Renting motorcycles

[nico]

Hia

Does anyone know where in Chengdu or Shuangliu I could rent a motorcycle? Say per day or per month,I thought of buying one,but what do you do if you relocate to another province? Not keen to drive from Chengdu to Shanghai on on a 250cc..lol

[Charlie]

My assumption is that tenting motorcycles is probably very difficult or impossible because there would be fear of the renter being responsible for anyone injured on it. People drive quite crazy in Chengdu, motorcycles are doubly dangerous here compared to in the developed West.

Just to give you an example, they used to rent motorcycles at Dali which you could rent and drive all around the local lake with, but one year an expat did this and was injured. Since then I don’t think they rent motorcycles out to foreigners.

If you buy a motorcycle here though, you can have it shipped to wherever you’re going, in addition to the option of driving it there obviously. A lot of motorcycles are manufactured in Chongqing and are shipped all around the world from there. So if you want a great deal, shop in Chongqing.

[Rick in China]

You can buy a motorcycle.. but renting, I can’t imagine ANYONE renting a motorcycle to someone, especially without a valid motorcycle driver’s license. Their name is strapped to the vehicle – here, fines/problems go directly to the owner of the vehicle rather than the driver. If you’re screaming through red lights or speed traps, it’s all on them – absolutely not worth the risk for any potential renters.

You can buy a motorbike pretty cheap online. It wouldn’t be in your name, so if you’re busted, while you should get the little blue book etc, it may be a challenge to get it out of the ‘impound’ equivalent..but foreigners I know who have owned bikes never got put into that predicament.

It’s not like Thailand, Vietnam, most other countries – where international licenses are recognized and scooters/small bikes are easy to rent..but that being said, a few thousand RMB on taobao and you’re good to go if you’re willing to consider it semi-disposable 😀

[Author]

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