How to import used engines from China, step by step

1. Decide what you are actually buying

Before contacting any supplier, know two things: which engine models your market asks for by name, and whether your customers are counters that install engines or workshops that rebuild them. Those two answers determine the models and the mix in the box, and the mix determines whether the container makes money.

A counter needs Grade A: complete units, selected to be sold on and fitted. A rebuilder looks for lower-grade and core units at a price that leaves room for reconditioning — a legitimate trade, but a different one, served by different suppliers; ENGICOR supplies Grade A only. Buying the wrong stock for your customer type is the single most common first-container mistake, and no supplier can fix it for you afterwards.

2. Ask for a quotation that names the mix

A serious quotation states the engine models, the quantity of each, the grade, the container configuration and the destination port. If a quotation is just a total price for 'a container of engines', you cannot check what arrives against what you bought.

Also ask what visual evidence you will receive, and when — before the bulk of your money moves, not after. A supplier who cannot show you the engines is either brokering someone else's yard or does not have them yet.

3. Verify before you transfer

Most used engines are bought across borders without seeing them in person, so verification has to be built into the process and the paperwork rather than left to a factory visit. Look for per-unit evidence: photographs of each engine, organised so that every unit in your order has its own reference.

Our sequence: a 30% deposit of the agreed order total starts order preparation and arranges the shipping booking; your engines are checked and documented with supervised video and individual photographs, delivered as a photo file organised Engine 1, Engine 2, Engine 3… and reviewed digitally before shipment; the remaining 70% is settled before shipment. You don't need to travel — but you are also welcome to visit for a Guangzhou Inspection Day: with a visit deposit credited in full to your order (USD 500 for a visit tied to a first order of 10–40 engines; USD 1,000 for container orders), your complete lot is prepared in advance in a dedicated inspection area and you inspect and approve it in one day. Each engine is cleaned, handled and looked over, and its crankshaft is turned by hand with a tool to confirm that the mechanism rotates. It is then photographed from every side.

What the check covers: a manual crankshaft rotation check and an individual photo record. It is not a compression, leak-down, bench or running test, so on its own it does not prove how an engine will run once installed. No measuring equipment is available at the warehouse; you or your representative are welcome to review your engines visually at the warehouse.

4. Understand the container configurations

We sell in four configurations only: a 20-ft of 90 engines, or 45 engines plus 45 gearboxes; a 40-ft of 130 engines, or 65 engines plus 65 gearboxes. In a mixed load, 90 and 130 are the total units — never engines plus extra gearboxes. These are our commercial configurations, not physical limits of the container; the weight, dimensions and distribution of each load are checked when it is prepared. You choose which of the 17 engine models fill the engine slots and, in a mixed load, which published gearbox models fill the gearbox slots. Used gearboxes are sold untested and as-is (in their current condition).

Freight is charged per container, not per engine, so a 40-ft spreads it over more units. That tempts first-time buyers into 40-ft loads they cannot sell through. If 130 engines take six months to clear at your counter, the freight saving is smaller than the cost of the money sitting still. Start with a 20-ft, learn what moves, then scale.

5. Shipping and documents

Used engines fall under HS heading 8407 for spark-ignition (petrol) engines and 8408 for compression-ignition (diesel) engines. A normal shipment travels with a commercial invoice, packing list, certificate of origin and bill of lading. At the Guangzhou warehouse we work from, a freight and logistics company has its office on site and coordinates the container, the shipping and the export documents; route, Incoterm and freight are confirmed in each quotation.

Many destinations add a conformity or pre-shipment inspection requirement — SONCAP in Nigeria, the PVoC programme in several East African markets, SABER in Saudi Arabia. These change. Confirm the current requirement with your clearing agent before the container is booked, and have your supplier prepare the documentation to match.

6. The mistakes that cost the most

Paying in full to a supplier with no verifiable identity or address. Accepting a quotation that does not state the grade. Ordering a 40-ft first. Assuming last year's import rules still apply. And buying on price alone from a supplier who has never told you a single inconvenient thing — because a supplier who never says no is a supplier who will ship you Grade C as Grade A.

Frequently asked

Engine families

Export markets

Buyer's guides

Reference