Under FOB terms, booking is a legal obligation of the buyer. If your freight forwarder fails to provide the shipping order (S/O) in time, resulting in vehicles exceeding the free storage period at our warehouse or port, the buyer will have to pay the high daily storage fees before shipment.

Test-drive cars experience much more mechanical wear due to extreme conditions like cold starts and emergency braking compared to regular family cars. We can identify this by tracing whether the first owner was a 4S dealership or the manufacturer. If so, we will reassess its value based on "operational intensity" standards.

A realistic timeline: sourcing and negotiation 3-7 days; deposit and booking 1-2 days; pre-shipment inspection 2-4 days; export clearance and vessel booking 7-14 days; sea freight 2-5 weeks depending on destination; import customs clearance and port release 5-10 days. Overall, plan for roughly 5-8 weeks from order to port of destination by sea. For Central Asia and Russia by rail, 2-3 weeks total is common. Tips: ask the exporter for a written schedule with milestones (inspection done, customs cleared, vessel loaded, ETA); track the vessel yourself once you have the container or booking number; and remember Chinese holidays — Chinese New Year and Golden Week can add 1-2 weeks of delay.