AsiaTraveler1234

I just stumbled upon this old thread while waiting here at a Thailand driving school for my motorbike license. When I am done with this process, I will be issued two separate 2 year (temporary?) Thai driver licenses, one for car (converted from my existing International Driver Permit) and one for motorbike. The posts in this thread are very clear about the full 5 year Thai license and how it can be used abroad, but what about the initial 2 year licenses? Can the first 2 year driver license for either car or motorbike be used only in Thailand, or does it still work in all the ASEAN member countries?

Thank you!

Thanks for letting me know. I feel much better about it now. Do you also happen to know the following: 1. If the police and insurance knew she was driving on an expired license, would my insurance (i.e., the car rental company's insurance) still pay for the damage to her vehicle? 2. Would she have been fined by the police for driving on an expired licence? If so, how much is that fine?

I rented a car in Hua Hin, Thailand this week (March 2023) from Easy Car Rental. They are good because insurance is automatically included with all their rentals, plus they offer free drop off and pickup at locations of your choosing. On my third day of the rental, I was making a right turn onto a very busy highway. I saw a small opening in the oncoming traffic, so I proceeded to make the turn assuming the approaching traffic would slow down to let me through, but it didn't. A car hit the back right of my car as I was making the turn, causing minor damage to both vehicles but allowing both cars to remain operational. I believe I was at fault since I, technically, shouldn't have attempted the turn, but the highway was so busy that without doing so the traffic likely never would have had an opening. It was either I make the turn or sit there indefinitely since there was no traffic light at the intersection and an endless supply of approaching cars on the road. I don't speak Thai and wasn't sure what to do. A girl was driving the other car that hit me, so she was on her phone making calls. I asked her in English to call the police, and an officer on a motorbike showed up. A few minutes later, an unknown male shows up who knows the woman and is with her for the remainder of the time. Perhaps her boyfriend or brother. I ask for her license to take a picture, and he tries to hand me his license even though he wasn't driving the car or otherwise involved in the accident. I point to her and motioned that she was driving the car, so I need to take a photo of her license. She gives it to me and I take the picture. I later realize she was driving with an expired license. The motorbike office, who was very polite and friendly, told me the couple wants to file a report at the police station, and that this officer doesn't typically work in this area so he will now leave, but that I should follow the couple to the police station. At the police station, everyone is speaking Thai so I have no clue what is going on. I assume this guy likely said he was driving the car since she didn't have to pay any fine, but I have no way to know for sure. All the documents were written in Thai, too. I called the Tourist Police and asked for an English translator to come to the police station, which eventually happened. His English was limited and therefore he couldn't translate the documents entirely but rather just gave me a general synopsis of what the documents are. At the end of the day, I had to pay a 400 baht ($11 USD) fine to the police for making the turn without allowing for sufficient space. The insurance adjusters, both speaking only Thai, found me at fault so I had to pay a 5,000 baht ($150 USD) deductible to the rental car company. In the end, I paid about $160 for an accident that I guess was my fault, despite the fact the woman was driving on an expired license and could have easily slowed down to avoid hitting me if she were paying attention (she likely was texting while driving or something along those lines). I'm just glad I wasn't on a motorbike or things could have been much worse. I'm merely sharing this story as an example of what happens when a foreigner is involved in an auto accident in Thailand. Lessons learned: 1. The insurance adjusters, not the police, determine who is at fault in an accident. 2. Better to wait indefinitely (even if for hours) to make turns on busy highways. The time spent at the police station and dealing with insurance is likely much longer (the whole accident process was about 2-3 hours). 3. Always get local insurance when renting cars. I typically don't and was lucky I rented with Easy Car Rental which automatically includes it with all their rentals. 4. Avoid renting cars in foreign countries, generally, and use public transport or hire a private driver to minimize risk. I hope someone finds this story useful! ????