A typical payment structure looks like this: 1. Deposit: 10-30% after you confirm the car and price, often to reserve the vehicle and start the inspection. 2. Balance: paid after you approve the inspection report, but before or at shipment. A common safeguard is paying against a copy of the bill of lading, with telex release of the original B/L after funds arrive. 3. Never send 100% upfront to a new supplier. Use traceable methods (T/T bank transfer to a corporate account matching the company name, or escrow for first orders) and keep every agreement in writing. 4. Timeline: quote within days, inspection 3-7 days, booking and loading 1-2 weeks, ocean transit 3-6 weeks, customs clearance 3-10 days. Red flags: personal bank accounts, pressure to skip inspection, prices far below market.

Our standard holding period is 3 business days after the deposit is paid (based on the timestamp of the payment slip). The domestic used car market in China moves very quickly, and if we do not receive the bank message confirming the deposit within the specified time, the system will automatically release the hold, and the vehicle will be re-listed for public sale.

If the car has been maintained at an authorized dealer, we can extract the desensitized official maintenance history (including entry time, mileage, and maintenance items) through a paid third-party data provider and provide it to you. If some year records are missing, we will honestly inform you that the "records are incomplete."