I Have Registered My Car Into My Name/address

[Jim's_a_Thai_Fox]

Hi,

I recently bought a 2nd hand Honda Civic (paid cash) and have just transferred it into my name. There have been conflicting reports about what documents you provide, how much is it, and do you need to change plates.

Here is my case. Hope it helps.

The car was owned by a farang who worked in Pathum Thani.

It was registered in Bangkok and had Bkk plates. In the blue ownership document was in his name, his work address in Pathum Thani and there was also the address of a Thai national whom he knew who gave

their housing document (tabien baan) - this was done so that the car could be legally registered in bangkok, like a 'proof of use'. Why the previous owner did not wish for the car to be simply registered with Pathum Thani plates is unknown.

I live and work in Saraburi province. For me to register the vehicle in my name and at the Saraburi office, I had to change the plates.

Documents that I collected and took to the transport office:

Previous owner - signed copy of passport, visa and work permit (no longer valid has he changed jobs and cities in the meantime without changing over info on the car's blue book).

Me - passport, visa (non imm and embassy letter (UK). I have no WP at present and paid 1753 bhat for the letter (done solely by post, no trip to Bkk for it).

A receipt for the sale of the car (870k).

Required Thai docs are all available on PDF from their website at

http://www.dlt.go.th/eform/index.php

From the first table out of the 4. print out the following documents (of the 11 in the table) :

4 ด้านหน้า and 5 ด้านหลัง(front and back) - 3rd row

8 ด้านหน้า - 5th row

10 ด้านหน้า / 11 ด้านหลัง (front and back) - final row

They are basic admin forms giving details of both the previous owner and the new owner. This can be a problem as these documents need to be ready to hand over at the point of sale.

The previous owner must sign the blue book too.

In my own case, I ended up faking the previous owner's signature on all the Thai docs as there were mistakes on the ones he did sign himself. I printed off new versions and filled in his details again.

On the first day at the land transport office, I gave over everything to the clerk and had to come back 3 days later as a check was being carried out on the vehicle (this is normal and involves a police check etc).

I paid 85 Baht for that service. I left all the documents there. I was asked why I didn't have the original embassy document, and so I informed them of the cost of getting one. They understood and accepted a signed copy.

3 days later, I came back, collected the documents and took the car to have the engine and chasis number confirmed at the service centre across the car park. I took off the old number plates. After the check, I went to a small office where my new details were logged onto the computer.

I had to pay for the verification service, 200 baht.

After this, I went back upstairs to the main office and handed over all the docs (now including a receipt that the car had been checked) + old number plates.

The fee for changing the plates was 4500 Baht tax = 0.5% of the vehicle total from the receipt.

Additional charges included 200 Baht for the actual plates themselves.

I go back tomorrow to get the blue book that has been changed into my name with my home address.

I was not able to show that I would be using the car in Bkk (I know no one there from whom I can obtain a 'tabien baan') and my new address showed me living in Saraburi province. Therefore, I believe that I was obliged to change the number plates as my address was not in Bangkok.

Hope that this proves not too baffling and even helpful to some.

James

[Skyline]

Excellent informative post James.

This process has been a mystery to alot of people and will help:)

Cheers!

[F1 Visa Runner]

I was not able to show that I would be using the car in Bkk (I know no one there from whom I can obtain a 'tabien baan') and my new address showed me living in Saraburi province. Therefore, I believe that I was obliged to change the number plates as my address was not in Bangkok.

Outside of every Land Transport Office in Thailand there is many people offering a service to use their tabien baan. Normally they charge 100 B for a signed copy. Can be 200 B some places in Bkk if you show up alone as a foreigner. You pay the one 100 B and he hands it over to you outside the building or wherever you talk with him. If you cant find someone selling this. Just ask some thai guy or girl hanging around the LTF buildings.

So, with this paper and all other required papers to do the owner change and you can register the car you just bought at any province in Thailand.

Later or the day after when you are back home just head down to the Land Transport office in your province to get all the paper transferred. They will copy all papers and send them back to the LTF where the vehichle is registered ( where you just got back from) and the papers will return within a week. You will now get new plates from your province.

Later

[F1 Visa Runner]

Forgot to mention,

if you are buying older cars or motorbikes be sure you check that the vehichle has the same colour as it says in the blue book. If not and you will have to go to the nearest car paint shop and buy a receipt from them. They charge anything from 100 to 400 thb.

Without this and you will not be able to complete the registration.