place they’ll catch you). I also cut the engine if I am passing a policeman. My scooter looks like an electric bike so if there is no noise the police won’t pay any attention.
I got a car licence a couple of years ago. I assume the procedure is the same for a bike licence.
1) Get photos done. They are an odd size, something like 1.5″x1″. The photo place in Yulin near Lamatou do a good job and know which size is needed.
2) Register at your local cop shop. You have probably already registered, so all you need to do is get them to print out your last registration and stamp it.
3) Take the photos and registration to a county level hospital. I can recommend the one on Renmin nanlu in Tongzilin, opposite the masters building. They didn’t run any tests at all. Just asked me if I wore glasses! You need to go weekday mornings.
4) Get your foreign licence translated. You don’t need to get it notarised, just translated by a government certified translation agency. One of the visa places opposite the American Consulate can sort it out for you.
5) The most important and most difficult step…. Study. You will fail if you don’t because the test has a fair bit of Chinglish and strange questions. The on-line test which I posted a link to earlier in this thread is a big help.
6) Take your passport, address registration, foreign licence, foreign licence translation, photos and health check to the DMV and sit the test – 100 questions, pass mark is 90.
Ben got it spot on, when i said notorized I did actually mean government certified translated. My bad. Got mine done like 12 months ago so can’t remember where it was but there are lots of them around town I remember, just a quick search will find one in your area.
Like Ben says the tough part is the revision, the first time I took it I revised for like one day and got 70% hoping to wing it, no chance.
Second time I revised every night for a few weeks and got 94%.
Just dont forget that police registration form, that was a wasted journey:(
Quote:You need a license for a motorbike or gas powered scooter, but foreigners often ride both unlicensed without issue. It’s technically illegal but 90% of the time foreigners get away with it. I think any motorcycle over 400cc or so is also not allowed or is obscenely expensive (except for the Changjiang vintage bike with sidecar).Charlie, I`d like to reassure. Does it mean, that petrol power scooter 150cc does not require license? Regards.
Quote:150cc needs a licenceThank you for an answer.
What are the CC requirements in order to leave the premises of the town (highways)?
I’m sorry, if somewhere-somehow the same question was asked, though I have read this topic entirely and didn`t find the answer. When buying electric scooter from the shop, is the plate included or should be obtained somewhere separately?
Regards
Quote:When buying electric scooter from the shop, is the plate included or should be obtained somewhere separately?Electric scooters don’t need plates. You don’t need a license to drive one, either.
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