gearbox

21 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Well now this isn't right .he's not at fault he got hit by some moron going the wrong way.

That persons Insurance must pay If not the person at fault must pay.

Why would the hospital want him to pay? absolutely stupid ,Just Don't Pay.

 

Many Thais don't have insurance at all, and also driving unregistered motorbikes without a licence. Expecting payments from them is not realistic.

The Aussie insurance companies won't deny payment without solid justification. Usually in these "news articles" there is no mentioning of the exact reason why coverage was refused. If he had motorbike coverage and complied with the policy rules they can't refuse payment, even if he is at fault.

2 hours ago, Nordic summer said:

I once got served crocodile meat in Cambodia. It was just about the toughest meat I ever ate, but I rather eat it, than it me.

 

Out of interest, I know there are a lot of Aussies on this forum. I was wondering what stage in a croc's development do we start treating them with respect? At what length do they pose a really danger to our life?

https://www.medicalrepublic.com.au/docs-versus-crocs/8448

21 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

'usually' only cover up to 125cc ??? ( even for the average tourist who only has a car drivers licence ?)

 

I think the travel insurance only cover's licensed users.. i.e. if you have a home license, then you are covered renting a machine of similar rating overseas.

 

 

In many policies motorbike coverage is not included at all. Below is the wording of the last policy I had, I had to pay extra for coverage.

"Motorcycle/Moped riding
Claims involving participation by You (during the Journey) in
motorcycling or moped riding for any purpose are specifically
excluded from this policy.
If You wish to be covered for this activity during Your Journey and
be able to hire a motorcycle (including a moped) as the driver or
a pillion passenger, You must pay an extra premium. Please ask
for a quote.
Even if You pay the extra premium, You will only be covered if:
• the engine capacity is 250cc or less;
• while in control of a motorcycle or moped You hold a valid
Australian motorcycle licence or Australian motor vehicle
driver licence;
• while You are a passenger the driver holds a valid licence for
riding that vehicle;
• You are wearing a helmet;
• You are not participating in a Professional capacity;
• You are not racing; and
• You are not participating in motocross.
Note: No cover will apply under Section 17 Personal Liability. This
means You are responsible to pay costs associated with damage
to the motorcycle, moped or property or injury to another person"

5 hours ago, BenStark said:

 

I assume that is if you have a Thai motorbike license or an international permit.

 

https://www.travelfish.org/travel-planning/travel-insurance-motorcycles-asia

 

As far as I'm aware most travel insurances do not cover motorbikes by default.

 

https://fastcover.com.au/travel-insurance-guide/travel-insurance-for-motorcycle-riding-overseas

 

Most travel insurers do not automatically provide rental vehicle insurance or cover for equipment including bicycles, motorbikes, mopeds and scooters. This may be an optional extra you can add to your policy when you purchase travel insurance.

All the insurance policies I've seen don't mention anything about bicycles. There is no "bicycle licence" as well.

3 minutes ago, steven100 said:

OP ....  was it a concrete slab or foundation ?    are you saying you measured what was needed was 4.0m3

was it a mini truck that delivered or a larger normal concrete truck ? 

You are testing my extra thin builder knowledge....it was just extra concrete on top of existing concrete driveway. The truck was normal concrete mixer, I was told they fit in 5 cubic metres.

Just now, Bday Prang said:

It won't be any harder for them to scam , it will be exactly the same,  they simply put less in ,  It will just be easier for you to notice, 

If you were 1.5 cubic meters short, why did you only order 1 additional cubic meter.  ?

Because 4 cubic metres was more than required as per calculations The tradie was calculating 2 cubic metres with his height, it looked thinner to me and said to my gf to order double.

16 minutes ago, AndyAndyAndy said:

I don't understand how would that scam work? 

 

Let's say I'm making concrete patio I and calculate that I need 4 cubic meters. I order 4. But they deliver 2. Half of my pour is empty and I instantly know that I was not given enough?

 

With price 1800 Baht / 1 cubic meter everybody is ordering exactly how much they need. I don't see how could they get away with giving customers just half?

Easy...they just pour the concrete and give you official invoice for 4 cubic metres.

BTW concrete mix in Samui is 2600 baht per cubic metre, but apparently there are different types of mixes, this one had a lot of small stones inside.

1 hour ago, jvs said:

We have always had extra concrete delivered so i always have a patch ready for the excess.

1.5 cubic meters short is a lot!

 

I had visitors at that time who happened to know quite a bit about concrete calculations, but even for my not trained eye the concrete was way less.

Another truck is on its way with 1 cubic metre, it would be harder to scam with this one.

My gf ordered 4 cubic metres concrete mix,  but by my estimates the truck delivered no more than 2.5 cubic metres. Is there anything she can do about this? How widespread is this practice?

49 minutes ago, GregBow said:

Could use some helpful advice please.

Been around here based out of remote Issan for many years.

Worked away mostly and unfortuneately put all into land via my Thai wife to save for retirement.

Yeah yeah I know.

Surprise mostly gone!

I have about 500k in Aus in super and at nearly 70 was thinking of going home to Perth close to the grandkids etc.

My plan was to use the super to buy a simple unit in Perth and then get the old age pension to live.

I am told I must stay in Aust no break for 2 years but can get the pension straight away.

Worked in Aust paying tax till 97 but non resident since.

Inputs please

400k for unit in Perth, 10-15k for a car, 80k stand by cash in high interest account like Ubank and full OAP... should work ok for you. You don't need to be tax resident to get a pension and seems that you lived long enough in Australia to qualify...just turn up at Centrelink and demand pension asap. You can set up camp pretty easily, probably would take you a week or two to get Medicare card and open bank accounts.

7 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

So, you're saying that the Thai authorities will take the info from millions upon millions of foreign ATM swipes at Thai banks and my name will pop up as someone who hasn't reported the transaction as income. Really?????

Some people have been watching Hollywood trash for too long and also never seen government or banking backend systems. It is not easy and there is difficult legislative framework for it. In many cases the money and effort put in this kind of analysis can't be recovered with the potential revenue of tax collected and fines.

19 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

I think we've all said broadly the same things, the identity of a card holder is capable of being found out but tracing them is the exception rather the rule, at present. Whether or not an investigation into tax evasion constitutes a serous crime is not unclear, I suppose it will depend on the scale and amounts of losses.

I'm not a tax person but I've done some technology work for large overseas entities involved in these areas and know a few bits and pieces. The amount of funds transferred this way would be quite limited. I would say 500-600k baht won't raise any flags, but if you try to withdraw 1+ million and above, your own bank may lodge suspicious transactions report with the authorities in the home country. It is their judgement, but the AML legislation has a lot of requirements and the banks are getting penalised if not identifying suspicious transactions.

Moderation Note: removed a para advising how to evade tax.

20 hours ago, Ben Zioner said:

IMHO this will be seen as "tax evasion" by RD, if they catch you. One must be aware that they have all the relevant data at their disposal right now. However it is likely that, for a while, they won't have the capability to process that data. But if you gave it to me, I wouldn't have any problem in identifying people [cards] who make frequent withdrawals, all year, rank them, and deliver a list of likely culprits.

Whatever you state is simply not true. Withdrawing cash from ATM with a foreign debit card does not provide enough data to the Thai authorities to attribute the withdrawal to a specific person. The only entity that knows for sure that's you who got the money is your home country bank, and in many countries, including Australia these transactions are not reportable to the home revenue service (tax office) either.

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Would point out there's plenty of houses in Thailand selling for 1-2Mbht, that's $30,000-$60,000US.

Not sure why you think the average expat would blow 10Mbht on a house in someone else's name, in a country they have no right to live in.

 

This is a strange forum where everyone is rich, has big houses, young wives that love them for themselves, never pay for sex, were all educated and successful businessmen. Reality is, I've rarely met any foreigners that managed better than finishing high school, or worked in better jobs than postman/painter/locksmith/insurance salesmen, or live in anything better than a cheap one room condo.

 

One question I do ask myself ....... all you guys that never pay for sex, don't take drugs, don't smoke, don't go to bars, don't drink alcohol ......... why are you all living in Pattaya? 

According to the US statistics the median net worth of the 65-74 years age group is $409k. If that seems low it is because a lot of millionaires moved to Pattaya

14 hours ago, Walker88 said:

True that ^

 

Speaking from a US perspective, he'd better have a 4.0 GPA and Medcats in the top 1%.

 

Then there's all those prerequisites:

 

Biology

Human Biology

Organic Chemistry

Inorganic Chemistry

Biochemistry

Physics

Advanced Calculus

 

Of course I know he's not serious, but if he has a grandkid who is hellbent on med school.......

George's dream is totally unrealistic, to be a qualified psychiatrist in Australia minimum study between 11-13 years is required, and the entry requirements are very high.

Dreaming about getting rich is much more doable. Or reinventing himself as a bar owner...plenty of others reinvented themselves that way.

9 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

Thankyou Ezzra 

That's what I feel I'm here for now  reinventing myself from hospital cleaner to a psychiatrist to help people!

I feel I have been called like a life changing experience 

George...I think you definitely need to see a psychiatrist yourself.

14 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

If we dig further into this aspect we will end up far outside the scope of the things this thread hopes to discuss because we get into the realm of what information is shared between governments and Central Banks as a result of global and regional agreements. I seriously do not want to see a debate develop on this point because it was discussed in the 200 page thread repeatedly and still no definitive answer was arrived at. If anyone wants to understand more on this information sharing aspects, the 200+ page thread is the place to find it and I'll link it below. 

 

Let me just say however that any person who makes a cash withdrawal in one country using an ATM card from another, provides the basis of tracking data (card number and issuing bank) which can easily be traced by the banks and network providers such as Mastercard and Visa, to disclose name of the account holder and other identity data. Technically those things are easily possible. Politically and practically it may be a different story since it will depend on agreements for international data sharing.

Thanks Mike for all the work you have done to clarify the upcoming tax issues.

Myself can't be bothered with that much complexity, as long as they can't track me I'll do the minimum I can get away with. Cash in hand through the borders and ATM withdrawals are the ways to go in my circumstances.

On 1/11/2024 at 9:11 PM, Mike Lister said:

Gifts up to THB 20 mill. between husband and wife in Thailand are tax free, whether or not overseas gifts are tax free is not clear. 

 

Travelers can bring up to USD15k into Thailand without having to report it it to Customs, anything over that amount requires a Customs declaration. The question then is, what to do with that money next? If it is deposited into a bank it will register as a Foreign Currency Exchange and identification/passport will be required. Yes, technically that is assessable income that has been imported in cash.

 

The capability to monitor and report on foreign ATM transactions does exist since they all go through bank or visa/mastercard networks and then via a Central Clearing bank. Whether or not those transaction will be reported, is another matter entirely.

In Australia the foreign ATM withdrawals are not considered international file transfers and the banks are not required to report them to the government. The govt can have access to them only if there is ongoing investigation.

If I withdraw money from my Aussie debit card in Thailand there is not enough info for the Thai authorities to resolve definitely my entity, there is no passport, DOB or address info associated with the withdrawal.

50 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

“I tried to get him travel insurance that would cover scooters, but there was nothing,” she said.

 

https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/aussie-father-fighting-for-his-life-after-serious-scooter-accident-in-bali/news-story/86c3b39966c8845a9a547f8247a2a181

 

Our daughter Leah, Kevin's wife, who is 32 weeks pregnant, has made the rush decision with Kevin's father and brother, to fly over there to be by his side for few days.

 

....we are doing a Go Fund Me

There are definitely travel insurance policies in Australia covering motorbikes, from my memory it is only $20 extra to get cover with Medibank Private travel insurance.

Of course there are rules to get valid cover, like the requirement to wear a helmet. When driving in Samui, in a 20 minutes car drive I would see probably 100+ foreigners on motorbikes without helmets, many don't even have shirts.

5 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Fair point. The problem is that they have that rule in Australia where if you are over 30 and you don't get health insurance the premiums go up by 2 per cent each year. I haven't look that much into it but as far as I can tell if I stopped, then wanted to start later at say 60, I have to pay the going rate plus say 30 x 2 = 60 per cent extra. When you are over 60 you are most likely to need it most. The other thing is I have an old plan that is a bit better than the latest ones in terms of coverage and price so if starting a fresh they are a fair bit more expensive too.. 

If you make more than X amount of $ in Australia you are going to have Medicare surcharge if you don't take private health cover. For income of $180k plus the surcharge is bigger than the private cover premiums.

I think Lil Johnny introduced it.

14 hours ago, still kicking said:

So why do I need a VPN like many other users have? I am in my home country and not overseas what does a VPN do for me? Where I live, I can access any website with no problems. So, if I install a VPN does that mean I don't need a virus protection anymore (which is free on most sites) I do know it helps to access certain websites when you are overseas but why do I need my messages or website encrypted? As you all know I am a computer illiterate (76 years of age) So give me a simple explanation why I need it?

You can subscribe to YouTube premium or Netflix via VPN from Turkey or Argentina, it is times cheaper than Australia.

The old, bigger and IMO safer Tigerline ferries serving these transfers were retired and now it seems all the transfers are done with speedboats. These are fairly small, I would say most are fibreglass made, with a couple of powerful engines and a lot of passengers packed in...looks like a sea bus. With high speed and high waves the boat will thrash into the water with high force, so this one probably either had a building defect, was overloaded, or was going too fast in high waves in order to break.

We were early this year in the area with expedition sea kayak, we lost 5 rivet joints from constant thrashing in high waves.

Hopefully they got the passengers' possessions in dry bags, otherwise all the passports and phones would be gone.