Import and sports cars

[SanookTeufel]

I was wondering why sports cars are so expensive in Thailand... Something that's around $40K USD in USA might be $60-$80K USD in Thailand.

I'm assuming this is VAT, since the car is a sport's car?

Also I did a little bit of reading on this site How to import a foreign car.

The site mentions insurance being mandatory, is this still the case? My gf finances her car and cancelled her insurance a while ago as she didn't think it was worth it...

According to her, insurance isn't and never has been a legal requirement in Thailand.

[MatteoBassini]

There's no legal definition in Thailand of what is a sports car. It's either imported or it is not. You can import a $20,000 Camry from the US and it will cost around $100,000 here. Import taxes are massive here, at least 200%.

 

One kink of the used car market here is that 2-door and convertible cars hold their value really well here. You will see that 2-door Mercs and BMW hold their value much better than their 4-door counterparts. So yes, you will see that many used sports cars are more expensive simply because they hold their value better than regular cars.

 

As for the insurance, what your GF did was cancelling what we simply call "first class insurance", this isn't mandatory. The mandatory insurance is called "por ror bor", which costs pennies to renew each year and basically doesn't cover anything.

[jackdd]

The import tax depends on the cc of the engine, not on the type of car (talking about personal cars, no idea how this works for a big truck or similar). Sports cars usually have bigger engines with more cc, so it might look to you like sports cars cost more.

[Kwasaki]

6 hours ago, SanookTeufel said:

I was wondering why sports cars are so expensive in Thailand.

As already explained but to simplify if the car/truck motorcycle whatever isn't assembled here in Thailand and what you refer to as expensive sportscar it may have been imported which increases cost.

 

A guy in our village bought a Mazda MX5 open top sportscar cost him nearly 3 million baht and he can't sell without losing lots of dosh.  

[Kwasaki]

6 hours ago, MatteoBassini said:

The mandatory insurance is called "por ror bor", which costs pennies to renew each year and basically doesn't cover anything.

Don't know why CTPL is criticized like this, OK not a good cover if it is your fault but if not your fault not bad cover for a truck aprox 1000 baht.

 

	Coverage Details	Coverage Amount (THB)
1	Medical expenses coverage regardless of who is at fault
	1.1 Medical expenses from injuries	30,000
	1.2 Loss of life or permanent disability such as loss of 1 of the senses or an organ	35,000
2	Coverage amount that will be applied after proof that you are not at fault
	2.1 Medical Expenses (extra coverage from 1.1, reaching max of)	80,000
	2.2 Loss of life or permanent disability (Extra coverage from 1.2, reaching max of)	300,000
	2.3 Loss of an organ
	2.3.1 Loss of a finger from a joint onwards	200,000
	2.3.2 Loss of more than 1 organ	250,000
	2.3.3 Loss of more than 2 organ	300,000
	2.4 Daily Compensation (Up to 20 days)	Up to 200 THB/day (no more than 4,000 THB/accident)

 

[SanookTeufel]

3 hours ago, jackdd said:

The import tax depends on the cc of the engine, not on the type of car (talking about personal cars, no idea how this works for a big truck or similar). Sports cars usually have bigger engines with more cc, so it might look to you like sports cars cost more.

Very good explanation, thank you!

[SanookTeufel]

28 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Don't know why CTPL is criticized like this, OK not a good cover if it is your fault but if not your fault not bad cover for a truck aprox 1000 baht.

 

	Coverage Details	Coverage Amount (THB)
1	Medical expenses coverage regardless of who is at fault
	1.1 Medical expenses from injuries	30,000
	1.2 Loss of life or permanent disability such as loss of 1 of the senses or an organ	35,000
2	Coverage amount that will be applied after proof that you are not at fault
	2.1 Medical Expenses (extra coverage from 1.1, reaching max of)	80,000
	2.2 Loss of life or permanent disability (Extra coverage from 1.2, reaching max of)	300,000
	2.3 Loss of an organ
	2.3.1 Loss of a finger from a joint onwards	200,000
	2.3.2 Loss of more than 1 organ	250,000
	2.3.3 Loss of more than 2 organ	300,000
	2.4 Daily Compensation (Up to 20 days)	Up to 200 THB/day (no more than 4,000 THB/accident)

 

This makes much more sense, great answer! Thanks!

[Kwasaki]

33 minutes ago, SanookTeufel said:

This makes much more sense, great answer! Thanks!

Your g/f should still get voluntary if she has finance on the vehicle lots reasonable plans about.

Here just one to make inquiries online.

https://www.gluaygluay.com/en/car-insurance/car-details.

 

My truck fully comp only 8,500 bht market value around 580,000 bht.