I really wanted to try driving in China, probably because I have heard so often that you cannot do so without a guide (it seems to be this way previously), but I’ve read online that major cities like Beijing do allow you to do your application and rent cars directly at the airport.
Shanghai wasn’t easily possible then, but in Dec 2024, on their official government’s website, they listed the procedures on how to get a temporary driving permit in order to drive there. While there was information on how to do so, I didn’t manage to find anyone who has done it, or have written about it. I do have many friends who drive overseas, but no one I personally know has tried doing it as a foreigner/tourist before.
Driving for me (and riding) is always part of the holiday, and when I travel, I don’t just like to do touristy stuff, I also want to experience what it is to be a local. Stay in their local neighborhood, eat their local food, smoke their local produce and drive on their roads. Driving in foreign land is so frightening and exciting at the same time.
First of all, our International Driving Permits (IDP) are not recognized in China. You cannot use it as a legal driving document. In order to be able to drive in Shanghai, you need to get a temporary driving permit, and it can be issued to tourists. Singapore and China is visa-free, so you will get 3 months validity, which is sufficient as a tourist.
You will need to get your local driving license translated into Chinese, and I used SISU Translation Service for it, which is one of the official agencies recognized by Shanghai. Just email them, and they will do an online translation for you together with a PDF for CNY70 (approximately S$13). You can pay using WeChat Pay, which can linked to your credit card. There are no fees for using WeChat for payments below CNY 200.
Next, book a car from an agency that will rent to foreigners. In my case, I used eHi and booked the smallest petrol car available, with a pickup at Hongjiao Airport and return at Pudong Airport. They did not charge me any additional fees for a different pickup/drop off location. They gave me a Volkswagen Lavida (something like a Jetta) for $22/day. They will take CNY2000 as a deposit against traffic offences, which will be returned 30 days after your rental is completed. You can take up the CNY25 refueling service where you don’t have to top up the petrol and you will just pay for the petrol consumed upon return. It’s convenient and stress-free.
When you arrive at Shanghai, you will need to go the appointed police stations (there are 6 at the time of writing on the official website) to make your temporary Chinese license. They are closed on weekends, so I arrived on Monday 9 am, thinking that there will be a queue. I picked this location, as it was the nearest to Hongjiao Airport, which is about 10 minute Didi/taxi ride away:
Traffic Police Division of International Airport Public Security Bureau Sub-branch
Address: No 201, Konggang 1st Road, Hongqiao International Airport
Contact: 021-2895-2289;
Address: No.805, Huhang Road, Pudong International Airport,
Contact: 021-6834-3234
Open: Monday to Thursday 9 am – 11 am, 1 pm – 4 pm, Friday 9 am – 11 am
There was no one and I was first in line. They will need your translated document from SISU, your passport, hotel location, local driving license and 2 passport pictures of size 32x22mm. As mine was from Singapore, it was a little oversized, but the female officer was very nice and modified the picture to fit. I sat down like a student and watched a 20 min video. I thought it would be about traffic rules, but it wasn’t. It was about 5-6 road traffic accidents resulting in deaths, some which were pretty horrifying.
Once you have finished watching the video, they will mint your license. There is no cost involved.
With the above done, head to the car rental office to pick up with car. You wouldn’t need you local driving license anymore, as they simply look at your China permit. Note that for rental cars, it may not be Shanghai plate registered, so you cannot use it in the city between 7-9 am and 5-7pm daily during peak hours. You also cannot use some of the overhead highways, but you can use the low level roads. It does not affect traveling distance/times that much.
As most cars are electric, petrol kiosks are relatively rare, but they are cheap at CNY7/liter. I didn’t encounter any tolls. Parking, as usual, is expensive whenever cars are cheap. It’s typically 10-15 CNY/hour. Just scan the codes at the carparks and use Alipay/WeChat to make payment. At one of the museums, I was nearly stuck when they force me to register on their app (I have no China number), but there is a manual counter nearby with an attendant, which you can just manually scan to pay based on registration number.
In Shanghai, the default is right turn on red. So even if it is a red light, you can turn right, provided that it is safe to do so. However you need to take note of motorcycles/mopeds on your right, as they have a dedicated lane for them. On most roads the limit is between 50-60 km/h, and there are many enforcement cameras around, so I didn’t see anyone really speed. Driving style is slightly similar to Malaysia, and cars are generally not aggressive, truck/lorry drivers are, so you have to be careful of them. There are some roads with weird form ups when turning left is in the centre, which I managed to take a picture here:
Very weird right? But it’s alright, since the GPS is extremely powerful and will tell you how to form up. A Maps seems to be prevalent navigation app, but I did use Baidu Maps as well, and they both work very well. They will even tell you how long the traffic lights will last, how many traffic lights to your destination, and even accidents ahead. It’s just a little noisy with too many notifications, but as a foreigner driver, it is very useful.
The weird Singapore shape is the restricted zone which I was referring to that you should avoid from 7-9 am and 5-7 pm daily. You can insert your rental cars’ registration number and it will automatically check whether you can use the roads. If you are unsure how to do it, just ask the eHi rental staff to help you. My hotel staff was the one who advised me to try A Maps, and set the cars’ registration number for me.
Google Maps aren’t effective in Shanghai, and most places will take at least 30-45 minutes, even with just a traveling distance of 15 km. The reason is because there are actually a lot of cars around. It’s as congested as Bangkok, and there are a lot of traffic lights. It feels a little like London.
Is it convenient/necessary to drive in Shanghai? Absolutely not. For most people, it wouldn’t make sense. But I know that there are people like me; people like me who will go all out just to be able to drive in another land. Find out their restricted zones, check out how to park, see what cars to rental, what roads to drive. It’s a small minority, and among the many, many friends that I have, only one person (Ron, that’s you) is crazy like me. We are extremely determined to get our cars to drive, even when it absolutely terrifies us.
But that feeling of driving somewhere completely different and experiencing their roads. It’s really an indescribable feeling. It is just so, so satisfying. You just have to be very determined.
I guess I’m the first to drive as a tourist amongst my friends in China.
So yes, you can drive in China.
Who says you can’t?
People may not understand you, but I do. And you understand me too.
