Car import - worth an attempt?

[ujayujay]

NO!

[ujayujay]

12 hours ago, eezergood said:

yes go for it, all those thousands of posts and stories of cars never being delivers are rubbish. You can do it easy mate

Good Joke

[peergin]

1 hour ago, ujayujay said:

NO!

I tried it. A beautiful vehicle, 2499 cc, automatic, lots of factory-built in features, 1 year old. Went to Customs HQ in Klong Toey BEFORE shipping the car. Talked to a department manager but first had to wait a while because he was having a massage on the floor in his room.

He encouraged me to ship it because, he said, there are no problems at all. So I shipped it. Never saw it again. Was fed a bunch of lies. Even a VERY senior official who was my wife's close relative (rank: C-13) tried hard but failed. So, do not try to import a car into Thailand! Ever!

Edited March 16, 2018 by peergin
Correction

[catman20]

14 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

That had to be a good while ago......

yes 3 or 4 years but i dont see it would be any easier now.

[Kimber]

On ‎16‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 6:50 AM, NanLaew said:

The fact that the US and EU will be banning diesel engined cars thus rendering them worthless will have no impact on what the Thai tax man reckons is in your wallet.

Overlooked is the fact that Defence force machinery (Tanks, Trucks; etc) run on Diesel, across the globe.

 

Factor in the massive Transport industry in most countries being diesel,  how can any ban of diesel engines be implemented within a  20 year plus time span ?

 

[Scooby and Puppy]

On 16/03/2018 at 3:50 AM, NanLaew said:

The fact that the US and EU will be banning diesel engined cars thus rendering them worthless will have no impact on what the Thai tax man reckons is in your wallet.

Plus, Thai customs puts a value on the vehicle, not what we think it’s worth. 

[pgrahmm]

Don't know where the OP is getting his information....

Scientific American has a good article on this....Part contained below.....

[Scooby and Puppy]

23 hours ago, eezergood said:

yes go for it, all those thousands of posts and stories of cars never being delivers are rubbish. You can do it easy mate

It’s far from being rubbish. 

They hold it for a ransom, it gets to the point where you have to weigh up whether you pay the ransom, or pay the cost of shipping it back...they know that.

Even a small package of face cream for the mrs was held to ransom at customs, and an email came demanding 3 times the value of the item, with a waybill form to print off. Needless to say, I didn’t reply, and got my money back from Amazon, and I just said “you deal with it”.

[Scooby and Puppy]

21 hours ago, giddyup said:

One success out of countless failures. One swallow does not a summer make.

Plus, he obviously didn’t read YOUR post, where you said you said ‘anything is doable if you throw enough money at it’.

He didn’t say HOW much it cost, doable yes, but at what cost?  

I looked into bringing mine over a number of years ago, this can’t be all that hard, I thought, but it was like buying the car all over again..?

[Tofer]

16 hours ago, Russell17au said:

I thought about bringing my car to Thailand but all the rubbish that you have to go through before you can even think about loading it onto a ship. Then when it does arrive the customs officer will put the value onto it for you then they add the freight and the freight insurance and then they will add a bit more just for good luck. This is the car that I wanted to bring to Thailand. It is an Australian built 1989 Ford LTD Stretch Limo and it was going to cost me from leaving Australia to landing it in Bangkok and driving it off the wharf was 2,000,000฿. The car is still in Australia.

Best place for it!! 

[Scooby and Puppy]

18 hours ago, i claudius said:

Tried it years ago .never saw it again . A nightmare

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Oops!

[Tofer]

Has anybody tried importing via Langkawi, Malaysia, duty free I believe, then obtaining a visa for it to drive in Thailand, for how ever long the visa lasts, and crossing the border each time to renew the visa?

 

A friend advised this would only be allowed 2/3 times before refusal on future attempts. Anybody had any experience of this? I know you can do it with boats.

 

Would immigration cross reference your personal visa to establish if you are living in Thailand on a more permanent basis and put 2 & 2 together?

[pgrahmm]

10 minutes ago, Tofer said:

Has anybody tried importing via Langkawi, Malaysia, duty free I believe, then obtaining a visa for it to drive in Thailand, for how ever long the visa lasts, and crossing the border each time to renew the visa?

 

A friend advised this would only be allowed 2/3 times before refusal on future attempts. Anybody had any experience of this? I know you can do it with boats.

 

Would immigration cross reference your personal visa to establish if you are living in Thailand on a more permanent basis and put 2 & 2 together?

You have to put up a large deposit to guarantee vehicle exit....Was told by a shipper about a show car brought in for display....Car came in and out ok.....But years later they were still trying to get their deposit back.....Think it was somewhere around 500,000B....

[transam]

Think after reading import stories here over the years it is a bloody big gamble...

[Scooby and Puppy]

So basically, we have come to the conclusion it ain’t worth the bother. 

Most of us already knew this, but some will still argue that it is possible... so try it then, let us know how you got on. 

I think they think they will save money, but it will probably end up costing a lot more. Unless it’s your pride and joy, then it’s priceless.. in the hands of a customs officer’s siblings..?

[NanLaew]

19 hours ago, i claudius said:

Tried it years ago .never saw it again . A nightmare

Sent from my SM-A720F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Well someone's managing to bring them in. There's a whole slew of unique, imported vehicles under covered parking at Nong Nuch Gardens down past Pattaya.

 

11 hours ago, peergin said:

I tried it. A beautiful vehicle, 2499 cc, automatic, lots of factory-built in features, 1 year old. Went to Customs HQ in Klong Toey BEFORE shipping the car. Talked to a department manager but first had to wait a while because he was having a massage on the floor in his room.

He encouraged me to ship it because, he said, there are no problems at all. So I shipped it. Never saw it again. Was fed a bunch of lies. Even a VERY senior official who was my wife's close relative (rank: C-13) tried hard but failed. So, do not try to import a car into Thailand! Ever!

Have you guys checked in the covered parking at Nong Nuch Gardens?

[CLW]

Don't know where the OP is getting his information....
Scientific American has a good article on this....Part contained below.....

It's everywhere in the German news the past months. You can find it easily. Diesel is dead here because of NOx and fine particle emissions.
Some cities banning diesel and old cars on certain days if emissions are too high.

[Eaglekott]

It is definitive not worth it on a second hand car. I checked regarding this when I moved here, and they calculate the import taxes and VAT on the value of the car when the car was new. Ok this was 5 years ago and things might have changed.

[Just Weird]

On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 1:20 PM, giddyup said:

One success out of countless failures. One swallow does not a summer make.

But it does mean that importing is possible in contrast to the dogmatic Thaivisa assertions that it is a 100% waste of time.

[Just Weird]

22 hours ago, Russell17au said:

Don't come to Khon Kaen because there are BMW's and Merc's everywhere here

Yes, they are everywhere, of course, they are.

 

  I can't understand why some posters make such daft remarks about Thais being unable to service cars which have been imported here for 50-odd years!  Maybe they think that there is something special about BMWs!

[Just Weird]

It's amazing how many posters on this thread alone claim to have "tried to import their own car personally and given up, never to see it again" with no details whatsoever of what happened.  That information would be very interesting and relevant.  Perhaps they've just forgotten the details of their import attempts...

[canthai55]

8 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Perhaps they've just forgotten the details of their import attempts...

They did not forget - their story begins "Once Upon a time ..."

I linked a poster who actually did it, without bribes, kickbacks, exorbitant fees ...

Full description of how, when, where.

Seems not many read it. Typical - as my Haiku in another thread describes ...

 

Bitter Falangs

Barstool Creaking Keyboard Clicking

Spewing Vitriol

 

An apt description of someone who has never done it, or tried it, just repeating the same old same old ...

"My neighbors dogs maids brotherinlaws sisters aunts ...

[pgrahmm]

43 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

But it does mean that importing is possible in contrast to the dogmatic Thaivisa assertions that it is a 100% waste of time.

About 99.9 then.....

 

You might make that betting on your favorite team to win the championship.....But not betting that with your car....

 

In my case, paperwork done & cleared - car exported = happy anticipation.....

Car gets here & the fight starts. They try very possible reason given that it can't come in - none of which agrees with any of the information they previously provided - on their own forms....

Shippers, attorneys, hearings, trips to BKK involved....

Meanwhile you're getting charged 1,200B a day holding fee + a container use fee = 438,000B per year for the holding fee alone....

I tried every avenue....Even kept 200,000 handy for the right persons ok = never came....

Final 2 reasons given - the law changed while it was on the boat & it's a SUV = not allowed to import (but they said 4x4 pick up could have been ok).....

After well over a year & 720,000B later I gave up & they took it....I was to be given the auction info = never received.....

Someone saw that newly reconditioned & fitted out 4x4 and wanted it....

I could have shipped it back but already have 2 vehicles in storage and I'm one driver + flight & shipping the container back costs.....

 

Welcome to hell....

 

That's the short version = DON'T EVEN TRY....

Edited March 17, 2018 by pgrahmm

[pgrahmm]

14 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

It's amazing how many posters on this thread alone claim to have "tried to import their own car personally and given up, never to see it again" with no details whatsoever of what happened.  That information would be very interesting and relevant.  Perhaps they've just forgotten the details of their import attempts...

See my post - I kept it short....There's quite a bit more detail....

[canthai55]

Did you get the correct license as described by M1 ? And everything else he was required ?

If the answer is no, then ...

 

[pgrahmm]

5 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Did you get the correct license as described by M1 ? And everything else he was required ?

If the answer is no, then ...

 

If that's for me - yes, everything had prior clearance.....

They tried everything for denial....

Even to the point where I found & bought the car in another state....CA pink slip showed date of original sale as a blank....They said that was proof I did not own the car for 3 years....I had to fly down & show/walk through non english comprehending people each years registration and dates + the date of sale on the bill of sale + receipt (all of which they already had)....I had to circle and diagram everything out linking it all together for 4 different people before that little hurdle was crossed....Each time I flew down I thought for sure I'd be getting it that time.....Many trips.....

[giddyup]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

But it does mean that importing is possible in contrast to the dogmatic Thaivisa assertions that it is a 100% waste of time.

No, a 99% waste of time. Who wants to suggest to the OP that you can spend a heap of money, cause yourself endless frustration, and still not end up with the car you want to import, but there is a 1% (or less) chance that you may succeed?

Edited March 17, 2018 by giddyup

[canthai55]

45 minutes ago, pgrahmm said:

If that's for me - yes, everything had prior clearance.....

M1 was required to get a vehicle import license, and one other - can't recall.

 

And to all the NaySayers ... I said it could be done, and provided evidence that it had been. That is all.

 

If you have never done it personally, then you are speaking anecdotally.

Word too big - 'Talking out of your ... '

[wordchild]

I did it, 2009: and posted on this forum about my experience. I know of 2 other people who have also imported cars into Thailand for personal use. 

For me, it was/is a very special car and ,for a number of reasons , very well suited to Thai road conditions. So I have been very happy to have done it.

As i have said before on this forum, my advice  would be that ,in general, the costs and hassle mean that, for most people , it would not be worth the bother. And I believe that, as others have commented, it’s become much more difficult in the last  few years. 

[JoeW]

We have imported a number of cars from Japan over the years: Toyota Supra, Celica GT-FOUR, Nissan 350Z, Nissan Cube, Toyota Crown, etc. It can be done, but you need a good agent.