Buyer's Guide

The order we would run the checks in

1. 1. Fix the destination market first

   Steering side and vehicle age are the two requirements that eliminate the most units, and both are set by the destination market rather than by the truck. Confirm them before you shortlist anything. A left-hand drive unit that suits Nigeria and Ghana is not admissible in a right-hand drive market, no matter how good the condition.

2. 2. Convert your requirement into a model code

   Tell the seller the code, not the description. Saying 'a 371 HOWO' is ambiguous between a tractor unit and a tipper. Giving the code removes the ambiguity before money moves, which is the cheapest possible moment to catch a mistake.

3. 3. Ask for the nameplate photograph

   The year of manufacture decides whether the unit can be imported at all in some markets. Ask for the manufacturer nameplate photograph on the specific unit you are being quoted, not a stock photo of the model. Then check the year on the plate against the year in the quotation.

4. 4. Ask what is not verified

   Any honest seller has a list of things they have not confirmed: mileage that cannot be traced, a component that has been replaced, a year recorded from a document rather than the plate. Ask for that list explicitly. A seller who claims everything is verified is telling you something about themselves, not about the truck.

5. 5. Agree the terms in writing before the deposit

   Unit reference, model code, year, price basis, and which port the quote is delivered to. Get it in writing in the same message thread, so there is one version of what was agreed rather than two.

How to read a Sinotruk model code

A Sinotruk chassis number is not random. The first group of characters tells you the vehicle category, the weight class and the power band — which is usually enough to know whether you are being quoted the right kind of truck. The full fragment-by-fragment breakdown, including the wheelbase, drive and emission characters, is on our model reference page.

The fragments that decide what you are being quoted

Why the code alone is not enough

A chassis number tells you how the truck was built. It does not tell you what the truck is now. Plates get swapped, cabs get rebuilt after accident repair, and the same model number is produced in different configurations for different markets — so the code and the vehicle can disagree, and the vehicle wins. That is why we publish the decoding table and still photograph the nameplate on every unit, and why we tell you which reading came from the plate and which came from the number.

What we can send you before you pay anything

• Photographs of the specific unit, taken at our own yard: three-quarter views, chassis rails, engine bay, cab interior, tyres and rear axle.
• A photograph of the manufacturer nameplate on that unit, with the VIN masked in the published copy.
• A written statement of anything we have not been able to verify on that unit.
• A quotation stating the unit reference, the model, the year, and the port the price is delivered to.
• Answers to specific technical questions, including a photograph of the component in question rather than a description of it.

What no seller can honestly promise you

No seller can guarantee the outcome of clearing in your market. Age limits, steering requirements, conformity certificate rules and inspection procedures are set by your government and change without notice. No seller can guarantee a unit will arrive in the condition it left in, which is why insurance and the bill of lading matter as much as the truck. And no seller can honestly claim that a used truck has no hidden faults; what they can do is photograph the places where faults show up, which is what the inspection page describes.

This guide describes our own procedure and the model-code conventions we rely on. It is not legal or customs advice. Confirm the current requirements for your market with your own clearing agent before you commit to a purchase.