sbkpeterpan

From the Expat Motors website :

"There is no restriction driving a car in Thailand with red registration plates, but a few spare hundred Baht notes come in handy every now and then to keep the local boys in brown happy!!!"

1) I find that sentence to be an oxymoron (self contradictory)

2) I always thought that red plated cars could only be driven within the plate's province and between certain hours

Hailing all red plater experts, thoughts ?

The red plate together with 'log book' belongs and is registered with the dealer that you buy a new vehicle from and they buy them from the taxation authorities. They are not 'trade plates' in the British sense but temporary plates used on new vehicles whilst the new 'white' plates are being prepared. The dealer should plate the vehicle with one of their 'red' ones amending the log book accordingly before it leaves the forecourt. They'll take a deposit of around 3000 Baht from the vehicle owner and this is returned when the 'white' plates come through. Most dealers however, don't have enough red plates and don't want to buy more than they need. They frequently suggest to the purchaser that it's quite OK to drive without one although in law it definitely isn't. The reality is however that many people don't have the exta cash to stomp up for the plates (yes I know 3000 Baht isn't much but a lot of Thais live on a financial knife edge) so they readily go along with the dealers suggestion and secondly it's seen as 'cool' to be driving around in a non plated 'new' vehicle. Red plated vehicles should be driven only between the hours of sunrise and sunset and should not be taken out of the Changwat where they are registered. The law is open to 'normal' selective interpretation and the strictness of enforcement seems to vary throughtout the country. Here in Chiangmai I should think that less than 50% of new vehicles have red plates.

Correct ! while its an outdated law, in practice it give the Hwy robbers some leverage, If you are out of district and or driving at night they will "fine" you. One other restriction is that you are not supposed to carry anything in the bed of a pickup until the white plates are affixed.

Why do the white plates take do long? because the dealers only have to pay when the car is registered, the longer they can keep on red plates, the longer the cash stays in their pocket. The last car I brought I paid a small deposit and didn't pay until it had proper plates, that took 3 days, if I had paid all it could have taken two months.

There is only one place where you will get an honest deal, and thats at Red Baron, sure you will pay top Baht and then some, but in business packed full of crooks and liars, Vikrom at Red Baron is at the least an Honest man.

TP will tell you it is legal to ride an unregistered bike.

They have sold many bikes that way, IT IS NOT, no way, shape or form is it legal to ride a non registered bike on the road.

They know that perfectly well, all they are interested is in getting your cash and seeing the back of you.

1999 Yamaha R1 with genuine legal plate & green book, Mileage 17,000 (doubt if genuine) Bike in Bangkok, can deliver. price 190,000 baht.

Why even think about it ?

I'm 59 with a 29 Yo wife and 3 daughters ages 6 years to 18 months old. My wife is slim & attractive, I am old and very ugly. When we go to Australia no one really gives a second look but in England or NZ were we went last year they almost walk into lamp posts while gawking, it gives me a big kick, to see the middle aged Matrons snarl, and the "lucky bugger" look I get from their husbands.

As an exercise, to familiarize myself with a wheel change procedure and to check the air pressure, I lowered the spare wheel. If you haven’t done this yet then I recommend that you try it. There is a knack to getting the extension of the wheel brace extension engaged and it needs practice. You don’t want to find this out on the side of the road, at night and in pouring rain with your first flat tyre. Hands up all those owners who have never had the spare wheel out? Make a point of trying it out tomorrow!!

Any other high ‘mileage’ owners out there? Any snags to share?

Thats good advice, also lock up your spare wheel, mine was stolen and 2 of my employees have had their spare wheels stolen. Now mine has a big lock on it.

One can only wonder at the uninformed and flawed logic behind this forced withdrawal of petrol. A more skeptical individual might wonder who owns the ethanol companies, and stands the most to benefit from this government policy?

Ohhhhhhhh that feels better

The last paragraph sums it up. There must be a profit being made somewhere by vested interests, because I can't work out what the rationale is otherwise. My car is 2002 Volvo, whenever I am forced to fill with a Part Ethanol mix, it runs like a dog, will not idle smoothly and you can feel a loss of power, I mean much more than can be just attributable from the reduced energy available from the Ethanol component. I imagine it’s not just my car; others must have the same symptoms.

Dont think you can compare last generation pickups against the latest offerings. The biggest improvement is common rail fuel injection and computerised engine management not to mention more car like cabin/handling. I just got a new 2500cc Mitsu Triton and they claim is 22% more fuel efficient than the old model and comparable in fuel consumption to an Isuzu. They said if I did not like the performance I could improve it via tweaking the engine control system (but with worse fuel consumption). Need to do more mileage to get an idea of consumption, but cant think it would be as bad as your Strada or my other pickup (Isuzu Rodeo 2800cc DI)! I went for a small engine because I am sure fuel will remain expensive.

Been doing pickup shopping and found Isuzu to be noisy, even though they say they have a new 2500cc engine. Toyota Vigo is the best, but I found Mitsu Triton offers better value and more powerful engine than Vigo in the 2500cc size. Mazda/Ford has most powerful 2500cc because they use an intercooler, but ugly body, antiquated hand brake and small space in the back in the Open Cab put me off.

If you are concerned about fuel economy then get a 2500cc engine; the Mitsu one has more power than my old Isuzu 2800, so thats good enough for me!

I got a 4 door Mitsu Triton for 600,000B, with alloy wheels, electric windows all round/mirrors, MP3 player, underbody coated, chrome mirrors, car like cabin, rear liner, free car insurance, free car registration, film on the windows. Cheaper than a high spec Honda Jazz? Isuzu told me I could have similar, but would have to specify electric windows/alloys as options while the Mitsu was a standard model (apart from the MP3 player which I got free)...

I previously had a Strada, same experince, drinks fuel and worse, it was sadly gutless. Got a Vigo 6 months ago, Fuel economy is way better, about the same tank size but go at least 30% further and it makes good power. I really don't know what it does in KM/L but can nearly get me to Phuket from BKK on a tank full (2000Baht at todays prices) but if I ramp the speed up to cruise at 140 instead of my usual 120, ecomony (naturally) drops away. Can't speak highly enough of the Vigo, sure beats the crap out of my previous 2.8L POS Strada.

My four-stroke 150 gets to an indicated 142 with me scrunched down, so I have no doubt that a tuned/modified 2-stroke could do 160 indicated.

I agree about Thai speedometers being wildly optimistic. I used to run 120kph indicated, between kilomter markers on the superhighway. It would take way more than 30 seconds, more like 34 seconds. Meaning, over 10% speedo error. Also, the odometer was optimistic, so while it now reads over 36,000 km, it may have only done 34,000.

There must be something special in the fuel up in CM and Udon, a 150 cc Phantom that does 160 Kph and a CBR 150 that does 140+ while I can only make my XR250R do 125KPH (6 speed as well) or my DR 400 barely do 140KPH, Both of these bikes put out considerably more HP. Hope you guys don't buy proper big bikes as we will be getting stories of 400 KPH top speeds

Well I still havre a 150 Phantom, took it from Udon to Vhaing Ria back Cahing Mia and back to Udon, cruised easily at 140 KMS.

Ray, 140km's yr joking right ? My 2005 DR400 puts out 40 hp 29.2 kW @ 8500 rpm so its a water cooled reasonably efficient motor. It struggled to get to 140 Km/Hr with my hunched over. I would guess yr aircooled 150cc motor would put out about 15hp and it cruises easily at 140Km/Hr!

^Right on

When I read the title I thought you were talking about 1200 cc or something.

150cc honda a large bike? Your actually considering touring on a 150cc bike?

At the very least get a 600cc bike.

Last week I made a mistake by taking a 400cc to Udon, 140KPH flat out and it sucked gas at the rate of 8Km / L until I ran out of gas, before I cought on a small bike running flat out uses far more gas than a big bike running at the same speed. Great bike for around town but you need at least 600 cc to cruise. These baby choppers Phantom etc must be painfully slow on the road, can they even keep up with 100KPH traffic?

SPC beans are the best next to heinz. Awesome, I had a can of them before going in for an operation a few days ago, kinda regretted it all the next day and not sure if I embarrassed myself during the OR.

Agree, SPC are the best by far, I brought about 40 cans of them from Villa when they were on special for about 40 baht, now nealy gone. The AYAM ones are foul, any taste they had is well overpowered by the addition of way too much sugar, Unfortunately brought a few cans, now my kids won't even eat them and I ain't got a dog, What to do?

Corkscrews still reminding us that he's got an S class (the slow one )

I apologize....I know that is a bit silly of me to keep posting these things. I just fell in love with this car....it was my first new one since 1992...so I was just so proud of it. In the past I only bought a new car about ever 10 years. And I was so surprised at the new features that these new MBs had. I just wanted to show them. I am sorry if I came across as being a show-off...I did not mean it.

CS, If I was willing to put the money into a car like yours, i guess I would be proud of it, BUT your constant reminders of what mechanical devices you own, does get a bit boring and makes you seem a bit well, obsessed with publisising your ownership. It seems a bit superficial and I am sure in real life you are not like that.

It's probably me and agreed I see other types of SUV's being driven stupidly but I'd swear the preponderance of crappy drive is perpetrated by black ones. The big 4door 4x4's by toyota and isuzu seems to be culprits as well.

But the Fortuner since it handles better may lend itself to more Mario Andretti wanabees.

I'd like to stick that Toyota D4D engine in my 109 land rover!

Those diesel powered toyotas go like bats out of "hail".

Why anyone would buy a Black vehicle in a hot country beats me, in the hotter parts of Australia you can hardly give a dark coloured vehicle away. They had a comparison between light and a similar dark vehicle on Discovery channel and both the rate of temperature rise and maximum temperatures were significantly higher on the dark vehicle. Don't too much brain power to work that one out, but then again if you buy a black vehicle you ain't got much I suppose.

there are a few driving around Phuket Town. I think they are Kelisas with a 1 litre engine. Would be dirt cheap to drive around town.

No idea how much one costs though.

The little Malaysian made cars would be perfect for 90% of what Bangkoks car driving population needs BUT 1: cars here are needed to show other people how rich you are and 2: The Japanese manufactures here control the car policy, so unfortunatly people will continue to drive fuel sucking, polluting machines.

A lot of the stuff that goes on in classrooms here would never be allowed in the West. When I was very young, kids could be paddled for misbehaving but this was done in the principal's office. Here it's often done in front of the whole class. There seems to be less corporal punishment dished out in Bangkok these days but it's still alive and well in many schools. Probably more so in the provinces. Some of the kids I used to teach could use a good whack or two It's unacceptable for good kids to be given such punishment.

I grew up in an era when corporal punishment in schools was normally carried out in front of the class, it was metered out fairly regularly for minor disciplinary infractions. I don't think I or any of my school mates ever suffered any resulting problems from it. Those who I have kept in touch with all went on to become fine citizens (well except for myself who ended up here). My daughter attends a school where there is a hair length regulation. I just make sure she is in compliance with their rules.

You sound as though you have done this or know about it ??

What does CKD stand for ?? Is auto parts not auto parts until its made into a working car ??

Soc of Thai auto engineers.. BKK location only ??

How can I find out about emissions requirements etc.. Large block US engines ??

Thanks for any info.

Found this

Thai Society of Automotive Engineers

Chulalongkorn University, Phya Thai Road

10330, Bangkok

THAILAND

tel: +66 (2) 218 6636

fax: +66 (2) 214 1919

Internet URL: http://www.tsae.or.th

Internet e-mail: [email protected]

I don't actually know what the emissions standards are, guess I will find out later.

CKD stands for completely knocked down. Ie parts only, not an assembled car.

Re Duty, found out the hard way, "In theory" it should be 30% but when I imported a Torque Biasing Differential From Taggart performance in the US the cost went from 3500 USD ex fact US to 5400 landed here duty paid. Since that time I get the parts I need sent to Singapore and then carry them back here. If they charged me the listed Duty, I wouldn't bother I would just bring them here.

I’m in the process of considering bringing in a kit car and all the spares required to complete the kit car build into Thailand. I’m on a mission to keep busy. Anybody know if I can do this or what steps I should take. I’ve heard various answers, each one different. Would really like a way forward. I've contacted the guys in the uk, they are prepared to ship all parts required.

The basic rate of tax on CKD kit is 30% of the CIF plus vat, Douht wether a private importer would get that low tho'. Then to get it registered you have to get enginnering and emisssions approval from the Soc Of Thai auto enginners, all up that process can be quite expensive, prob 100K+ depending on engine size etc.

Robin had one as did little red riding.

Yes... the Big B.B. on Suk Road just opposite the old Ambassadors Hotel has always been a "good one" and I have taken loads of people into it over the years without any problems.

First a/c that I had (about 15 years ago) I gave my address as the old Honey H...MPR...

Also unlike other branches they will issue your Be First ATM machine card to you at the same time as you open your savings account...instant access to yer dosh...

New a/c dept is up the stairs ,turn right and take a number.I have never ever had to wait more than 10 minutes to discuss wot-ever...Very helpfull and "parley Le Angrit".

Unless its changed its name/address recently then the Branch is

B.B...Bangkapi..

and

Tel Nos.: 2524173-5 / 2524978-9 / 252476-7/ 2512921

Even got an internet a/c from there (K.W)..handy for paying the bills...wot bills.

opened an account there about the same time i.e 15 years ago, at that time I had been turned dwon by a couple of banks (new rules I think) anyway walked into that branch with a million Baht in cash and a Interpreter ( last nights shag) on my arm, no problem, I sort of cringe a bit now thinking about wondering what the old big Hair Khun Nai thought about it at the time. Never the less despite the obvious disapproval she expedited things in a efficient manner. Still have the account although ya gotta say BBPLC is quite the worst bank to deal with.

Thanks for the info, Mate.

Your Welcome cobber (thats the ozzie version of mate)

Forgive my ignorance if this is a stupid question: If I have regular alloy wheels, is it possible to get them 'chromed?' (Of course, without ruining them). If so, how much would it cost to 'chrome' a set of 20" Alpina rims? Anyone know? Here's a pic of the rim as it stands now:

Thanks,

teej

Chrome plating of aluminuim is quite a complex process, you need to go through a 15 step preperation process before you can lay on the chrome. So it is possible, in Thailand probably not unless you have a need for high volume in which case you would set up your own line. In short forget it, it would be cheaper to send your wheel to the US and even then the cost would be more than the intial cost of the wheels.

I travelled with them once, NEVER AGAIN. They are woeful, They changed gates in KL at the last moment, of course a mad rush to the new gate, I had my 2 daughters with me 4 years and 2 years old. I couldn't get to the gate as fast, so we were all separated by rows. They expected me to leave my girls parked all around the plane. No attempt to try and shift passengers so I could at least sit beside the older one and keep the yougest on my knee. They lost my baggage, although it did turn up the next day, I still had to go and pick it up myself. I would sooner walk than go with clowns again.

Does anybody know of a Thai authority we can complain to?

Hua Hin Heartbreak

Don't bother with a Thai authority, they won't do anything. Book an appointment with a decent Legal firm, get on a plane and start proceedings. Guest house has given you good advice, but this cowboy builder needs to be stopped, you won't do it by hiring a marginally competant legal advice.

Skip, 8 years ago I had a almost identical experience, door broken down, security guards who though my ex attacking me with a carving knife was funny. Cops who were useless, all the same little highlights. Eventually got through it now she is remarried to some poor <deleted> in Italy. FRom the lowest point in my life things got better, I now have wife who I adore along with a couple of anklebiters, life could hardly be better. But reading yr post brought back the utter misery of that time in my life.