Buying a car in Thailand.
For years, there have been certain things that I dread the most: having a root canal, getting an IRS audit, and buying a new car. These things are all very painful, keep me awake at night and stress me out. So now I am in the situation of buying a new car in Thailand, and I was dreading it. But I learned something: the system for buying a car in Thailand is different than in the US, and is a lot less of a painful process, but can hit you in the pocket book much harder.
When buying a new car in the US the sales guy will be sticking next to you, like it or not, for the entire time while you are visiting the dealership, making it extremely difficult to talk privately with the wife or whoever you brought for protection. The sales guy is trying
too hard to be your friend. He is a shark.
the sales counter at the Thai car dealership
In a car dealership in Thailand, each car has a price, and there is a big tag on most of them with the exact full cost. No extra dealer mark ups, just the price. When you pop into the showroom, you are not pounced on by any slick sales guy looking for a commission. You just look around and look at the price, and when you have a question, you simply walk up to the sales counter and ask. Most of the sales people are young ladies smartly dressed flashing you a nice Thai smile. And certainly no required handshake.
But one thing with buying a car in Thailand — it is much more expensive than in the USA. This is one area where the Thai government takes taxes, and takes a lot. I guess it is OK, however, since we don’t have property taxes and a lot of other taxes that are common in America, but it is a bit of a shock when the cheapest (no options, small engine) Toyota Camry starts at $46,500 USD. That compares to a little over $22,000 to $24,000 USD for the same car in the US. Talk about sticker shock!
If you want the current Thai price list for new cars, it is at this link: ThaiCar.com.
Our new car.
Cars in Thailand are either imported or made in Thailand. Imported cars in Thailand have a government tariff of 300% (that is not a typo — that is three hundred percent tax on the manufacturers cost). Sometimes it is higher for a luxury imported car, like a Porche. So a nice German made Mercedes or a fine Japanese made Lexus will be priced somewhere in outer space. Fortunately, a lot of good cars are made right in Thailand today, including Honda, Toyota, Chevrolet and Nissan and that tax penalty can be avoided.
After a lot of looking and thinking, my wife and I decided to buy a Honda CR-V. Since the model year is sort of nearing an end, the dealerships are a little short of current year cars, so we are getting the actual car that is in the dealer showroom, and they are throwing in some extras because of that. Our cost was a little over $41,000 USD. Dealer prep work is now being done, and we will get our car next week.
Shopping for a Car
New Cars at the Shopping Mall
One of the great pastimes in Thailand is going to the shopping malls. The malls are modern, usually have entertainment, lots of restaurants and, of course, lots of shops. They also have one or two or three car manufacturers with a display of their newest products. You can get all the info you need right there at the shopping mall, and the sales people are usually very attractive young ladies. You can sit in the car, get all the pricing, and hear about any particular car that may have a special factory promotion.
One important point for those that live in Bangkok. If you live in this city, it is my opinion that you never buy a car. You won’t need it, as there are plenty of cheap, terrific taxis everywhere in the City, plus lots of other good public transportation. Driving in Bangkok yourself would be absolutely frightening, frustrating and a total waste of your time. Your car would likely be soon wrecked or stolen, and it may even kill you. Traffic is horrendous in Bangkok, maybe the worst in the world. If you live in Chiang Mai or any other Thai city away from BKK, you will need your own transportation — either a motor bike or car — or you will find everyday life very tiring.
At the dealership, you are able to take a test drive, and look over the car carefully in the showroom. If you need financing, there is usually a special bank-like office in the back of the showroom.
Our new car.
Once you have agreed on purchasing a car, the dealership usually gets the paperwork done for you. Your car will be given a special Red Color license plate for temporary use, and later you will get your regular plate delivered to the dealership.
Let’s assume you’ve just bought your car or pickup & you’re at the dealers. You will no doubt be aware that it has a set of red license plates. This is because it has yet to be registered at the transport office. And until it does you are limited as to where & when you can travel with the car. You’ll also be given a brown book to go along with the red plates.
Inside the brown book, provision has been made for you to do your trip reports. It’s unlikely that the dealers will explain the use of the brown book to you, other than you must keep it in the vehicle at all times, along with a copy of your insurance details.
If you travel outside of your local, then you’re required by law to state where you are going, what time you leave, what time you arrive, when you’re coming back & the actual time you arrive back. Failure to comply with this requirement leaves you open to a spot fine of 1k.
And it’s unlawful to drive your vehicle after about 10pm at night, unless you have special dispensation from an office at the local transport office.
After a couple of months, you’ll get a proper set of license plates. Then you’ll be able to get the 2k deposit you paid on the red ones back.
A Little Special Story on the Red Plate: a few years ago, I bought a new Mitsubishi sedan from a big Mitsubishi dealership in Bangkok, and they put on the red plate. About a week later, I was stopped at a police checkpoint on the super highway between Bangkok and Chiang Mai. It seems that the red plate given to me by the dealership was a fake, something they made in their own back shop instead of getting it from the DLT or Department of Land Transport Office. The police did not cite me, but I went back to the dealership and had to confront them about their little scam. Just a little word of caution that scams are everywhere in Thailand, so you have to be vigilant.
If you are an expat and putting the car in your name, you will need a copy of your passport with an appropriate visa and a work permit, or in lieu of the work permit you can use a Letter of residency issued by your Embassy (or Consulate), Letter of residency issued by your local Thai immigration office, or Foreigner issued house registration document (the yellow tabien baan).
If you are buying the car outright, you will be given a Blue Book, which is your car registration. If you are buying with a car loan, the dealership will keep the Blue Book until the loan is paid off.
Used Cars
Unlike the US, used cars in Thailand retain their value (or perhaps the real story is that used cars are just priced too high). A fairly new used car of the current year will be somewhere between 95-98% of the full dealer price for the same model from the factory. Even clunkers are expensive, and you won’t see ten year old cars less than $10,000 USD. There is little wheeling and dealing with used cars. So unless you really want a particular model of a particular year, it pays to simply buy new. At least you can trust that the mileage (kilometer-age) is real.
Bringing your old US car from America will not work, as Thailand will slap the same super high tax on the importation of used cars as well. They even do it for car parts, because in the past some savvy people would bring in the car to Thailand in parts, and then put it back together in-country to avoid the tax.
Insurance
When you buy a new car, you may get your insurance thrown in with the price of the car. That covers personal injury and collision, and this is very common.
But if you don’t have insurance thrown in, you will find car insurance in Thailand is pretty reasonably priced, and there is no point system from tickets that makes the price higher, like in the US (anyway, there are not too many tickets issued in Thailand that are not handled on the spot with cash).
Because there are a lot of uninsured motorists in Thailand, it is wise to buy full coverage to cover any situation. It’s fairly cheap, so go ahead and over-insure. The insurance market is very competitive and there are lots of insurance companies. Make sure you get one with a 24-hour hotline in English.
Your cost will be based on how many claims you have had with insurance companies, and most will consider claims made (or no claims made) in your home country. If there were no claims, you will be getting a substantial discount. If you have received a no-claims discount for car insurance in your home country, you have a high probability of receiving the same discount (or better) from your Thai car insurance. A translated confirmation of the insurance policy is sufficient.
So now, we are just waiting for the delivery of our new Honda CR-V and are very excited. Off on the road again. If you have had experience buying a car in Thailand, please share your tips in our comments for the world to see.
Thailand takes their TV commercials for cars quite a bit more seriously than in the US. Following is a typical over-the-top Thai TV commercial for a Toyota.
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Insurance!!! We ended up having to pay 2 lots. We had to insure it with a certain company when we bought it as it was 500k downpayment the rest on credit. It was ok and has rental insurance for an extra 800 baht per year…. Well worth the money as the people renting it had 3 shunts in it.
Luckily I had already damaged the same areas and the car actually came back to me, 3 minor accidents later, in a much better condition than when it went out. Lots of nice new plastic fenders and sills etc. No structural damage, in case I try to sell it to you in Chiang Mai one day!
In later years we took out a car loan and they insisted we use their Insurance Company. We did (no choice) but it was such a poor one that we could not get the rental insurance on it. So we had 2 years of double insurance to pay until we cleared the Car Loan.
Your blog is very well-informed and you have a great experience.Thanks a lot for the moderator to share.
Classic Car Classifieds
Thanks, but have only normal buyer experience, nowhere close to being in the biz.
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Good article.
Since your dealership counterfeited the temporary licence plates, I think it’s safe to assume you would not recommend that particular outlet.
Any recommendation as to a specific dealership for Honda (CRV) in Chiang Mai?
The dealer that made the fake plates for us was a Mitsubishi dealer in BKK. We bought our Honda CRV from a place called “Honda Showroom” on Hwy 108, on Mae Hia, Mueang Chiang Mai. We had no trouble at all with our transaction (we paid cash). My son-in-law operates a small shop in town, and the manager of this dealership is a good customer of his shop (actually shop owned by my wife). We didn’t get discounts (which I am told is rare for new cars in Thailand), but did get quite a few extra options added at no cost (like fancier floor mats, roof spoiler in the rear of the car, tinted windows, etc. etc.). My wife tells me if we have the Son in Law make an appointment for you with the manager, you should be able to get some extra options like that. You can connect with me if you want in that regard with my email at millercompany@hotmail.com,
On the car, we have now had it for about 4 months — one of the few 2012 models that were left — and have been very satisfied with the car. Handles nicer than my previous big SUV — more like a nice car than a truck. SUVs seem too high and not wide enough, but this CRV seems to hug the road with a lower center of gravity, which feels better. Overall at this length of ownership for me, I would give the CRV good marks. Knocking on wood, I haven’t put any dents or scratches on it yet, which is amazing with the way traffic is around this place.
But don’t look what this car would cost in the USA compared to the Thailand price. You won’t like that.
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I,ve just bought a new Mitsubishi Mirage cash on 16th Jan from Chiang Mai , I provided copy passport , visa retire , and residence certificate , they fitted a red plate same day without going to transport office , no blue book was given to me , they stated that it would be a month before I got it and would have to provide a new residence certificate as they only last a month ….Is this correct?
I am not an authority on this but can say that if it is the Mitsubishi dealership, they are probably giving you the straight scoop. I once bought a car from the Mitsu dealership just off the super highway and found them to be very helpful and honest in the transaction, and helpful later when we totally wrecked the car. I think your question boils down to whether a residence certificate is good only for one month, and when you go to get a new one as the dealer requested you can ask the people you deal with for the certificate if that is accurate. I do know it takes some time to get the blue book and regular license plates — actually my experience is that it is taking longer than a month, but it does come. Actually, I find car dealers in the US to be a little shady and play with the numbers, but the new car dealers in Thailand for the big name cars come across as honest. It seems impossible to hammer out discounts, but sometimes they can give extra options. They have to deal with the Thai government agencies which are a little shady in their dealings.
thanks for that , my concern ,having read ..”…how to easily buy a new car in Thailand” post. . din,t make it clear , just said go to transport office with blah blah and receipt and you get red plates , real ones come later.
Greg, hi real good article on owning a new car. Just a question on ‘wrecking’ or ‘slightly damaging it’. Although I cannot claim to be the best driver in the world, back home I only had one accident in ten years of driving and it was quite an understandable mistake!
But as you imply (and I have experienced) its not easy to keep a car in one piece and dent free. I have laughed at Thai drivers but then myself grazed the front of my car on a hot day when I was not concentrating. When you are paying off a car and your not a minted retiree (like myself) it does stress me out as there are so many things you can bloody hit to annoyingly graze your pride and joy. I am gradually trying not to be so precious with the new wheels and accept as long as it gets me from A to B I should be happy!
Does it affect your insurance that much if you graze, for example, the front bumper (my car is in the first year, so I get the insurance for fee). The dealer told me to bring the car back before the first year is up and they will fix up anything, including paintwork.
Last thing, I have a 3 year warranty, now are you aware of what they cover and what they maybe don’t cover, generally speaking?
Thanks for an informative piece
I did just this. In our new car, trying to get out of one of those impossible multi-story parking lots (cars almost shoe-horned in, and I just won’t go into these crowded parking lots again), I made a pretty good scrape on the front part of the car from a concrete wall. No dent at all, but this part of the car needed to be sanded and repainted. From the dealer insurance company (office on super hwy), got approval and they paid gave me a voucher for 100% payment to get it fixed at the dealer. Does not affect rates in the future. Like you, I have 3 years insurance from the purchase of the car included with the purchase price. The only minor headache is that it took the dealer two months to schedule me for getting the work done. But no out of pocket expense whatsoever.