Customs duty on imported motorcycle

[properjob]

Does anyone know how much import tax (and other duties) is levied on a private motorcycle, second-hand, imported from Europe? 

 

I'm guessing the calculation of the duty will be rather arbitrary, but there might be a formula or a prescribed tax rate. Does anyone have experience of this? Is the registration of the imported bike straightforward, or another fresh bureaucratic nightmare? 

 

pj

[metisdead]

Moving to the Motorcycle forum for knowledgeable answers.

[observer90210]

I would sell the bike in Europe and purchase another one in Thailand...to much hassle to get it shipped, imported, customs, registration etc. etc. etc.

[jackdd]

Nearly every report that you read about this topic ends with the people regretting that they tried it. Very few managed to do it successfully and it cost them a lot of money.

So the general advice is: Sell your bike, and buy one in Thailand.

[moe666]

Plus it will take at least 2 years to do it legally, but have they not stopped all imports of second hand bikes into country

[properjob]

Thanks for the replies.

 

I'd still be interested to hear from someone who has actual experience of trying to import a motorcycle. 

[poanoi]

a friend of mine inquired about importing a new chopper from US to thailand,

now i dont remember exactly, but it was shocking how much it would cost,

it was just a non starter.

he will come visit after songkran so i can ask about if he remember details better than me if its important to you, but we both thought it was a complete non starter, i remember that much, and so did the shop owner that was the potential seller and checked the whole thing out

Edited April 9, 2018 by poanoi

[canthai55]

33 minutes ago, properjob said:

I'd still be interested to hear from someone who has actual experience of trying to import a motorcycle. 

One success story - don't listen to all the doom and gloom - ers on this site with no knowledge other than what they heard on a barstool

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1029275-car-import-worth-an-attempt/?page=6&tab=comments#comment-12837207

 

[papa al]

papa has heard only doom & gloom on importing bikes.

[ardokano]

On 08.04.2018 at 8:46 PM, observer90210 said:

I would sell the bike in Europe and purchase another one in Thailand...to much hassle to get it shipped, imported, customs, registration etc. etc. etc.

People didn't ask what do you want to do. People ask about import tax  and about... How you know what kind bike his what in Thailand not any bike easy find. Or may be its some special bike.

[observer90210]

7 hours ago, ardokano said:

People didn't ask what do you want to do. People ask about import tax  and about... How you know what kind bike his what in Thailand not any bike easy find. Or may be its some special bike.

something upset you it seems ?

[canthai55]

10 hours ago, papa al said:

papa has heard only doom & gloom on importing bikes.

read the link

[ChiangMaiLightning2143]

Does not matter “what the duty is?” or any promises made. Once it is on the warehouse everything will change. A law unto themselves.

 

Most likely you will give up any never see the bike again better to take your money and throw it in a garbage bin maybe some needy person will find it not bent officials.

 

 

 

[moe666]

Someone I know imported a 1953 MG/TD to Thailand, It took him 2 years to get all of the paper work completed and the final permission for import. He did not bring the car to Thailand until he had permission otherwise it would have set in an impound lot for the 2 years.

 

He said he would go get the paper work fill it out go back the next week and be told sorry we need this as well, get the paper work fill out go back and repeat. He refused to pay tea money although he never said if any was requested.

 

If you decide you want to give it a go good luck.

[M1Tanker]

One more time....with feeling.

 

For what it is worth,

 

This is a repost of previously posted information on Thaivisa.

 

I completed the permanent importation of my motorcycle (2008 BMW R1200GS Adventure) into Thailand in 2016.  I also obtained the green registration book and Thai license plate.  The process was long and required a lot of paperwork.

 

Here are some recommended questions to answer prior to starting an attempt to import a motorcycle (or automobile) into Thailand:

• Are you trying to permanently import your motorcycle (or automobile)?
• What kind of visa will you be coming to Thailand on?
• How well documented is your motorcycle (or automobile)? All original sales documentation? All registration documents? Motorcycle driver's licenses to include expired and international drivers licenses? Is there a lien against the motorcycle?
• Do you have a yellow tambien baan (house registration)? (NOTE: This was the first key Thai document that I needed to proceed onto dealing with the Department of Foreign Trade and Thai Customs. This was incredibly bureaucratic for me.)

 

There are two Thai government agencies that one needs to interact with in order to permanently import a motorcycle into Thailand:

1. Department of Foreign Trade within the Ministry of Commerce (NOTE: An import license must be obtained as well as an import permit for the motorcycle. I did NOT obtain these critical documents from the Department of Transportation.) 

2. Customs Department (http://en.customs.go.th/content.php?ini_content=individuals_151007_01&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individuals_151007_01). (NOTE: In the link Thai Customs  states "Criteria for a Permanent Import of Used/Secondhand Vehicles" states "An importer is eligible to import only ONE used/ secondhand vehicles for personal use.")

3. (NOTE: I did contact the Thai Industrial Standards Institute and they informed me that because I was importing a used/second hand motorcycle they did not play a role in the importation process.)

 

I did have to pay import duties and the motorcycle was depreciated in accordance with the formula that can be found in the Thai Customs link above.  The cost wasn't zero baht but it was considerably less than a new or used equivalent BMW here in Thailand.

 

Once I completed the importation, I then took that paperwork to my local Department of Transport.  I filled out more paperwork and paid a small processing fee.  Weeks later I received my green registration book and license plate.

 

AlI personnel that I interacted with at all of the aforementioned Thai government agencies were professional and ethical.  I will point out that many of the personnel in these offices are not completely familiar with permanently importing a motorcycle because they just don't see it happen that often. Patience, thoroughness, and professional determination are required.  I found that researching the process online, asking a lot of questions, and communicating with each office in person or online to be effective.  I started the process over a year prior to shipping my motorcycle.

 

The other question to ask yourself before embarking on such an endeavor is whether or not the vehicle is supportable in Thailand.  If you are planning on bringing a vehicle that was not sold or is not sold in the Thai market then getting parts and service will be a challenge.

 

If you or anyone else have additional questions regarding my experiences permanently importing a motorcycle into Thailand just PM me.

[canthai55]

9 hours ago, ChiangMaiLightning2143 said:

Does not matter “what the duty is?” or any promises made. Once it is on the warehouse everything will change. A law unto themselves.

 

Most likely you will give up any never see the bike again better to take your money and throw it in a garbage bin maybe some needy person will find it not bent officials.

read the link 2.0

[canthai55]

People just will not listen M1

give them a link to your successful importation, and they still spout off about things they know SFA about.

New Name - Moron Visa - at times

[M1Tanker]

Just trying to provide some first hand experience that may benefit others.

 

[canthai55]

4 minutes ago, M1Tanker said:

Just trying to provide some first hand experience that may benefit others.

And it is muchly appreciated !

[DILLIGAD]

Someone I know imported a 1953 MG/TD to Thailand, It took him 2 years to get all of the paper work completed and the final permission for import. He did not bring the car to Thailand until he had permission otherwise it would have set in an impound lot for the 2 years.
 
He said he would go get the paper work fill it out go back the next week and be told sorry we need this as well, get the paper work fill out go back and repeat. He refused to pay tea money although he never said if any was requested.
 
If you decide you want to give it a go good luck.

How long ago was that?


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[janclaes47]

39 minutes ago, M1Tanker said:

  The cost wasn't zero baht but it was considerably less than a new or used equivalent BMW here in Thailand.

 

For sure the cost was less than a used equivalent bmw, but was it also less if you included the value of your bike and the shipping cost to the import costs?

 

Why you not just post how much the cost was including the value you could have sold the bike in your home country?

 

I also find it strange that you don't make mention of the emission test, which is mandatory for every imported bike, and is pretty hard to pass without the right equipment and which cost about 30.000 Baht already.

[ardokano]

18 hours ago, observer90210 said:

something upset you it seems ?

No. I'm just surprised at autists who talk to themselves. although probably had to get it. :)

[M1Tanker]

10 hours ago, janclaes47 said:

 

For sure the cost was less than a used equivalent bmw, but was it also less if you included the value of your bike and the shipping cost to the import costs?

 

Why you not just post how much the cost was including the value you could have sold the bike in your home country?

 

I also find it strange that you don't make mention of the emission test, which is mandatory for every imported bike, and is pretty hard to pass without the right equipment and which cost about 30.000 Baht already.

Shipping cost for me was zero.

 

Import costs were around 240,000 baht, which is less than the value of the motorcycle as per Kelley Blue Book (KBB) (https://www.kbb.com). With that said the Thai Customs did not use the KBB valuation because I had all of the original sales documents. They used the original sales price as the starting point and deducted a percentage due to age.

 

There was no emissions test on my motorcycle.  I didn't avoid it because it would have passed any emissions test, but I didn't see any emissions testing equipment at the customs warehouse and it was not required at the Buriram Department of Land Transport.

[canthai55]

So to all the naysayers - follow the lead of M1

Be There or Be Square

And stop posting hogwash on a grand scale.

[DILLIGAD]

So to all the naysayers - follow the lead of M1
Be There or Be Square
And stop posting hogwash on a grand scale.

Some great advice given. Why was shipping costs zeroed??


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[jackdd]

Just now, canthai55 said:

So to all the naysayers - follow the lead of M1

Be There or Be Square

And stop posting hogwash on a grand scale.

I just checked the used price for a BMW 1200GS 2008 in Thailand and in Germany the price difference is somewhere in the region of 240k THB.

So effectively you pay the same, but if you import it you spend a lot of time on the bureaucracy. And there is still always the risk that they try to extort you, it sounds like M1 was quite lucky.

[M1Tanker]

33 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

Some great advice given. Why was shipping costs zeroed??


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Final U.S. Army retirement permanent change of station is free to the service members back to the U.S.A. or other destination equal to that cost or less. The cost to ship to Thailand was cheaper than to higher shipping cost locations in the U.S.. This move fell into this category.

[M1Tanker]

35 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I just checked the used price for a BMW 1200GS 2008 in Thailand and in Germany the price difference is somewhere in the region of 240k THB.

So effectively you pay the same, but if you import it you spend a lot of time on the bureaucracy. And there is still always the risk that they try to extort you, it sounds like M1 was quite lucky.

The purchase cost of my 2008 R1200GS Adventure (U.S. specification) was $17,700. I purchased the motorcycle through the BMW Military Sales program in Germany and no tax was paid.  That price was considerably less than the same European specification motorcycle sold to Germans.  My motorcycle was registered in the U.S. system and not in the German system in accordance with the Status of Forces Agreement between the U.S. and Germany.

 

As part of my decision making process I needed to determine if it would make sense to sell the motorcycle in Germany prior to my move and take that money and apply it to purchasing the equivalent motorcycle in Thailand. I could either sell the motorcycle to a German or to a U.S. service member or U.S. government worker in Germany.

 

The issue with selling the motorcycle to a German was that it didn't have a German TUV which is required in order to have it registered and plated. In order to make the motorcycle attractive to a German I would need to get it into the German system.  The other issue is that any German that bought it would have to pay the original sales tax, into the German system, and amazingly enough a small import fee.  These additional taxes priced my motorcycle out of the market for a German.  The BMW GS family is the best selling motorcycle in Germany. There is no shortage of good used models available that would be readily available with less bureaucracy and at a cheaper cost.

 

The issue with selling a used BMW GS to a U.S. service member or government worker in Germany is the market is very small.  The usual customer for the GS is a higher ranking service member or government worker.  Most of those potential customers would rather buy new for through the BMW military sales program.

 

The final option to sell my motorcycle was to sell it in the U.S. from Germany but I would have to discount it considerably in order to even get someone interested. Shipping would also be an issue. Therefore it really wasn't an option.

 

The year prior to my actual move I did check for used equivalents here in Thailand. I found one 2009 BMW R1200GS Adventure.  It was the same color, Red, and it cost about 880,000 baht if my memory serves me correctly. That was roughly equivalent to my original purchase price and I didn't know the history of the motorcycle as I did mine.  A new BMW R1200GS Adventure cost over 1 million baht and still does.

 

As part of this process I built a Excel spreadsheet based on the Thai Customs formulae.  I had a friend independently build one as well.  We were within about 1,000 baht of each other.  That speadsheet cost as well as the aforementioned led me to pursue importing my motorcycle.

 

My training has taught me to not depend on luck, chance, or hope. I don't deny that sometimes things happen that are better than what was planned or worse than what was planned but I decided to do considerable research and communicate with the respective Thai government organizations to improve my chances of success and reduce the probability of failure.

 

Every person's situation is different.  If my motorcycle was in the German system and taxes were already paid for I probably would have sold it.  The same applies if I was stationed in the U.S. I would have taken the money and applied it to a motorcycle purchase here in Thailand. However, both were not the case.

 

As previously stated alI personnel that I interacted with at all applicable Thai government agencies were professional and ethical.  There was no extortion. I will point out that many of the personnel in these offices are not completely familiar with permanently importing a motorcycle because they just don't see it happen that often. Patience, thoroughness, and professional determination are required.  I found that researching the process online, asking a lot of questions, and communicating with each office in person or online to be effective.  Again, I started the process over a year prior to shipping my motorcycle.

 

The point of my reposting my experiences is that importation is possible depending on the circumstances of the foreigner's visa status and the documentation of the vehicle. Having said that, importing although possible for an individual may not always make sense.

 

 

 

[eisfeld]

M1Tanker: a well articulated and thorough post. Thank you for this rare piece of clarity in these murky waters. I hope you will have a lot more years of joyful rides with your GS in this country!

[properjob]

Thanks for all the replies, and especially to M1Tanker for the depth and details of his experience.