Penang Visa Run - By Car

[smily]

Hi,

 

I am considering visa run to Penang next month by car. I understand its too complicated to bring car into Malaysia, so was thinking about parking at Pedang Besar and taking the train.

 

Has anybody done this route before? Do they have a secure overnight parking area at the border?

 

If doing this route also looking for people to share the journey, costs etc. 

 

Thanks

[PoorSucker]

What kind of visa are you applying for? 

Many things have changed in Penang. 

 

To take car into Malaysia, you need to buy malay car insurance and have your licence plate translated, also you can have max 30% window tint. 

There are shops at the border that will help you, exempt the window tint. 

[jimster]

It's very straightforward to take your car into Malaysia. All you need, apart from making sure the window tinting isn't too dark (though then again, it would depend upon whether an officer at the border notices this; if you get your insurance done through an agent ahead of time you won't be checked), and you'll need your original blue book + English translation from the DLT (costs 25 Baht), which is called a "vehicle inspection certificate" and is valid until the expiration of your road tax.

 

The JPJ paper disk (international circulation permit) is issued along with Malay insurance and you also need a translation of your license plates in the form of a Malaysian license plate, meaning white lettering on a black background. Agents at the border can do this for you, or you can get it done yourself at a sticker shop using the official translation provided by the DLT on the vehicle inspection certificate. For example, your Thai license plate might be something like this: กก 6789 สตูล, which in English becomes AA 6789 STN. If you have the white background English translated license plates from the DLT they won't be valid in Malaysia even though they are in English! Go figure, but Malaysia insists on license plate stickers in the format of their own national license plates.

 

There has been talk of Malaysia requiring an RFID chip for cars entering from Thailand and Singapore. The media has reported that Thai cars (and for that matter any foreign vehicle crossing into Malaysia from Thailand) requires this chip since June of last year, but it seems that they have delayed this plan because nobody is talking about it and the JPJ website on this matter https://vep.jpj.gov.my/ hasn't been updated since 2016. Singaporean vehicles are now close to being required to have this chip but so far no news of when it will apply to Thai vehicles. Until it does, entering Malaysia remains straightforward.

 

Note that you will have to purchase a Malaysian expressway toll card to travel on the Malaysian expressways. At the Sadao/Bukit Kayu Hitam border this can be purchased at the border. In fact, you have to pay a toll immediately after getting your passport stamped there. As for Padang Besar, it's been years since I went through there so not sure what the situation is at that border.

[smily]

Thanks for the info.

 

To be honest I would prefer to park at Thai Border and take a bus or train. A lot less hassle.

 

I was thinking about pedang besar as the train st is there with commuter train every 1-2 hours to Butterworth,.

 

My main concern will be if there is a good secure parking area or not and how much it would cost? If anyone has any info on that would be good. 

 

 

[jimster]

28 minutes ago, smily said:

Thanks for the info.

 

To be honest I would prefer to park at Thai Border and take a bus or train. A lot less hassle.

 

I was thinking about pedang besar as the train st is there with commuter train every 1-2 hours to Butterworth,.

 

My main concern will be if there is a good secure parking area or not and how much it would cost? If anyone has any info on that would be good. 

 

 

Most likely yes. In my experience there is reliable and safe parking at every single international border checkpoint Thailand shares with it's neighbors. In the past before I was able to drive my car across the border, I parked in such places as Aranyaprathet, Hat Lek, Mae Sot, Mae Sai, Nong Khai, Mukdahan never any problems. I don't see why Padang Besar would be any different. Just look for the signs in Thai where it says parking or ask around. Sometimes you can also park (for free) inside the immigration areas. This will depend on the border crossing itself, not all of them have space or allow it but there will almost certainly be some kind of parking nearby. Cost is usually anything from 50 to 200 Baht per day. 200 is on the higher end, typically you shouldn't have to pay more than 100.

[smily]

Ok cool. Thanks very much for the info. 

[Gulfsailor]

Is there any update on this? Did you make the trip Smily with parking at the border? I'm considering doing the same next week with the family. Too much hassle taking the car over to Penang, when a train goes every hour. But would like to know for sure there is a secure parking area at the border as we'll be 5 days on Penang. And what are the distances to walk (parking - Thai immigration - Malay immigration - Pedang B train station on Malay side)? Thanks!

[smily]

14 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

Is there any update on this? Did you make the trip Smily with parking at the border? I'm considering doing the same next week with the family. Too much hassle taking the car over to Penang, when a train goes every hour. But would like to know for sure there is a secure parking area at the border as we'll be 5 days on Penang. And what are the distances to walk (parking - Thai immigration - Malay immigration - Pedang B train station on Malay side)? Thanks!

Hi,  Yes I did the journey last week. I arrived at the border and asked where can park. They let me park inside the border control area on Thailand side and just asked for tip. Gave the security guard 500b and left car there for 2 days.

 

No problems. Not that many spaces there but it did seem like there was another car park across the road. Very quick through border, barely no traffic there, got motorbike taxi to the train station for 50b. Was about 1km. Train leaves every hour up until 9.15pm last one. Takes two hours to butterworth. Then get shuttle bus from butterworth to ferry to georgetown.

 

Last 20km drive to padang besar has some small roads and a few turns so good to have sat nav. My phone internet was playing up so got lost a few times. 

[Gulfsailor]

2 hours ago, smily said:

Hi,  Yes I did the journey last week. I arrived at the border and asked where can park. They let me park inside the border control area on Thailand side and just asked for tip. Gave the security guard 500b and left car there for 2 days.

 

No problems. Not that many spaces there but it did seem like there was another car park across the road. Very quick through border, barely no traffic there, got motorbike taxi to the train station for 50b. Was about 1km. Train leaves every hour up until 9.15pm last one. Takes two hours to butterworth. Then get shuttle bus from butterworth to ferry to georgetown.

 

Last 20km drive to padang besar has some small roads and a few turns so good to have sat nav. My phone internet was playing up so got lost a few times. 

Thank you for the info!

As for the road there, I guess you took the shortcut before reaching Sadao. On the map it seems fine but that road is very small and not actually laid out like on the map. A little longer, but much easier and quicker is to drive all the way to Sadao and then turn right to Padang Besar.