Driving a Thai vehicle in Vietnam

[The Old Bull]

I live in the northeast of Thailand and when I look at the map it looks like a shorter drive through Laos to get to the beach in Vietnam than to drive to Rayong.

Is this possible? I have heard that Vietnam does not allow  right hand drive vehicles? so much for ASEAN

[KhunBENQ]

From all information here and otherwise it looks like nothing has changed:

no chance with a Thai or other private foreign vehicle to Vietnam.

Looking forward to someone knowing better.

 

24 minutes ago, The Old Bull said:

looks like a shorter drive through Laos to get to the beach in Vietnam than to drive to Rayong.

Oh yes.

How often had I wished to be able traveling free within the subcontinent especially to the South China Sea.

Hard to get accustomed when you come from Europe.

 

The only exception for driving through Vietnam that I saw was in a 15 part TV documentary.

A team drove from Berlin to Tokyo (some ferry traffic included ).

But they got their exceptional permission on the level of foreign ministry.

And even they had quite a delay at the Vietnamese border attaching temporary Vietnamese plates for example.

 

Edited March 11, 2018 by KhunBENQ

[ck98]

I’ve seen Thai plates in Hanoi many times , though could be diplomats or something since all of them were 7 series or Mercedes etc.

 

but truthfully , who in their right mind wants to drive in that country. No thank you, and my girlfriend is from there!

[chrissables]

21 minutes ago, ck98 said:

I’ve seen Thai plates in Hanoi many times , though could be diplomats or something since all of them were 7 series or Mercedes etc.

 

but truthfully , who in their right mind wants to drive in that country. No thank you, and my girlfriend is from there!

Riding there is great, not tried driving though. I suppose it depends where in Vietnam you are.

[Airbagwill]

I believe there are "convoys" you can join.

but as you noted freedom of movement is a long way off in ASEAN and although in theory we should be allowed into Cambodia, Burma, and Vietnam, these countries still put up obstacles despite the declared intention.

In fact, Thailand took a step back by restricting ALL foreign vehicles because of a perceived problem with China. The logical solution should have been a reciprocal arrangement with China that allowed Thai vehicles to enter there too.

 

it seems that Thailand authorities are blind to the benefits to trade and tourism freer access would bring.

 

 

[Lee4Life]

It's been a few years ago now, but another foreigner told me he tried and the authorities at the Vietnam border turned him around because the car was right-hand drive. maybe someone else has heard of this also?

[jimster]

3 hours ago, ck98 said:

I’ve seen Thai plates in Hanoi many times , though could be diplomats or something since all of them were 7 series or Mercedes etc.

 

but truthfully , who in their right mind wants to drive in that country. No thank you, and my girlfriend is from there!

Likely those were Lao plates, not Thai. Laos and Vietnam have a cross-border transport agreement and can travel freely between each other's country.

[jimster]

1 hour ago, Lee4Life said:

It's been a few years ago now, but another foreigner told me he tried and the authorities at the Vietnam border turned him around because the car was right-hand drive. maybe someone else has heard of this also?

Nothing to do with that. Thailand and Vietnam don't have an agreement allowing each other's vehicles to enter. Chinese vehicles, which are left hand drive can't enter Vietnam either.

One can drive a Thai car to Vietnam if going on a tour.

[jimster]

1 hour ago, Airbagwill said:

I believe there are "convoys" you can join.

but as you noted freedom of movement is a long way off in ASEAN and although in theory we should be allowed into Cambodia, Burma, and Vietnam, these countries still put up obstacles despite the declared intention.

In fact, Thailand took a step back by restricting ALL foreign vehicles because of a perceived problem with China. The logical solution should have been a reciprocal arrangement with China that allowed Thai vehicles to enter there too.

 

it seems that Thailand authorities are blind to the benefits to trade and tourism freer access would bring.

 

 

Not exactly.

 

First of all, trade is not hindered by preventing foreign cars from entering - unless you are referring to smugglers. Most overland trade is naturally done by trucks, which continue to cross Thailand's borders in large numbers daily, though Thai trucks dominate (fewer foreign trucks enter Thailand than those heading in the other direction).

 

There were too many Chinese vehicles coming to Thailand (increasing exponentially every year) and none going in the other direction. Also many accidents and Chinese drivers fleeing to China after getting into accidents. China hasn't allowed foreign vehicles (aside from those registered in certain neighboring countries like Russia, Mongolia and Laos, which are allowed to travel a limited distance near the border) to enter the country for years - except if going on a tour, with mandatory guide. Thailand was right to reciprocate but it only applies to vehicles registered in countries that do NOT share an agreement on cross-border transport with Thailand. 

 

Lao, Malaysian and Singaporean vehicles can still enter without restriction as before. Cambodian vehicles must leave through the same border they came and aren't supposed to leave the border province they entered (though many still do) while Burmese cars can't leave the border town they entered, which is reasonable given Thai cars can only travel within a limited distance of the border on the Burmese side (this has been unchanged since decades). Thai cars and motorcycles CAN enter Cambodia (I have many times) but there are limitations on which border crossings can be used. This is because Cambodia has refused to sign a cross-border agreement with Thailand covering private cars (similarly, Cambodia has not signed any agreements with Laos or Vietnam either).

 

A reciprocal agreement between Thailand and China sounds great but China would never allow it for private cars. Soon Thai drivers would be causing the same kind of problems that Chinese drivers were causing in Thailand. Also, China is not comfortable with freely allowing foreigners to drive around the country going places they aren't supposed to. There was a company that allowed foreign cars to enter and travel around China without a guide (not sure how official this was, but it happened). In the recent past, foreign drivers who entered using this company were caught sneeking into Tibet without permission and this made it even more difficult for future overlanders to enter the country - the guide requirement was reinforced.

 

I highly doubt there will ever be freedom of movement for vehicles all around ASEAN. Not with the UN's sustainability agenda 2030 in the name of "saving the planet from the effects of climate change" which all UN members have willingly signed up to - this means discouraging the usage of private automobiles in favour of public transportation such as high speed rail, the infrastructure for which is currently being constructed or planned (for example, Kunming-Vientiane-Bangkok HSR; Bangkok-Pattaya; and Bangkok-Hua Hin amongst others). Also, more and more cheap airlines connecting secondary cities in the region with each other.

 

If you go through the archives of the Bangkok Post, you'll find an article from a couple of months ago about how Thailand plans to implement a vehicle charge on all foreign registered vehicles, possibly as early as the end of this year. This is in response to the Malaysians doing the same for Thai vehicles since last year. Each foreign registered car (motorcycles will be exempt for the first few years) will be required to get an RFID tracking chip and pay a small amount to use Thailand's roads. After around 4 years, vehicles from foreign countries will be required to pay a per km charge (I think 1 Baht per km). Eventually, after around 8 years (according to the article) a GPS tracking device will be required to be installed. This will have the effect of eventually making it so expensive to drive here that no one will come anymore. Singapore started this already and has been charging Malaysian cars for years with its congestion pricing scheme and daily vehicle charge, Malaysia then reciprocated by charging Singaporeans then Thais, later Bruneian and Indonesian vehicles coming across it's Borneo frontier now Thailand is about to implement this system and it will probably go region-wide eventually.

 

I suspect this whole scheme is part of the UN's sustainability agenda 2030 plan. How can it not be - however, Thailand has chosen the easy route of reducing foreign cars on it's roads before it decides how to tackle the issue of reducing car usage by it's own domestic population.
 

[jimster]

On 3/11/2018 at 11:43 AM, KhunBENQ said:

From all information here and otherwise it looks like nothing has changed:

no chance with a Thai or other private foreign vehicle to Vietnam.

Looking forward to someone knowing better.

 

Oh yes.

How often had I wished to be able traveling free within the subcontinent especially to the South China Sea.

Hard to get accustomed when you come from Europe.

 

The only exception for driving through Vietnam that I saw was in a 15 part TV documentary.

A team drove from Berlin to Tokyo (some ferry traffic included ).

But they got their exceptional permission on the level of foreign ministry.

And even they had quite a delay at the Vietnamese border attaching temporary Vietnamese plates for example.

 

I've seen Thai cars traveling in Vietnam on a tour - with their Thai plates attached. Very simply, you need to register your intentions before entering the country through a travel agency - the agent in turn makes all the arrangements with the relevant ministries and departments. Driving tours to Vietnam are not actually that expensive and they apply to every foreign registered vehicle wishing to enter Vietnam irrespective of whether it's a RHD or LHD car except for Lao registrations and Cambodian registrations (these are restricted to border provinces only). ONLY Lao vehicles can travel freely around Vietnam without seeking permission in advance.

[Lee4Life]

3 minutes ago, jimster said:

I've seen Thai cars traveling in Vietnam on a tour - with their Thai plates attached. Very simply, you need to register your intentions before entering the country through a travel agency - the agent in turn makes all the arrangements with the relevant ministries and departments. Driving tours to Vietnam are not actually that expensive and they apply to every foreign registered vehicle wishing to enter Vietnam irrespective of whether it's a RHD or LHD car except for Lao registrations and Cambodian registrations (these are restricted to border provinces only). ONLY Lao vehicles can travel freely around Vietnam without seeking permission in advance.

Thanks for all of the good information...but in this statement I understood you to say that vehicles with Lao registrations are restricted to border provinces only, but in the next sentence you seemed to state that only Lao vehicles can travel freely around Vietnam without seeking permission in advance. What am I missing?

[jimster]

3 minutes ago, Lee4Life said:

Thanks for all of the good information...but in this statement I understood you to say that vehicles with Lao registrations are restricted to border provinces only, but in the next sentence you seemed to state that only Lao vehicles can travel freely around Vietnam without seeking permission in advance. What am I missing?

Cambodian vehicles are restricted to the border provinces (I should have said the latter - sorry). Lao vehicles can travel around the country freely.

Edited March 12, 2018 by jimster