Driving at night on red number plates?

[k.kevin]

I collected my new Car on 21 January and despite three follow up calls the Toyota dealer has not received them from Department of Land Transport Chonburi

 

Is it illegal to drive on red plates and what is the penalty?

 

Thanks

 

 

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[tifino]

someone is bound to see red over them... 

[KittenKong]

I remember when I had mine I was supposed to fill in the red plate log book with details of every trip, not drive at night and not drive outside of Chonburi province. In fact I ignored all three requirements as at the time there was a national penury of real number plates and the police were given instructions to ignore any such infractions.

Dont see why you should be waiting so long now though.

[55Jay]

I remember hearing all 3 of those ^ items from a BiB at a routine, daytime police check point when we had red plates.  I gave it the appropriate level of concern, and carried on smartly. 

[Saraburi121]

I went through several daytime road checks with red plates in Saraburi, Nakhon Ratchasima and Buriram.  Each time they asked for my red book trip log.  The police just glanced at it and waved me through.  Never drove at night except near our house which is out in the middle of nowhere.  I read TV and asked several folks about rules and received many different answers to the question.  Happy to get white plates!

[helloagain]

Stupid rule

[reargunnerph3]

My wife was fined for driving her new red plate car from Pattaya to Chumphon. Told she cannot leave Chonburi Province with red plates. 

[Chassa]

How about no plates?

[Langsuan Man]

1 minute ago, reargunnerph3 said:

My wife was fined for driving her new red plate car from Pattaya to Chumphon. Told she cannot leave Chonburi Province with red plates. 

Correct and is a scam by the dealers to get the plate fee from you at the sale but keep the money and jerk you around for them.  Red plates don't cost the dealer anything since they are reusable for the next sucker 

 

Demand the Green book and do it yourself in a couple of hours, at most  

[riclag]

Call your Insurance company they will tell you! What ever you do don't drink and drive(given) . If you get in a accident your gonna wish you didn't! The road stops will have their hands out if stopped out of the province!  Fill out the log book  as well

If you pay a fine go back to the sales rep and get reimbursed  from him. 

 

My suggestion go hound the sales rep.who dealt with you! Everyday!

They(dealerships) usually wait until they get enough customers (new registrations) before they  go to the  Transportation Office ,the same slow, sluggish response when they get the new plates coming back to the dealership.Should only take 3 weeks for these dealer plates(red)

Edited April 4, 2019 by riclag

[LennyW]

21 minutes ago, reargunnerph3 said:

My wife was fined for driving her new red plate car from Pattaya to Chumphon. Told she cannot leave Chonburi Province with red plates. 

Provided you complete the journey book that accompanies legitimate red plates then you can drive wherever you want. 

[riclag]

7 minutes ago, LennyW said:

Provided you complete the journey book that accompanies legitimate red plates then you can drive wherever you want. 

(drive where ever you want )Wish that was true! Especially knowing that each police and provinces act and interpret the rules differently,kinda like the IO

Edited April 4, 2019 by riclag

[Henryford]

I see loads of cars with red plates driving at night in Pattaya. Can't be a problem.

[rwill]

It took 3 months to get my regular plates.  I went thru several checkpoints at night with red plates and was never stopped.  But technically it is illegal.

[nudger]

Got fined at BiB checkpoint in Udon, 1 day after picking up new car

hadn't filled in logbook!!

[Searat7]

Time for them to come into the 21st century where there should be no need for red plates. I bought a new car in the USA a year ago and they registered my car for me online in my presence the day I picked up the car. As I recall there was an announcement about a year ago that they were doing away with red plates but obviously that has not happened.

[Speedhump]

13 hours ago, KittenKong said:

I remember when I had mine I was supposed to fill in the red plate log book with details of every trip, not drive at night and not drive outside of Chonburi province. In fact I ignored all three requirements as at the time there was a national penury of real number plates and the police were given instructions to ignore any such infractions.

Dont see why you should be waiting so long now though.

Lovely word, penury. I've only ever used it in a financial sense; the only way anyone generally recognises it, but quite correct to use it to describe shortage of anything. Love it. ????????

[moogradod]

Our new car is supposed to be delivered by the end of this month in Pattaya.

I will pay the car, my wife will own it. Her tabien baan is from Si Khio. Her driving license is from Pattaya. We both live in Pattaya.

 

Maybe someone can show what the fastest steps are to obtain a "real white" license plate ? I suspect our dealer will be slow if we were only to rely on him.

 

The red plates are obviously unavoidable. But there is a Red Book, a Blue Book and a Green Book I have learned. But what is the fastest way to get everything done ? And if you were to "buy" a license plate (auction) can this be kept if you move and have to register the car in another province (if this is necessary at all) ?

 

[jkcjag]

I read recently (first link below) that the origin of the red plate was in the early days of cars becoming available in Thailand. It was considered that since initially all drivers were new drivers they should be restricted to driving in familiar territory and in daylight only, allowing them to gain some experience before driving too far away from home or at night.

Some interesting links:

https://www.quora.com/Why-do-new-vehicles-in-Thailand-have-red-license-plates

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Thailand

https://www.stickmanbangkok.com/weekly-column/2008/08/thailands-rules-regulations-laws/

 

 

[LukKrueng]

2 hours ago, riclag said:

Call your Insurance company they will tell you! What ever you do don't drink and drive(given) . If you get in a accident your gonna wish you didn't! The road stops will have their hands out if stopped out of the province!  Fill out the log book  as well

If you pay a fine go back to the sales rep and get reimbursed  from him. 

 

My suggestion go hound the sales rep.who dealt with you! Everyday!

They(dealerships) usually wait until they get enough customers (new registrations) before they  go to the  Transportation Office ,the same slow, sluggish response when they get the new plates coming back to the dealership.Should only take 3 weeks for these dealer plates(red)

actually each dealer has a limited number of red plates allocated to them. so they really want to get you the white plates as fast as they can so they can use the reds for new buyers. Few years back I wanted to select my own number but was a bit slow to go to the DLT and the dealer kept calling me to ask when they can have the red plates back...

[Vacuum]

2 hours ago, Chassa said:

How about no plates?

....or not hand over any cash until the vehicle have white plates. This should speed up the procedure to get the white plates.

[NoshowJones]

4 hours ago, Saraburi121 said:

I went through several daytime road checks with red plates in Saraburi, Nakhon Ratchasima and Buriram.  Each time they asked for my red book trip log.  The police just glanced at it and waved me through.  Never drove at night except near our house which is out in the middle of nowhere.  I read TV and asked several folks about rules and received many different answers to the question.  Happy to get white plates!

Never mind their stupid rules, just do what suits you as long as you are not harming innocent people, it you get stopped by the police, just give them 200 Bt and be on your way.

[swissbie]

1 hour ago, moogradod said:

Our new car is supposed to be delivered by the end of this month in Pattaya.

I will pay the car, my wife will own it. Her tabien baan is from Si Khio. Her driving license is from Pattaya. We both live in Pattaya.

 

Maybe someone can show what the fastest steps are to obtain a "real white" license plate ? I suspect our dealer will be slow if we were only to rely on him.

 

The red plates are obviously unavoidable. But there is a Red Book, a Blue Book and a Green Book I have learned. But what is the fastest way to get everything done ? And if you were to "buy" a license plate (auction) can this be kept if you move and have to register the car in another province (if this is necessary at all) ?

 

If you register on your wifes name, you can register where ever you want, the driving licence doesn't matter. If it's on your name (recommendable) you need a certificate of residence. In both cases the best way to speed up matters is to talk to the dealer politely.

[moogradod]

24 minutes ago, swissbie said:

If you register on your wifes name, you can register where ever you want, the driving licence doesn't matter. .......... In both cases the best way to speed up matters is to talk to the dealer politely.

Only in my wifes name. I have messed up the "politely" already since they have postponed the delivery (resp. dates) 2 times. And I was not amused and let them know - unmistakeably. Can I buy a license plate in Pattaya (a nice one like a number 1 or 11 or 111 ???? or else and the plate will stay forever with my wife regardless where she will ever live and drive in the distant future ?

Edited April 4, 2019 by moogradod

[Spaniel]

My Thai neighbor here in Bangkok bought a new car about a year ago and he still has the red plates on it.

[Tomahawk21]

yes, been caught find 400 baht each time

[dpcjsr]

South of Chiang Rai we were stopped at a checkpoint and fined 500 baht because the booklet was not filled in properly. Honda refunded us the money. It was clearly a money maker for the police as they pulled over every car with red plates. Thousands dying on the roads and this was their answer. 

 

Four months after buying the car and still no permanent plates!

 

As far as driving at night we were told by a police officer that it was OK until 10 p.m. Of course every checkpoint is unique.

[meatpie]

So all the new Express Delivery Vans get pulled ?.Dont think so. Buy n Go.!.


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[richard_smith237]

You can go on the DLT website (its in Thai) and select your own registration number. 

Once you have the confirmation you can give the details to your dealer who can get the plate made within a week or so. 

 

We've done this with our last couple of cars. I also did this recently with a motorcycle as I had no wish to be riding around without a plate while waiting for the dealer (all dealerships are slow to get the plates whether BWM or Mazda, Honda etc - there is just no urgency)

[KittenKong]

7 hours ago, Speedhump said:

Lovely word, penury. I've only ever used it in a financial sense; the only way anyone generally recognises it, but quite correct to use it to describe shortage of anything. Love it.

To run out of number plates nationwide seems such a bizarre event that it must deserve a special word.