MartinL

Continuing from OP:- Increase in Third Party Liability and Own Damage was 5% - that's fine and no complaint there. 20% NCD had been applied correctly. The BIG increase in premium was in the Additional Coverage category - medical expenses, loss of life, BAIL BOND etc. Here, the BB had increased from 610,000 THB to 1,070,000 THB without my asking or wanting it while medical etc. payouts remained the same. This part of the premium rose from 3,488 THB to 5,814 THB - a 67% increase!! Overall premium increase 30%. Maybe stupidly, I assumed the BB was a small part of the overall premium for Additional Coverage but it appears it's the major element. Why is a Bail Bond of 1,070,000 necessary anyway? My car insurance, renewed with Roojai only a couple of weeks ago, has a Bail Bond of 300,000 THB. That should be enough. That’s my next question to them.

I'm 68. Been riding 50+ years, usually pushing my skills rather than taking it easy. I'm totally convinced that riding a motorcycle - and I mean 'riding' a bike, not just pottering around town to Tescos - maintains and preserves your bodily faculties. Although it mightn't look very energetic, biking means you're constantly using your body to balance forces, responding to road defects, planning your route through traffic, bends, looking into the distance for hazards, whatever. Most of the time all that's done without any real conscious effort on the part of the rider; it's instinctive. Like a physical and mental workout every time I start that engine and ride. While writing this, I searched 'Motorcycling and health' and found this https://slipstreamer.com/health-benefits-motorcycling/ which I've not seen before but it sort of fits what I feel about biking. Night vision is poorer now but, since I never ride at night anyway, that's largely irrelevant. I'll keep riding as long as I can and at the moment certainly don't see any need to consider hanging up my leathers before I'm 75.

Can't agree on the "usually well maintained" bit. Bald, poorly inflated tyres are commonplace. Apart from my wife's bike and my own, most of the bikes belonging to friends and family are deathtraps. Front brake calipers removed because they've seized up. Brake pads worn down to the metal backing. No brake fluid. Bits and pieces tied on with string. No mirrors. In many cases, I've repaired faults only for them to recur some time later. As far as friends and family are concerned, it's not a case of being unable to afford repairs, more that they don't seem to realise that something's wrong. As for "turning left when emerging from a side street" - how much of that might be due to the 'give way to the left' rule-of-the-road that I'm sure many road users are aware of? When you're approaching that side turning, it's on YOUR left so perhaps they feel they have RoW. Many seem to forget the next bit that says "provided that at any junction where a main road intersects a secondary road, the conveyance driving on the main road has the right to pass first". Maybe many don't appreciate that the four-lane highway they're joining from a single-track dirt road is classed as a "main road".

Totally agree but if you want to ride, you've got to pay the price. It's even worse than you think, though. The insurance premium I got for this bike from new was, as I've said, 9,205฿ - cheapest available. The most expensive quote I got was nearly 14,000฿ (IIRC) for someone with decades of biking experience, not that that carries much weight in Thailand.

I've got an RE 650 too. Completely trouble free. On the RE Forum I hang out in occasionally, it seems to be a common opinion that the OEM Exide battery is rubbish and should be changed. Must say that mine's fine though. If you've got a battery charger and multimeter, top your battery up until 'full', leave it overnight and check voltage at the terminals again. A good battery should have about 12.8 volts after that time. Less than about 12.4 volts, think about changing it.

I've just received my renewal quote from Roojai for my bike. Renewal due late April. Entering the second year with them and the bike's nearly a year old. Last year the total premium to be paid, which didn't qualify for a No Claims Discount on a new machine, was 9,205฿ before stamp and VAT. This year it's 9,566฿. Not a big jump in itself BUT in the last year I've earned a 20% No Claims Discount which is mentioned on the renewal notice. Taking that into account and working backwards, that amounts to an increase to around 11,900฿ or a 30% increase, everything else remaining the same. I'll be querying it with them, of course. I can't believe that bike insurance costs have generally risen by 30% in a single year. Anybody else had similar huge increases in premium for their bike for no (apparent) reason? Just to compare with the car, I renewed that with Roojai this week and premium rose by 8%, something I'd probably feel was reasonable.

I've had this discussion with HMRC in the last few months. They decided that, after some years of living in Thailand (HMRC aware) and NOT needing to do SA, it was now necessary. I wrote to them asking for the requirement to be removed, telling them about ALL my UK-derived income - which is only pensions plus a miniscule amount of bank interest - and that they were correctly recorded in my online Personal Tax Account. Result - need for SA was removed. Tax still payable ???? ????

"Drink Don't Drive" sounds like it's asking people to stay at home and get p1553d instead of travelling.

You're wrong too. Same IO we've dealt with a number of times over the years. Always offers any change and occasionally she gets to keep it.

Registered easily and submitted my application on Friday 10th which was a holiday. My due date and also last day for online submission was 12th., a Sunday. By 5.20 pm on 16th., I still hadn't received an "Accepted" or "Rejected" message so, thinking nothing'd happen now after office closing time, prepared the necessary documents to go to Khon Kaen Immigration on Friday, after which I'd have been in breach of the rules - 7 days after due date for in-person submission. I finished printing the docs. at 5.30 and literally as I was taking them out of the printer, I got an e-mail - 'Your application is approved'. Have the bugg**s got a spy camera above my printer??

I wonder whether this case, involving a poor farmer, will take as long to come to a conclusion as the one involving the super-rich Premchai Karnasuta.

I recognise that my dealers are useless, by my own standards, but they're necessary for the stamp in the warranty book. For example, at the first service of a new bike, they put the bike on its side stand to drain the oil despite the drain plug being at the front of the engine under the spin-on filter - I put 'em right on that. When put on a paddock stand a whole of of additional oil came out. The new oil, according to the 'mechanic', was no good because it was 'black' (actually purple), not yellow like their own oil - this was correct-grade 10W50 Silkolene synthetic oil that I provided. Tappet inspection required at first service but dealer said it wasn't necessary until 5000 km - I took the bike home and did it myself and most were out of spec. I go to the dealer for the stamp in the warranty book, despite being fully aware that they seriously scrimp on the work they actually do. Home maintenance is best for me and all dealer work is checked at home by somebody I know to be competent - ME!

They copied my pages - 5 of 'em, A4 - and asked for ...................... 0฿ (Zero baht), which I was quite happy to give them. Even got the 100฿ change from the 2000฿ I gave them to pay for the 1900 ฿ extension.

Page 27 of this attachment ........... Road Traffic Act (English) BE 2522 (1979).pdf

Sounds like you went to the PO Verify site. My passport didn't pass muster with them, nor did my credit history despite giving addresses, going back to 1991 until leaving UK in 2009, of homes I'd held mortgages etc. etc. etc. on - they couldn't find any credit history for me. Driving licence passed the test though but just one approved item is no good. So an overall 'FAIL' and there's no second chance. I'm presuming you already have a Personal Tax Account (PTA). Install the app. on your phone and try to sign on your computer - simply because it's bigger than a phone and easier to work on. The appearance of the app. is almost an exact replica of that on your com. so it should be familiar. You won't get the 6-digit access code but somewhere below the box you'd normally enter your code there's something like "Cannot receive code". Click on that and it'll take you to "Change the way you receive your code" or similar. Select "Use Authenticator or App ..... ", the last option IIRC. You'll have to provide passport and UK address for a credit history check but, after providing exactly the same info I sent to PO Verify and they failed to verify, everything was approved in minutes and I could sign in with my original Govt. Gateway information. Once the app. is up and running, open app. on the phone and PTA page on your com. together and sign in on both app. and com. - both use the same log-in info. Your PTA on your com. will ask you to enter the 6-digit number displayed on the app. Do that and you should be flying. I'm sure there are small steps I've not included here but when I was going through the process, I was a bit confused and ******* annoyed at having to go through all that performance so it didn't all register in my memory precisely. Almost certainly there are holes in what I've said here that you'll have to fill yourself but I don't think they'll be big ones. But if I can do it, I'm sure you can too. Good luck.

Yes, realised I'd forgotten to mention that. Corrected now.

Had this problem since last week. No SMS to my usual mobile number (AIS) so I changed to my wife's (also AIS) and no joy there either. AIS told me that they'd checked for incoming foreign SMSs on my account for a period of 12 hours before I last attempted to get an SMS and they said none had been sent even though I'd made numerous attempts in that time. Calling the HMRC Online Help Desk, they suggested using Post Office Verify but that wouldn't verify my passport. BTW since they use HM Passport Office for verification, how the hell does that happen? Is my passport invalid, a forgery even!? Eventually I installed Microsoft Authenticator app. and HMRC app. on my phone and after a lot of messing about, much of which was hit-and-miss, I eventually logged in successfully and now no longer need SMSs. Is it a coincidence that recently Thai phone service providers have been told to block spam/scam messages? Maybe there's a connection there. I have no idea. While i didn't get an SMS from HMRC, I DID get them easily from PO Verify. Both are UK origin. I've asked a UK mate to SMS me but he's still in bed. No idea where the fault lies but, for me, it's no longer relevant.

When I got my second vaccination at KK Central, I was told that the passport is available from Srinkarind Hospital. Records Office, I think.

Renewed my Marriage Extension (No. 12) at KK IO yesterday Money-in-the-Bank method. A bit of a wait but, once our turn arrived, all went smoothly despite a small extra requirement. Previously, they only wanted copies of passport data page, original visa and entry stamp associated with it, current extension and last re-entry permit. This time, they wanted copies of data page and ALL pages with any sort of stamp on them. All dealt with without any fuss (IO even copied and printed the pages while we sat there), quick signature and we were away. Checking documents took less than 15 minutes. List of Marriage Extn. Docs.docx

Anti-Jewish posts! Don't they just stop making you throw up!!

I've got lots of zeroes at the beginning of my wealth. Would that count, do you think?

Yes had refusals for a number of things but in the case where they can use an existing ID number, backed-up by official documentation, an approval process, witnesses etc., the allocation of a random ID number makes no sense - except in Thailand.

At Central Plaza Khon Kaen, they refused to use my Pink Card ID number, even though it was presented at the beginning of the Certificate process, with a specific request to use it. Now have a 13 digit number totally unrelated to the number in my tabien baan or anywhere else. Will look into getting it corrected but don't expect any joy. Name is shown as นายMartinL (they had the official Thai spelling available) and Mr. MartinL. DoB is shown in English and Thai format, address is in Thai and English so they obviously took the Thai version from my pink card. Passport number's OK but will, of course, change one day, something the Pink Card ID number won't do.

Had my second AZ dose last Friday. When it came to the desk for issuing the Certificate of Vaccination, I presented my passport and Pink Card and asked that the 13-digit ID number be entered on the certificate. When the certificate was in my hands, I checked it through and found I'd been allocated an ID number totally unrelated to that on my card (and hence Yellow Book). When I pointed out the mistake and asked for it to be corrected, the reply was "Cannot. You are not Thai people" (???) and she refused to change it. There was nobody senior there to raise the issue with, I was told. An e-mail to bkn@bangkokhospitalkhonkaen has gone unanswered, which I expected. Anybody know how, or even if, the certificate can be corrected? I'm passing through KK on Friday so will call into Central Plaza to see if they're vaccinating that day and try to correct it. I might call into Bangkok Hospital KK if no joy at Central.

For some reason, she reminds me of Cupid Stunt.