Any advice on buying a used motor vehicle in Thailand?

[shrek48]

HELP
Any advice on buying a used pick up truck? I have looked at new and fancy either the Chevy or the Isuzu, I have seen a used chevy at 490,000 baht which is 150,000 less thatn new price, it is not 1 year old yet and has 17,000km on it, a private sale.
If I was to buy this used one I do not know how to check it is not on finance, how to change the book to my name and where to get insurance as it only has 1 month left on it.
Thanks,
Ash.



[MODERATOR NOTE: This post has been moved from this topic to create a new discussion as it relates to a matter that may be of particular interest to others.]

[Phetchy]

Try this for starters Ash.

Each used car for sale should have the Blue Book already and this should show the details of the current owners. Other details contained in the book include information on previous owners and details of the taxes which have been paid on the vehicle. As the finance company keeps the book until the loan is cleared a buyer should carefully question any seller than cannot produce the book.

http://www.expatfocus.com/expatriate...d-car-purchase

[colin244]

So the blue book is effectively the V5 Phil?

colin 244

[ian1208]

So the blue book is effectively the V5 Phil?

Correct!

Advice; get your Thai friend to do all the necessary work (with you).
There will be a 'center' near you that you can complete the transfer.

Check there is an approved franchise near you for servicing. Beware!!!!!! Thais are ingenious
race and can 'fix' things very well. Private sales can mean a can of worms and bought as seen in Thailand means exactly that even if the seller has joined two cars together. There will be no recourse.

Why a pick up Ash ?

[colin244]

On that note ian, I agree you need a Thai you trust to be involved in the purchase as wifey fell foul of a "cut and shut" before I met her but I ended up sorting out her losses

On the same theme when we bought a pig for the wedding BBQ we got the village expert to go with us as I did not have a clue (never having bought a pig before) even though he asked my opinion but I left it to him and wife to choose and haggle while I enjoyed a bottle of Leo the pig farmer gave me during the process

colin 244

[Phetchy]

Advice; get your Thai friend to do all the necessary work (with you).
There will be a 'center' near you that you can complete the transfer.

Absolutely essential - unless you are a fluent Thai speaker. Even in Banglamung (Pattaya) where a significant percentage of the customers are farangs, there is not a word of English on any of notice boards or numerous forms that need to be filled in. It's confusing and maybe a little intimidating for some when it gets really busy. You might be lucky - at the Banglamung office there's a kiosk across the road that takes care of everything. The lady there fills in all the forms and does the relevant photocopying and sends her sidekick over to the office and he waits there until it's all done. You just sit and read the paper or have a beer or whatever until he returns. She just charges 5฿ per photocopy and 100฿ tip for the chap. Well worth it!

[shrek48]

Thanks all, I want a pick up as they are usefull in so many ways, especially for my chickens and buying sacks of chicken feed etc.
I am unsure if it is worth saving 130/150,000 baht for the nearly new one or just buy new! 130/150,000 baht is a chunk of cash and not to be sneered at so will carefull consideration to this. As for cut and shut my life has been spent in the motor trade and I ran 4 workshops as a logistics manager for the royal mail so I am not concerned about checking the vehicle itself but will definately need my friend to sort the transfer for me.
Chewers,

Ash.x

[Phetchy]

Obviously the question of a pick-up or not and new/second hand is going to depend on an individuals circumstances. If Ash isn't going to be doing a great deal of mileage away from where he lives and works, then a second hand pick-up would seem a sensible choice. Getting it a bit dirty and acquiring a few dents and scratches isn't going to hurt as much as it would if he had a brand spanking new one. if the annual mileage is not to great and it's mainly used for pottering to town/school and back home, the fuel costs aren't going to be much more than for a saloon. There presumably will be a few local car repair workshops in the vicinity so no need to worry too much on that score.

It's really a matter of horses for courses. When we were travelling up and down from Pattaya to the village in Phetchabun every couple of weeks, loaded down with bits and pieces for the house being built up there, a pick-up was indispensable. When it was finished and trips to the village dwindled to once every six weeks or so (longer, if I can string it out), and there wasn't any heavy duty stuff being taken up there, I sold the pick-up and bought a new saloon as it suited my needs. The peace of mind of a three year warranty with an anywhere in Thailand breakdown service thrown in and a fuel consumption of 22km/L on a run up country swung the decision. The wife prefers driving it too. I've had two new ones since the pick-up (cars, not wives).

[SDM]

Good Afternoon/Morning

In a similar vein I have been offered a Kawasaki Ninja 650R. It is a 2010/2011 model, so the older style, but only has 1600 km on the clock, is red which is great because it goes with my gear and is about 50K off the price of a new one, but it’s in BKK. Using Phetchy’s very useful website I know what is expected of me to do the transfer. I plan to pay by bank draft and split the transfer costs with the seller. (Any idea what these are ??)_

I plan to fly to BKK, do the deal, transfer the bike and send it by post back to Phuket, assuming I can find a big enough box.

I just wanted to ask the guys who have been here longer than me and may have done this before….any thoughts/advice.

Regards

S

PS Forgot to ask, it has BKK plates on it. Is it possible to re register it with local Phuket plates.
PPS Anyone interested in a Honda CBR 250R with 6000 km ??

[Tobias]

... PPS Anyone interested in a Honda CBR 250R with 6000 km ??

Why not post it in the Classified section of the forum?

[SDM]

Forgot about that ! Thanks for the suggestion. I'll wait for the new one to get here, the post is shocking.

Actually joking aside when someone first told me you can go to a post office and send a motor bike through the post I checked the date to make sure it wasn't April 1st. My only concern is that I just bought a post box for the house and there is no way a motorbike will fit in.

S

[Tobias]

What is particularly useful is the fact the Classified section may be viewed by anyone, you do not need to be a T-UK Member to view the Classified section of the forum.

[bifftastic]

The post won't be a problem.

They'll fold it in half to get it through your letter box

[SDM]

Well this is Thailand so you never know.
s

- - - Updated - - -

This chap I'm buying this bike from has told me that bankers drafts in Thailand are not irrevocable in same way that they a in the UK and he would like cash or a bank transfer.

What do we think about that ?

S

[ian1208]

I think you will find it cheaper to hire a driver/pickup. Seen bikes being transported around like this.

Why not wait a week or so, and Ash could do it for you in return for a couple of days B&B

bankers drafts in Thailand are not irrevocable

Nonsense! I would start smelling pla now.
Ok, ask who he banks with, go in to their branch and 'buy' a bankers draft made out to bearer.

[SDM]

Thanks Ian

It seems I can do an instant transfer using my online Krungsri " Exclusive" upto 300K THB. So I will do this at the transfer offer.

It might sound a stupid question, and I will look at Phetchy's link again, but at what point does that bike become mine ? Anyone know ?

S

[ian1208]

When he hands over the blue doc/registration with his sale/transfer details completed. Make sure you get a receipt because we have bought cars before (privately) without the doc until the owner 'finds' theirs. A bit dodgy though.

[Phetchy]

This chap I'm buying this bike from has told me that bankers drafts in Thailand are not irrevocable in same way that they a in the UK and he would like cash or a bank transfer.

What do we think about that ?

?? Nissan were quite happy to accept one from me for full payment and to drive the car away.

Forgot to ask, it has BKK plates on it. Is it possible to re register it with local Phuket plates.

It's a necessity, you will get away with riding round with an out of changwat plate for a while, but the powers that be will want you to re-register with a Phuket plate sooner or later.

[Simon Parry]

Shrek,
I was going to say go for new one in Thailand, completely contrary to what I do here which is to buy cars 7 or 8 years old because they are a bargain. Reason being that Thais in my experience do not always take care of the servicing, and cars/trucks do not depreciate in value at anywhere near the same rate as they do here so its not so bad buying new. This said the Chevy you've been offered seems worthwhile, and if you are sure of the provenance and there is not a dodgy reason its for sale I'd go for it. As for the car versus pick-up decision, we bought a brand new Isuzu spacecab in 2000 (thats with rear bench seat but no rear doors), and its done 85,000 miles and drives as good as new. Its cost 2 sets of tyres, 2 changes of brake pads, plus regular oil changes and thats it. These diesel trucks are bullet proof. What I would say is that if I was to change it now, I would probably go for the 4 door. Diesel engines have become so more refined in the last 12 years and the interiors of pick-ups so much better appointed that they feel more like a car. My old Isuzu does feel and sound like a truck. Its a 3.0 turbo and does 30 miles to the gallon. One advantage of pick-ups is that I believe the tax is cheaper than cars as they are classed as commercial. Very practical for Thailand too as I have had everything from 15 foot coconut trees in the back to the up to 18 people. Whilst I prefer cars I'd still go for a pick-up in Thailand. I am not sure there is much to choose between all the main makes as they are all with great Jap quality.
As for main dealers I would not get too hung up on that. Our local Isuzu garge are rubbish at anything beyond basic servicing. I once had a problem when my brother in law had a slight prang when he drove it and damaged the steering. The Isuzu garage fiddled around for hours and clearly couldn't find the problem but in true Thais style didn't want to admit that and handed it back (twice) saying they had fixed it. In the end I took it to another small place and the guy correctly diagnosed the problem in one minute. So similar to here in my view find a good mechanic by reputation and stick with him.

[SDM]

When he hands over the blue doc/registration with his sale/transfer details completed. Make sure you get a receipt because we have bought cars before (privately) without the doc until the owner 'finds' theirs. A bit dodgy though.

Hi Ian

You advise me to get a receipt in addition to the blue book? I'm not transferring any money until my name is in the book !

S