How to rent a car in China as a foreigner in 2026

Renting a car and driving yourself in China is the best way to experience China’s breathtaking wilderness. From some of the world’s most spectacular Tibetan villages to absolute world class natural wonders, there is no better way to travel this massive country on your own schedule, and at your own pace.

Why would I rent a car in China?

While China’s intercity train network is efficient, affordable and incredibly seamless, it’s restricted to built up areas and doesn’t allow the freedom to easily visit the most beautiful landscapes.

By renting your own car, an extremely affordable option in China, you allow yourself the maximum flexibility and freedom to explore the very best of the country.

With your own car, you can easily visit regions like Western Sichuan, Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan, Fujian and Heilongjiang.

What you need to legally rent a car in China

China does not recognise any IDP’s issued by your home country, so the only way you will legally be able to rent and drive a car in China is by obtaining a Chinese temporary driving permit. Note: a small group of countries native licenses are recognised in China, however you still may run into difficulties when renting if you do not have a Chinese temporary driving permit.

Tap here to learn exactly how to get an official Chinese temporary driving permit!

You will also need both WeChat and AliPay installed and working correctly in order to pay for any car deposit, fuel, tolls and parking, in addition to general use while travelling China.

Everything you need to know about WeChat and AliPay in China!

How to rent a car in China

Like almost everything in China, car rental for foreigners is handled entirely digitally. You can access car rental services directly through the Chinese Ctrip app, dedicated car rental applications as well as on local car rental agencies mini-programs in AliPay and WeChat. Here’s exactly how we have rented cars in the past.

Both times we rented cars in China in 2026, we have used the official ‘Ehi Car Rental’ app which provides an English interface and the most simple process including the lowest deposit. You can download the ‘Ehi Car Rental’ app in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

With the app installed, you can select your search requirements such as pickup location and time, whether you require a one-way rental, returning the car in another location, before heading through to car selection. In our experience, one-way rentals barely increased the price of car rental which is fantastic for making the most of your time with the car instead of backtracking.

Pay attention to the displayed total price for the rental period, as the app displays heavily reduced example ‘daily rates’ that do not reflect the true average daily rate for the period.

When finalising your rental, you will be prompted to upload identity documents for verification. It may appear that you need to present your passport as well as a residence document, however we just uploaded the same photo of our passport twice and the attendant at our pickup point verified it manually. It was also possible to add an extra driver at no extra charge when discussing with the attendant at pickup, provided that the extra driver also had a Chinese temporary driving permit.

You will notice when selecting a pickup location that there are hundreds of locations in most cities. Most of these seem to be self-service locations, we avoided selecting these as pickup locations as it may be difficult to complete the process without a Chinese mobile number or speaking Chinese, especially if you need to download separate apps to access the car or call for assistance.

The pickup process is extremely straightforward, the attendant will complete the documentation and automatically synchronise it to your ‘Ehi Car Rental’ app, including the rental agreement and any vehicle information like existing damage and fuel level. Once everything has been confirmed they will take any necessary deposit. In our experience they did not take a deposit for the vehicle, only a 2000 CNY deposit for ‘traffic violations’ that would be returned after 30-days if no violations had been recorded during our rental period.

Be aware that most cars in China are locked to Chinese language, as such it may not be possible to connect navigation or audio systems. So be prepared with charging devices for your mobile, as well as the Amap app and potentially a portable speaker for listening to directions and music.

Important things to know in advance

What’s with all the overhead flashes on the road?

You’ll quickly notice the frequent bright flashes as you drive under cameras on the road in China. On both rural roads and main city highways, whether you’re following the rules or not, these checks will take photos of your car throughout your journey.

Most of these are not traffic violation checks, simply a monitoring system used in China to track the registration and type of vehicles as they travel along the nations many roads.

The Amap app will alert you to any upcoming speed or traffic violation-related cameras. These may be checking for mobile-phone holding, seatbelts (which are mandatory for front seat passengers in China) and other safety-related violations.

Avoiding restricted roads when driving in China

Cities and metro areas in China often feature restricted roads for electric or ‘New Energy’ vehicles, prohibiting petrol vehicles at certain times of day or from roads entirely. These signs will be in Chinese.

To avoid violations related to driving on restricted roads being deducted from your ‘traffic violation’ deposit, make sure you enter the vehicles registration into the Amap app, with road restrictions enabled. The app will then plan your route using roads that your vehicle is permitted to drive on, avoiding violations.

Tolls in China

Tolls exist on most expressways in China. The costs of these are generally well worth the road quality and time saved, while older main roads can be in bad condition and make trips much longer.

When renting your car, it might have an ETC tag. This will allow you to pass through the clearly marked ETC lane at toll points, and accumulate a total toll bill which you will pay when returning the car at the end of your rental. If it doesn’t have an ETC tag, don’t worry, the process of manually paying tolls is straightforward.

To manually use the toll system, enter the far righthand lanes at expressway or toll entry points. An attendant or machine will present you with a thick card, that you will keep until you exit the expressway or reach its end. At the exit toll booth, again enter the far right hand lane where you’ll place that card in a basket and proceed to pay the toll via AliPay or WeChat using the scanner at the booth. After paying the gate will open and away you go!

Refuelling your rental car in China

Refuelling a rental car in China is also easy. Upon entering a service station, the staff will generally direct you to the correct bowser. Turn off your car and staff will pump your full for you. Make sure you have the amount you’d like and the fuel type already translated to make the process quicker. IE, “92, full” for petrol cars.

Once they’ve finished pumping, they’ll either tell you the amount to pay or the bowser number which you’ll tell the attendant inside the petrol station to complete payment. Sometimes AliPay and WeChat didn’t work in petrol stations, and the attendants had to present different QR’s for us to pay instead of being able to scan our own payment codes. Once payment is complete you are ready to get back on the road.

Public parking and parking lots

Free public parking is readily available outside metro city areas, and within cities the Amap app can easily navigate you to paid public parking lots in towns. These are generally very inexpensive, with most charging a few CNY per hour and flat 24-hour rates between 25-50 CNY, even in city centres. Almost every single parking lot has automated gates that scan registration plates and take WeChat or AliPay payments upon leaving. Others in rural or remote regions are manually managed, and will usually take your phone number (we always just added them on WeChat) in order to call you if the car needs to be moved to make space for more vehicles.

You can use the Amap app to check how full parking lots are as well as understand pricing using photos of the parking lot before arriving.

Make sure to check if your hotel has free or public parking available before navigating to it directly. We found that most hotels outside of major cities had their own parking lot or nearby public street parking, which is extremely safe in China.

Police checks along expressways

At the end of toll roads or throughout areas such as Western Sichuan, you will pass through permanent police checkpoints. Upon passing the booth, an officer will either wave you through or instruct you to pull to the side.

These are standard police checks to ensure you have the correct documents to drive the car you’re driving and are not violating any road rules. These officers generally will not speak any English, so have your translating app of choice ready to go, as well as your passport, Chinese temporary driving permit, original drivers license from your country and information on hotels you’ll be staying in and where you’re going. Having this ready to go will make the checks as quick as possible, as they usually need to enter at least some of this information into a database.

That’s It!

If you’ve made it down here, thank you so much for reading.

Now you’re ready for your own road trip adventure in China!