As I noted in another thread (sorry for the follow-on), I'm relocating and looking to sell my HRV quickly with least hassles.

 

One suggestion was One2Car, which apparently has a new auction service (One2CarBid) whereby used car dealers bid on the car (it's inspected first and a reserve price can be set).  Since speed and simplicity is more important to me than price, I am open to this, but would love to hear any feedback from someone that has actually tried it or any similar service.

 

Anyone? Bueller?

11 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Have you tried locating central world Ratchadamri on google maps, then click nearby and type in <car detailing services> 

 

WAC on Naratiwas looks OK but there are a couple of others. 

 

In a similar scenario I took my m/bike out of storage and took it for a service and asked them if they could clean it "as if i wanted to sell it". Miraculous. Even painted a few black bits and the side stand.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I looked up WAC and that's nearby, so maybe worth a look. SImply Shines in Centralworld is also on the google detailing list (this is where I get my car washed, great service), and they recently polished out most of the scratches but there are a couple that would require some actual touch-up painting, which they don't do.

 

The only place nearby that appears to have English capabilities is  paint/body shop TS Motor, which is heavily promoted to farangs (and "ladies" -- just a bit sexist) on google...The heavy promotions itself makes me a bit skeptical, but it's in Pathumwan not far away and I'll likely at least get an estimate there. Google reviews are mixed but generally positive.

Thanks for the replies, sounds like repairing is the best idea if I have time.  I had hoped for a specific shop recommendation in central BKK since English skills appear very hard to find (large local honda dealer has dozens of technicians but only one that speaks even basis English, and he's not there every day), but I'll do my best to figure it out.

We are leaving Bangkok for greener (OK, cleaner air) pastures and better schooling options in about six weeks.

 

We own a 2016 HRV in the standard, generic black color and with extremely low mileage (just hit 10k as we approach four years old).

 

We purchased it only as a necessity to ferry around our small child, got it on his 4-month birthday after it became clear Uber/Grab/taxis were not viable options.

 

The car is in good condition, but has a few minor scratches that were nearly all received by being sideswiped by motorbikes while stuck in traffic on the way to my son's preschool.  I kid you not, we were hit 8-10 times for certain (usually on Sarisin, a narrow-laned rd between Ratchadamri and Wireless), and the offenders always made sure to ride away as quickly as possible.

 

Anyway, although I believe my insurance would cover the scratches (IIRC the have a $50 deductible for such incidents), I have not gotten them fixed after being told I would be looking at a week in the shop.  Also, no one in our household speaks Thai, so we have a distinct disadvantage -- have found minimal English at Honda dealerships and repair shops.

 

So, my question:

(1)  should I have the scratches repaired before selling?  Would it likely increase value enough to be worth it? There is no collision damage, only scratches and maybe a door ding, have never been close to a collision with an actual car

(2) If I have it repaired, any suggestions on where to do so (specific, please)?  We live on Ratchadamri Rd near Centralworld, not sure if some of these detailing shops in the basements of malls could do it?

(3) Best way to proceed selling it? I have heard recommendations of bahtsold, but again we speak no Thai and will be at a distinct disadvantage.  I realize i could shop it at dealers and get a horrible price, and we may ultimately go that route, but wanted to at least make a token effort selling it directly. Are there any consignment shops in Bangkok?

 

Thanks in advance for any (non-sarcastic) replies

We have multiple re-entry permit (and extreme aversion to Chaengwattana) so it sounds like the sensible thing would be to exit before extension expires and return after for 30-day waivers.  I am also not willing for status to be determined by the officer's whim at the airport, since we need to make follow-on travel plans in advance.  

 

Not ideal, but at least I can plan accordingly, thanks.

Thought I'd try a related question here rather than starting a new thread.

 

We are on an extension of stay (retirement) that expires on Feb 10.  We expect to do some traveling before then, so if we return, say early Feb, would we need to depart again by the 10th to avoid overstay? Or would we get 30 day visa waiver instead? 

 

We are leaving Thailand for the Philippines but will need to make some trips here to tie up some relocation loose ends.

 

So what happens when you enter just before expiry of extension of stay? (will start separate thread if necessary)

 

If a trip to the CW immigration hellhole is required, we will NOT do that, but just make sure to return after Feb 10th and enter on visa waiver.

 

Anybody?

I go to  a Dermatologist at the St.Louis Hospital every 6 months to have any precancerous spots removed. She uses liquid nitrogen and was educated and trained in the UK. Many years in the sun and the damage is already done. Long sleeve coveralls and hat when l am working in my yard. Impossible to avoid sun completely but doing the best l can.

May I ask the name of your doctor? I've been seeing a doctor at Bumrungrad but can't say I am happy about the skin checks, which don't seem very thorough.

FWIW, you can also count me among the melanoma (and BCC and Bowens) crowd. By far the worst part is the mental aspect, as every time I feel a little lump or notice a new lesion I have to face the prospect of possible death - really screws with your head and you never feel safe. Don't really want my toddler to grow up without a father.

Problem with melanoma is it's mostly all or nothing...if it recurs, be which can happen even 20 years later, odds are very much against you and most treatments (such as chemo) are useless. The new targeted treatments can help a small percentage, and maybe more in the future, but for now metastatic melanoma is almost always a death sentence - so stay out of the sun, and get checked regularly if it's too late for that (note, I also had a Thai doc misdiagnosed a mole I asked him about that turned out to be melanoma - could end up killing me yet).

Melanoma is one of the most preventable cancers so no excuse to expose yourself given what we know these days.

Sent from my BTV-DL09 using Tapatalk

2 minutes ago, csabo said:

If the card is not activated regular mail. I do it routinely. You think too mutt. 

Agree 100%, unless speed is an issue.  I've probably had a dozen credit cards forwarded here by my parents, many more previously in Singapore (sometimes multiple cards in a package), and never had an issue.  In any case, you would not be responsible for fraud if you report it in reasonable timeframe, that's  just one of many  credit card advantages.

 

 If already activated simply call and deactivate until it's received, then reactivate.  Also, ask the sender to wrap in a couple of sheets of paper so not obvious what's inside...and first have the activation sticker (with phone number) removed if you prefer, but I never have. Just use common sense, it's easy peezy chinesey.

5 hours ago, jaywalker said:

 

My wife goes thru the US side with me in Chicago (or wherever) in the US, & I hit the Thai side in Thailand when I'm with her.

 

I stood in line with her (like a dumb-ass) in Chicago once in the foreigner's lane for half an hour. The IO looked at me like an idiot (I was) & told me to take her thru the US Citizen's lane next time.

You are really just lucky that you enter in Chicago.  

 

In Portland, first time with my British wife I was told I could have used the U.S. Citizen queue. Next time, we did that, and the officer went nuts on us, saying we should have used the foreign queue.

 

Same in Dallas, had to wait in enormous customs queues (on multiple trips) because my wife is British (Canada exempted, not UK).

 

And as stated before, Heathrow is a nightmare, I'd take swampy and day over that mess.

 

Also, for all of you acting superior about using the BKK priority queue, I have been eligible (biz class or flying with infant) on almost all trips here but on a few occasions have actually switched to regular queue because it was much shorter. Priority queue does not guarantee speed since there are so few counters.

 

8 hours ago, Takeprofit said:

Not working again DAMMIT! 

 

Who can tell me can I go to make a 90 day notification at Immigration Office Big C Supercenter, Rat Burana Branch , Bangkok Open since 19 Dec, 2016 if I am not a Laos , Cambodian and Myanmar?

Yes you can, please see my posts of May 9th and 11th on this topic for details and directions:

 

 

I would like somebody else to try to open the site and entering all the required info to see what happens. Shortcut to bypass the accept terms page. https://extranet.immigration.go.th/fn90online/online/tm47/TM47Action.do?cmd=acceptTerm
I just tried 3 times using IE Tab on Chrome and got this notice instead of the popup to contact your local office page I expected to get.

The website declined to show this webpage

HTTP 403   This error (HTTP 403 Forbidden) means that this program was able to connect to the website, but it does not have permission to view the webpage.

I got the same error message a couple of days ago. First with IE plugin on Chrome then using MS Edge. Multiple attempts with both.

Is there a hard deadline for mail-in reporting? It appears to be 15 days before but not sure of the enforced desdline

Same same here.

 

I called to cancel, was told they would call right back for bank acct info for deposit (I forgot I had paid deposit).  Took forever to pick up the box and never heard back on the deposit, but I don't feel lake wasting time chasing after it.

 

True shop customer service has also been universally horrible, while AIS (where we moved all mobile plans) has always been great.

 

Still stuck with True internet but would switch to AIS immediately if they ever installed fiber to our central BKK condo building.

I would say a major issue skilled or educated work force in thailand is Salary.
 
The average salary of a programmer is 29,000 baht (less than $900) while the average salary of a programmer in a western country is much higher. IE Middle and upper-class Thais send their children to get educated in a western country and a small percentage come back to actually contribute to Thailand's skilled workforce. 

Interesting given that we can't even find a reasonably well-educated, English-speaking Thai nanny for that amount. My Thai friends tell me it is a face issue -- most educated Thais would rather work in an office even at a much lower salary because it makes them feel more important when talking to friends.

Meanwhile, in our previous home Singapore, a far more costly country, we could hire an excellent nanny for far less. Importing a good English-speaking Filipina nanny is of course not allowed.

My wife (UK and Phil. citizen) will be renewing her UK passport because it is out of space. She would also like to do a name change (take my last name).

 

We want to make sure the extension transfer process goes smoothly and minimize hours at Chaengwattana, so would be interested to see if anyone else has gone through the process. We also potentially have the option of transferring the visa extension to her Philippines passport, which will still have her maiden name, but not sure which option would be least hassles.

 

Anyone with direct experience with this? If it's extremely troublesome she may wait until we relocate from Thailand to do the name change.

 

As someone who has been married to a Filipina for several years, let me congratulate you on your good taste (far superior to Thais, at least for me - 15 years in Asia and never met a Thai I wanted to date). If you do decide to marry, just make sure you do it outside the Phils...we got married in Bali before she got her UK citizenship, but would have been easier to wait. Just a word of caution since you are relatively new to the Phils.. my wife told me of a common saying, abbreviated as the ("Four M's"), about why very young girls go for or even prefer much older men - I won't translate but you might want to look it up. I am sure you have mutual true love, so no doubt you will prove to be an exception.

Getting her to Thailand on a visa waiver shouldn't be a huge problem as long as she has a return ticket - we have had a number of my wife's relatives and friends visit - but you can expect she will get quite a grilling upon her exit from the Phils (entry to Thailand is the easy part). Best of luck.

If you think about it, the rule seems especially harsh for British women (particularly mothers) married to foreign husbands. So, mother raises the child and can return home, but not with husband who supports the family? In our case we would be OK because of adequate assets/ investment income, but many would be royally screwed. I guess she could return and claim benefits? Would that make the xenophobes happy? Bizarre, really.

On 5/29/2017 at 8:18 AM, theoldgit said:

 

I'm pretty sure that the post you're responding to is indeed true, if you're referring to any income from within the UK they can only be counted "Where an application relies on the earnings of the applicant, they must be in the UK with permission to work and their hours of work must not exceed any limit specified in their conditions of leave. Earnings from employment undertaken by the applicant when they did not have leave to enter or remain and permission to work (excluding those whose leave has expired within 28 days of the current application) cannot be included".

 

There have been numerous cases reported in the British press where the applicant has had the offer of a high paying job in the UK and because the sponsor hasn't met the financial requirements, the application was refused and in some cases when the applicant was already in the UK, was removed.

 

As I understand it, and I'm pretty sure I'm correct, your income cannot be counted, though joint assets and cash savings could be. 

 

This whole thing is a mess and defies logic, hopefully it will be addressed who ever takes over the reins next month.

 

 

Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement_August_2015.pdf

I was going by memory and was quite certain that in m case, we would (or should) not have an issue.

 

I believe your interpretation is correct for earned income -- it appears this must be sourced in the UK for applicant and/or sponsor.

 

However, there is also an asset test that can be met with savings/investment accounts and it clearly states that these accounts may be held in other countries -- they can be joint or in applicant or sponsors' name, but need to have been above the minimum level for at least six months.

 

Alternatively, a combination method can be used with assets and investment income, and it appears (not completely clear) that the investment income could also come from outside the UK.

 

In any case, upon re-reading the actual rule (sections 6 and 7), I am still confident that we could easily qualify in our own situation, as could most any "Thai millionaire" or even a couple with equivalent of GBP62.5k in savings, which is the specific example to which I was responding.

 

I realize this wouldn't help many or most people, and the rule that earned income must be from within the UK seems especially egregious.

 

Following link for publication of May 2016:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525708/Appendix_FM_1_7_Financial_Requirement.pdf

As far as I am aware the threshold is based on the British person's income only. The Thai wife could be a millionaire but that isn't relevant, so the policy is entirely racist and not economic...

Actually, I am pretty sure this is not true -- I checked into it a couple of months ago.

I am American, my wife is a British citizen. She is currently not working, but raising our small child (British/American) and has only some investment income.

I believe I could settle with her in the UK if we wished, either based on my own income or my assets. At least that's how I read the rule. It would be quite a shock to find otherwise. (We will return to US or UK mostly for child educational purposes).

Not sure if this would change with the new rules as proposed.

On 5/10/2017 at 9:30 AM, WorriedNoodle said:

Surely a postal notification is simpler still than a trip to CW? 

Obviously, it's far too late to post it after attempting to use the online system.  Plus, I've never been able to successfully print out the immigration Word docs (always come out a mess), only the PDF versions (none for 90-day) have printed properly. This time I grabbed extra form copies for future use.

On 5/10/2017 at 10:07 AM, khunerik said:

I live close to the same area as you in Bangkok. Where exacly is the Big C (immigration office) ? And can I get there by BTS or MRT ?

If you google "Rat Burana Big C" you'll get the location, which is just across the river bridge then a u-turn (I tried to post a link, but not allowed).  I had no idea where it was either, just used Google maps for navigation and it was spot on:

 

 I don't think it's convenient for BTS/MRT, so if you don't drive you'd probably be best with a taxi or another location -- also, add 50 bt each way for expressway toll.

FWIW, since the online system is a fiasco, today I did my (second ever) 90-day at the rat Burana Big C.  None of the reporting locations are convenient for me (I'm in Central BKK, Erawan/Ratchaprasong area), but with the right timing on a Tuesday off-peak it was a relatively painless drive across the river and back - 20 min there and 30 back - certainly a big improvement over CW.

 

Rat Burana immigration is very easy to find, in the underground Big C Jumbo carpark area, and would have been very fast (zero queue) if not for the need to complete the silly "foreigner information" form in triplicate for the entire family. Highly recommended alternative for those in my neighborhood. I would never return to CW for this purpose.