To Laos With The Car

dauu · April 24, 2019

What is the procedure for entering Laos with the private car?

Martyjustice · April 24, 2019

Not very easy. I have not tried it, but have heard in other posts. Car needs a passport, different insurance, possibly a yellow international plate. After listening to issues I’ve just parked me car on Thai side and hired a car on the other side.
Maybe someone else can chime in.

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ubonjoe · April 25, 2019

Moved to the motor forum.

shaemus · April 26, 2019

i haven't done it, but from the amount of thai cars crossing the border it can't be too hard. i have also driven many time to the border and parked in the car parks.

The Wife has spoken to the insurance company they said no worries, just let us know how long.

The car passport, i have one for one of my cars. just go to the motor registry and apply.

egypte · April 29, 2019

Very easy, just need the car passport, and some paperwork at the border, done it many times going to Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Pakse, Poonsawanh, Champasak, Vang Vieng, last trip was in December 2018, roads then was in poor condition.

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dauu · April 29, 2019

Where do you get the car passport

Rotweiler · April 29, 2019

We've traveled to Lao about a dozen times - living in Chiang Rai it's very close. VERY simple. Go to the Land Transport Office nearest you and get a Vehicle Passport. Costs about 90 Baht and takes about an hour (it is an official Government of Thailand External Affairs docuement so does take some time to clear Bangkok).

After you cross the border with your Vehicle Passport, there is a Lao Insurance Office just past every Lao Border checkpoint. Buy insurance for the length of time you are in Lao - plus an extra week - just in case. VERY reasonable priced.

Actual travel in Lao with a Thai registered vehicle is problem-free - you can go where you want when you want - as everywhere, try to obey the rules of the road. The Lao border and traffic police are very courteous and helpful.

You will discover that the only real problems you will have are from the Thai border crossing officials. They can and will be a real pain on occasion. Once it took us 4 hours to cross Bridge 3 because the Thai Officials wanted some "more documentation to ensure our safety" (a euphemism).

There is one rule that you MUST remember - the car MUST be registered to you. Not to a friend, a rental etc.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Rotweiler

egypte · April 30, 2019

Where do you get the car passport

Any DLT office.

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KhunBENQ · April 30, 2019

20 hours ago, dauu said:

Where do you get the car passport

And it's an "International Transport Permit" ("purple book").

There is also a "T" (for Thailand) sticker (yes, seriously you can't buy it in a shop).

I don't know whether you have to ask separately or it is given with the permit.

Edited April 30, 2019 by KhunBENQ

egypte · April 30, 2019

T is given with passport and Romanised plates

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Rotweiler · April 30, 2019

Anglicized license plate stickers are not required for Lao or Myanmar - only for Malaysia.

wilcopops · May 1, 2019

It is VERY EASY - I've done it about 20 times so far.

You need to arrive at the Thai/Laos border with a "purple book" (as illustrated above) and all your car documents.

You must be the owner of the car - a car on finance will not qualify without a note from the owner/lender - probably not an option.

First time...

Take all your documents - insurance BLUE BOOK etc. and you'll need to fill in the car details Inc. chassis number etc. from the Blue book onto a temp export form. Don't forget driving license

Details of driver and any passengers are required.

Park your car near the offices and take all your docs and purple book - Staff are usually very helpful and will tell you which window or booth you need to go to. They will also stamp your purple car passport book.

Once you have "exported" the car from Thailand, you can proceed to the Laos side. Again, park up near their offices......

Here you'll need to get your own passport stamped and clear the car - they usually fill in everything for you - show them your Thai docs.

You may at some crossings be able to do your own passport at the same window as the car docs - this actually make it quicker in getting trough than an foot passenger.

From the immigration booth hey will point you to which officials need to see your docs - once stamped, go and get your car and drive on through.

Once cleared of the Laos immigration you will see an office selling insurance. You may need to park again and get insurance - this cost just a few hundred baht and they will give you a yellow sticker for the windscreen (or have they stopped the stickers?) This insurance does little in the event of an accident, but it makes your car legal for 1,2,3, 4 weeks depending of cost.

Some tips

The Purple Book (car passport) is incredibly easy to get - take all your car docs to your local Dept Land Transport. They normally take less than an hour to process and the cost is about 250 baht.

NB - you may be asked for an immigration letter as proof of address - this is the most expensive item.

DON"T need Western Number plates for Laos.

They may provide you with a couple of T for Thailand stickers - which you are required to use

There are MANY crossing points into Laos where you can bring in a car - the most popular and therefore crowded and lowest, is Nong Khao Vientiane, but look at a map - I've crossed (North to South).

1. Chiang Kong(nr Chiang Rai) – New-ish Bridge

2. Huai Kon(Nan) – very quiet, no bridge – was a dirt road 6 years ago.

3. Ban Na Kra Seng/ Kenthao – (Loei) – my favorite! Small bridge over Mekong tributary

4. Nong Khai– Vietiane (Nong Khai) – busy – 1^stFriendship bridge

5. Nakhomn Phanom/ Thakhek – 3^rdThai–Lao Friendship Bridge.

6. Mukdahan / Savannakhet– 2^ndFriendship Bridge – nice reasonably quiet and Thai consulate in Savannakhet – may be getting a bit crowded as Vientiane is less user friendly for visa applicants these days.

I haven’t been to any further South than this but I would assume that the procedures are as simple and easy as elsewhere – apparently if you are crossing on a motorbike you can’t cross over on a bridge crossing.

Tit’s a year since I crossed the border and there were some fees and sometimes an “overtime” surcharge, but nothing outrageously expensive -

Once you have done this once it becomes very easy indeed – Make sure you keep all your documents safe – you’ll need you Thai customs docs to get back in again – I was warned that failure to do this can cost up to 80,000 baht!

Of course Laos drives on the right – I have never experienced any problems crossing over – takes me about 20 minutes to adjust – The most dangerous time is after you’ve been there a couple of days and start to drive feeling too relaxed – ten you might set off on the wrong side of the road.

Road signage is French/International based – and more comprehensive than in Thailand

Fuel is now easy to get hold of – Even PTT have stations over there.

Allow extra time for journeys based on mileage – the road conditions can be extremely variable as well as hilly and twisty.

The first time you do it, it may seem a bit confusing; I’ve found officials on both sides to be pretty helpful.

The thing that takes most time usually is getting my VoA for Laos for myself – if you are unfortunate enough to arrive at a busy time e.g. with a couple of holiday coaches or a lot of private cars, then it might take a bit of time but.......

As an example of time – it used to take me 35 minutes to get from my house in Savannakhet to Big C in Mukdahan – this includes clearing both sides of the Thai/Laos border in my Thai vehicle.

I’d recommend Savannakhet as a good crossing for a first timer.

Edited May 1, 2019 by wilcopops

tomtaylor1 · May 1, 2019

Hi All, please note the insurance offices in Laos at The Border are closed on Sundays.

Have travelled many times into Laos, no problems.

Regards

tom

wilcopops · May 1, 2019

My old Thai insurance company used to extend my cover to Laos, but then changed their mind and claimed they never did it in the first place - Thai Health and Safety that was - So I'd been paying them for nothing!

egypte · May 6, 2019

Anglicized license plate stickers are not required for Lao or Myanmar - only for Malaysia.

I did not mention stickers, but romanized plates that are given with car passport by DLT.
Read before posting....

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Rotweiler · May 6, 2019

4 hours ago, egypte said:

I did not mention stickers, but romanized plates that are given with car passport by DLT.
Read before posting....

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I will assume from your comment that you have never applied for a car passport for travel to Lao. Anglisized stickers are not provided by Land Transportation with a car passport. Never having traveled to Malaysia with my vehicle, I cannot comment on all the extra requirements from Malaysian authorities. That's their business. Thai Land Transportation authorities do not issue such items.

wilcopops · May 6, 2019

7 hours ago, egypte said:

I did not mention stickers, but romanized plates that are given with car passport by DLT.
Read before posting....

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Romanised plates are not given to those who don't intend to go to Malaysia. they have to be made specially and can take some time - in fact when I went to Malaysia with mine - after waiting for nearly 3 weeks they turned out to be useless and they just said the romanced Number and "Thailand" at the bottom of the plate - this was no good as it should have said the changwat where the car was registered.

On arriving at Malaysia however, it didn't matter as the plates were discarded and they provided stickers correctly stating my changwat in 3 letter code - the cost was about 800 baht.

wilcopops · May 6, 2019

On 5/1/2019 at 1:17 PM, tomtaylor1 said:

Hi All, please note the insurance offices in Laos at The Border are closed on Sundays.

Have travelled many times into Laos, no problems.

Regards

tom

I crossed a few times at Kenthao and if the office for insurance was closed, the hotel I stayed at would ring up a man to come out and sort it out.

Tomtomtom69 · May 7, 2019

On 5/1/2019 at 1:05 PM, wilcopops said:

It is VERY EASY - I've done it about 20 times so far.

You need to arrive at the Thai/Laos border with a "purple book" (as illustrated above) and all your car documents.

You must be the owner of the car - a car on finance will not qualify without a note from the owner/lender - probably not an option.

First time...

Take all your documents - insurance BLUE BOOK etc. and you'll need to fill in the car details Inc. chassis number etc. from the Blue book onto a temp export form. Don't forget driving license

Details of driver and any passengers are required.

Park your car near the offices and take all your docs and purple book - Staff are usually very helpful and will tell you which window or booth you need to go to. They will also stamp your purple car passport book.

Once you have "exported" the car from Thailand, you can proceed to the Laos side. Again, park up near their offices......

Here you'll need to get your own passport stamped and clear the car - they usually fill in everything for you - show them your Thai docs.

You may at some crossings be able to do your own passport at the same window as the car docs - this actually make it quicker in getting trough than an foot passenger.

From the immigration booth hey will point you to which officials need to see your docs - once stamped, go and get your car and drive on through.

Once cleared of the Laos immigration you will see an office selling insurance. You may need to park again and get insurance - this cost just a few hundred baht and they will give you a yellow sticker for the windscreen (or have they stopped the stickers?) This insurance does little in the event of an accident, but it makes your car legal for 1,2,3, 4 weeks depending of cost.

Some tips

The Purple Book (car passport) is incredibly easy to get - take all your car docs to your local Dept Land Transport. They normally take less than an hour to process and the cost is about 250 baht.

NB - you may be asked for an immigration letter as proof of address - this is the most expensive item.

DON"T need Western Number plates for Laos.

They may provide you with a couple of T for Thailand stickers - which you are required to use

There are MANY crossing points into Laos where you can bring in a car - the most popular and therefore crowded and lowest, is Nong Khao Vientiane, but look at a map - I've crossed (North to South).

1.    Chiang Kong(nr Chiang Rai) – New-ish Bridge

2.    Huai Kon(Nan) – very quiet, no bridge – was a dirt road 6 years ago.

3.    Ban Na Kra Seng/ Kenthao – (Loei) – my favorite! Small bridge over Mekong tributary

4.    Nong Khai– Vietiane (Nong Khai) – busy – 1^stFriendship bridge

5.    Nakhomn Phanom/ Thakhek – 3^rdThai–Lao Friendship Bridge.

6.    Mukdahan / Savannakhet– 2^ndFriendship Bridge – nice reasonably quiet and Thai consulate in Savannakhet – may be getting a bit crowded as Vientiane is less user friendly for visa applicants these days.

I haven’t been to any further South than this but I would assume that the procedures are as simple and easy as elsewhere – apparently if you are crossing on a motorbike you can’t cross over on a bridge crossing.

Tit’s a year since I crossed the border and there were some fees and sometimes an “overtime” surcharge, but nothing outrageously expensive -

Once you have done this once it becomes very easy indeed – Make sure you keep all your documents safe – you’ll need you Thai customs docs to get back in again – I was warned that failure to do this can cost up to 80,000 baht!

Of course Laos drives on the right – I have never experienced any problems crossing over – takes me about 20 minutes to adjust – The most dangerous time is after you’ve been there a couple of days and start to drive feeling too relaxed – ten you might set off on the wrong side of the road.

Road signage is French/International based – and more comprehensive than in Thailand

Fuel is now easy to get hold of – Even PTT have stations over there.

Allow extra time for journeys based on mileage – the road conditions can be extremely variable as well as hilly and twisty.

The first time you do it, it may seem a bit confusing; I’ve found officials on both sides to be pretty helpful.

The thing that takes most time usually is getting my VoA for Laos for myself – if you are unfortunate enough to arrive at a busy time e.g. with a couple of holiday coaches or a lot of private cars, then it might take a bit of time but.......

As an example of time – it used to take me 35 minutes to get from my house in Savannakhet to Big C in Mukdahan – this includes clearing both sides of the Thai/Laos border in my Thai vehicle.

I’d recommend Savannakhet as a good crossing for a first timer.

There are far more road signs in Thailand than in Laos so I don't see how road signage in Laos can be more "comprehensive". Only in the past 1-2 years has Laos made any efforts to increase road signage, and most of this has been done solely for the purposes of AEC.

The rest of your post is spot on - it is faster returning to Thailand in a Thai vehicle than leaving because all you have to do is hand in your documents and get your passports (car and person) stamped.

billd766 · May 7, 2019

46 minutes ago, Tomtomtom69 said:

There are far more road signs in Thailand than in Laos so I don't see how road signage in Laos can be more "comprehensive". Only in the past 1-2 years has Laos made any efforts to increase road signage, and most of this has been done solely for the purposes of AEC.

The rest of your post is spot on - it is faster returning to Thailand in a Thai vehicle than leaving because all you have to do is hand in your documents and get your passports (car and person) stamped.

When buying fuel, food and drinks etc and paying for the hotel can I pay in Thai baht?

egypte · May 8, 2019

I will assume from your comment that you have never applied for a car passport for travel to Lao. Anglisized stickers are not provided by Land Transportation with a car passport. Never having traveled to Malaysia with my vehicle, I cannot comment on all the extra requirements from Malaysian authorities. That's their business. Thai Land Transportation authorities do not issue such items.

Sure you can assume what you want:

1 DLT Chinang Mai gives you romanized plates when you apply for car passport.
2 This thread is about Laos, not Malaysia
3 I have been in Laos, Cambodia Malaysia and Singapore with a Thai registred car and I believe I know what I write about.

Again read before posting.

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wilcopops · May 8, 2019

On 5/7/2019 at 10:12 PM, billd766 said:

When buying fuel, food and drinks etc and paying for the hotel can I pay in Thai baht?

The laos currency is the Kip.

In places especially near the border and some hotels they will give you an exchange rate for baht....this is not always that good.

It's also technically illegal.

There is no problem changing at banks and using your Thai card in an ATM.

The thing is in any country, taking another currency in a small business is only really, worth it if you can use it without having to change it back at a bank.

wilcopops · May 8, 2019

On 5/7/2019 at 10:12 PM, billd766 said:

I don't see how road signage in Laos can be more "comprehensive

Laos is developing a unified international style road signage system which has signs placed at unified intervals and scientifically designed placings. For instance, in villages, schools temples, there are posted speed limits and derestriction signs.......

wilcopops · May 8, 2019

10 hours ago, egypte said:

Sure you can assume what you want:

1 DLT Chinang Mai gives you romanized plates when you apply for car passport.
2 This thread is about Laos, not Malaysia
3 I have been in Laos, Cambodia Malaysia and Singapore with a Thai registred car and I believe I know what I write about.

Again read before posting.

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The first time I applied for a car passport in Chonburi several years ago, they asked if I also intended to go to Malaysia and I said no, so they didn't make plates........when I did eventually go to Malaysia, they made a set of plates .... which were wrong....instead if saying CBI on the plate, they said Thailand so they were worthless....however I was able to purchase stickers at the Malay border no problem.......... living in the South you only ever see cars with stickers...I've hardly seen any with plates but that is probably because they need to be attached over your Thai plates.

So basically you don't need plates for Laos or Malaysia as the former doesn't require them and the latter will provide stickers at the border.

Edited May 8, 2019 by wilcopops

Tomtomtom69 · May 12, 2019

On 5/9/2019 at 1:18 AM, wilcopops said:

Laos is developing a unified international style road signage system which has signs placed at unified intervals and scientifically designed placings. For instance, in villages, schools temples, there are posted speed limits and derestriction signs.......

It's still a far cry from the excellent road signage you see all over Thailand. Signage in laos is a joke...it's 40 years behind Thailand's, as are the roads in general. You'd be hard pressed to find more than a few km of dual carriageway in the whole country. Let's not compare apples to oranges here...

Tomtomtom69 · May 12, 2019

On 5/7/2019 at 10:12 PM, billd766 said:

When buying fuel, food and drinks etc and paying for the hotel can I pay in Thai baht?

Yes. You can pay for everything you want in Baht, but usually it's cheaper to pay in Kip.

Hotels and restaurants in tourist centers like Vientiane and Luang Prabang usually also accept USD (and sometimes EUR) but this is mainly for lazy tourists. I would stick to Kip or Baht when you're first entering the country and exchange money to Kip at the first opportunity.

Tomtomtom69 · May 12, 2019

On 5/9/2019 at 1:12 AM, wilcopops said:

The laos currency is the Kip.

In places especially near the border and some hotels they will give you an exchange rate for baht....this is not always that good.

It's also technically illegal.

There is no problem changing at banks and using your Thai card in an ATM.

The thing is in any country, taking another currency in a small business is only really, worth it if you can use it without having to change it back at a bank.

Baht is accepted throughout the country and in tourist cities like Luang Prabang (located smack bang in the middle of the country, more or less equidistant from the Thai and Vietnamese borders) Thai Baht is regularly quoted by businesses dealing with tourists including restaurants and hotels. USD and sometimes EUR prices are also quoted by many businesses too. Chinese Yuan is becoming accepted in more and more places too (not just near the Chinese border) while Vietnamese Dong is common in the east of the country. It's still worthwhile changing Thai Baht (or other foreign currencies) for Kip as that will give you the best exchange rate. Also, change usually only arrives in Kip irrespective of which currency you pay in.

Baht or USD come in handy for large purchases like houses and cars, but that's not relevant to your average traveler. Either way, all prices are supposed to be quoted in Kip.

Rodwil50 · September 12

Please can anynof you folks help. We understood we would be allowed 30 days with our thai car here in Laos. At the border we were told only 15 then extend at an office . We just can't remember the name or location of these offices. We were told there are a few around the country. We would like to travel further rather than just stay in Vientiane.

Thanks

Rodwil50 · September 12

Quick update. As of 09/2024 thai car only allowed 15 days in Laos.

Then apply for extension in CUSTOMS OFFICES.

There are a few dotted around the country including Luang prabang, Bokeo, Oudomxay. Find on Wikipedia under Laos customs department.

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