So I want to buy a Kawasaki Z800 from a Thai friend I know but I have some concerns here are my questions. 

 

1. The bike is not owned by him outright he makes monthly payments on the bike. How do I buy the bike outright and get it transferred into my name?

 

2. The registration is two years expired on the bike is this going to be expensive to get the tags current?

 

3. I live in Pattaya he lives in Sakaeo so the license plate is from Sakaeo is this going to be a issue getting a new plate.

 

If anyone has experience do this any info would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

Moved to motorcycle forum for better input

1. Go talk to whoever is holding the paper on the bike - bank or whoever. Find out what it will cost you to buy the loan from them - less any payments he has made, you will deal with him on this.

2. When the bike is in your name, you will have to pay all back taxes before they issue you insurance and tax sticker at DLT

3. Finance company - who owns the paper on the bike, when they transfer to your name can arrange for you to keep the old plate or you can get a different province. My HD has been on BKK plate since I bought it. Never lived there. Never an issue.

canthai55 made some good points. I would add that in general you should be very careful when buying a second hand bike that's still on finance and has pending tax payments. If he didn't have the money to buy the bike, service the debt (I'm guessing that's the reason to sell) nor pay the road tax, then chances are he might have skimped on the service costs too. I've seen tons and tons of these situations and there are rarely any good deals to be had. Also consider that there's the Z900 now which is a much better bike in every way so the Z800 should have lost tons of resale value.

I agree with Eisfeld. The Z900 is lighter, more powerful and will have a full warranty. Unless that Z800 is under 200k I'd be saving all the hassle of finance, tax, registration etc. and getting the better, warrantied bike off the showroom floor. Not sure how good a friend he is, but you need to be really careful about second hand bikes in Thailand, Sakaeo has suffered a number of floods so it may have been a victim of that, could have been badly crashed and rebuilt etc.  

 

If you do decide to buy the Z800 you can either leave it registered in the Sakaeo or transfer it. I transferred my old GSXR from Chiang Mai to Bangkok with no issues. I have also ridden Phuket registered bikes in Bangkok for 7 years with no issues. For expired taxes, you just have to pay the back taxes plus a very small fine (from memory it's maybe a couple of percent of the taxes owed, an insignificant amount really).

Make sure you have a registered address too.  My colleague had real trouble getting hold of the green book after clearing the finance as he had no registered address.

 

a Z800, Thai owned is highly likely to have been ragged!

Thanks guys

Why don't you just bike a new bike... you have the funds... through this parade of BS will only cause you headaches... Go with a new bike .. then you start your own history with the bike.

 

happy holidays.

Your right I told my friend I am going to pass on his bike and get something else. 

 

I would love to get the new Z900 I have the money but it is just a little more then I want to spend right now.

 

I might go to Bangkok and get a used z800 at a dealership.