Agent To Help Getting Thai Licence For Foreign Licence Holders.

[Just Weird]

Not so long ago someone posted a question about finding an agent in Bangkok to assist with getting a Thai licence for a foreign licence holder.  The search function doesn't bring up that OP so I'll start a new one.

 

I have a UK licence that will expire next year and because I no longer have a UK address I have to get a Thai licence, or have no licence at all next year.   I did have a Thai licence years ago when I was still married but never bothered to renew it until it was so far past the renewal date that I had to apply again from scratch.  I never bothered to do that either just used my UK licence.

 

My problem was now being single (so no wife to assist at the LTD where hardly any English is spoken) and not having enough Thai to easily get through the application and test procedure, I could pretty much guarantee the process would either fail or just be a complete pain in the arse.

 

I came across Fatboy's Motorbike Rental on Facebook and they advertise a service to assist with obtaining the licence.  All I needed was my UK licence, passport, a Residence Certificate (or work permit) and 1,900 baht.  https://www.facebook.com/pg/Fatboysmotorbikerentals/services/?ref=page_internal

 

At 10.30am on Tuesday I and a couple of others were first taken to a clinic near the LTD for health certificates to be issued (5 minutes), then to the LTD where the application forms were signed.   We then had to wait 30 minutes or so to do the "physical tests".  These were a reaction test (on a pedal mock-up of a car, accelerate until a series of green lights come on then hit the brake before red lights appear) and a perspective test that involved using a hand control to move a vertical marker, 10 feet or so away, backwards or forwards until it lined up alongside another fixed marker.  Finally, there was the test in which coloured lights had to be identified.  Help is given if the first attempts are unsuccessful, one older female could not even understand how to operate the accelerator/brake mock-up even though it is just as it would be found in a normal vehicle.  She passed that part even so.

 

Sitting through the 1 hour video on road courtesy and how to 'properly' park, overtake, use lights etc completed the process.   That was the worst part, although there is no supervisor so many used the hour as an opportunity to get some sleep or play with their phones. By 1pm I had my Thai licence.

 

For me, without Fatboy's service, I don't think that I would have got through it before my patience ran out and I gave up so I would highly recommend it for those in a similar situation; there must be quite a few because they do this two days a week with 4 or 5 applicants and are almost always booked up.  For the cynical, this is 100% legal, nothing in the process is bypassed and nothing is paid to LTD officials except for the 205B fee for a 2 year licence.

[giddyup]

Older female couldn't operate accelerator brake and yet was still given a licence. God help us!

[Just Weird]

On ‎11‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 1:17 PM, giddyup said:

Older female couldn't operate accelerator brake and yet was still given a licence. God help us!

Well, she got through that part, I didn't see whether she could actually drive or pass the written test as I didn't have to do them.  She may have been failed later.

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, Just Weird said:

Well, she got through that part, I didn't see whether she could actually drive or pass the written test as I didn't have to do them.  She may have been failed later.

So, what did the agent do for you that you couldn't do for yourself? I did mine at Pattaya, three times now, first the 1 year, then the 5 year, and just done another 5 year. Didn't need an agent, as it's all pretty straight forward.

[Just Weird]

44 minutes ago, giddyup said:

So, what did the agent do for you that you couldn't do for yourself? I did mine at Pattaya, three times now, first the 1 year, then the 5 year, and just done another 5 year. Didn't need an agent, as it's all pretty straight forward.

It not very straightforward at the Bangkok LTD if, like me, you don't speak enough Thai to get through the application procedure and English is not generally spoken there.  That's what the agent did for me, and a few others.  She also made them return my original Residence Cert that I needed that they insisted to me they had to keep.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Just Weird