Farewell minivans! Repossessions made after Covid devastates tourism

 

Image: Daily News

 

An owner of a van company in Phuket went online to bid farewell to some of his fleet that had been repossessed by the finance company.

 

Van owners have found their business - 90% reliant on tourists - decimated by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. 

 

Some who have been unable to find other ways to meet instalments have lost their livelihood altogether.

 

The poster said that around 5% of his fleet of 160 vehicles had been repossessed.

 

Source: Daily News

 

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So, there is an upside to this Covid issue. Good. ????

 

This will reduce the number of maniacs on the road, and that's a good thing no matter how you look at it.

5% of 160 only 8 Van been tow away, still have 152 van consider very good for the owner.

10 minutes ago, thequietman said:

So, there is an upside to this Covid issue. Good. ????

 

This will reduce the number of maniacs on the road, and that's a good thing no matter how you look at it.

From personal experience on the 118 between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, minivan drivers are by far the worst on the road.

14 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

From personal experience on the 118 between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, minivan drivers are by far the worst on the road.

same on the Pattaya to Bangkok routes, total morons.  No loss to society 

I thought that kind of vans as seen in the photo were banned for commercial passenger transport and were supposed to have vanished from Thai roads by now. The more of those are taken away from the road, the better.

It's been really nice to be able to find a decent parking space these days!  All the green plates, tuk tuks, black plates and vans are no longer claiming all parking spots for themselves.

1 hour ago, Happyman108 said:

5% of 160 only 8 Van been tow away, still have 152 van consider very good for the owner.

I think there may be a zero missing there. 

 

1 hour ago, Happyman108 said:

5% of 160 only 8 Van been tow away, still have 152 van consider very good for the owner.

 

2 hours ago, Lacessit said:

From personal experience on the 118 between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, minivan drivers are by far the worst on the road.

Make that, "all over Thailand",..Also from personal experience !

A blessing in disguise! Hope they never return,, "suicidal maniacs" for other road users and their passengers! 

What is everyone going on about with safer roads, fewer accidents and such nonsense. The vans haven’t been destroyed! They’ll be resold and back hurtling up and down your soi in a few days. 

It’s a lucky time for rich people huh.

Previously unmoved owners desperately needing to sell houses n land, ll ripe for the picking.

Near new cars flooding the market And plenty of leverage to screw people down for a great price.

Hopefully they get crush so as to never return !!

10 hours ago, off road pat said:

Make that, "all over Thailand",..Also from personal experience !

i had a driver from Pattaya a few years ago his driving was unbelievably bad, he even got pulled by the BiB on the way back, i spoke to the English owner of the van company, i told him i would never use his company again while this driver drove, three weeks later he came to me in a bar and announced ''the driver had committed suicide and killed two Russians at the same time '' 

i realized i had used the words ''he could not of drove any worse even if he was trying to kill himself'' 

it was all over the papers about ten years ago.  

Hate to speak bad of folks,

but the van drivers are crazy drivers.

14 hours ago, Camillof said:

I thought that kind of vans as seen in the photo were banned for commercial passenger transport and were supposed to have vanished from Thai roads by now. The more of those are taken away from the road, the better.

Vans over 10 years old were banned.

16 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Van owners have found their business - 90% reliant on tourists - decimated by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

So he only needs 10% of his vans if the maths adds up?

But only gets rid of 5% instead of 90%... 

2 hours ago, PatchinExPat said:

Hate to speak bad of folks,

but the van drivers are crazy drivers.

yeah, but now they will just be crazy taxi car drivers

4 hours ago, Don Mega said:

Hopefully they get crush so as to never return !!

in Police hands?  If it runs true to form, they will sell them on and pocket the profits. If its the dealers, just hang on a while them sell them back at profit. 

I won't miss a single one of these shoe boxes for manicas on drugs or full of ego coz of a small willie. And now the qualified workforce of drivers can fill in the spaces of cheap labourers from neighbouring countries at construction sites.

4 hours ago, zoza said:

i had a driver from Pattaya a few years ago his driving was unbelievably bad, he even got pulled by the BiB on the way back, i spoke to the English owner of the van company, i told him i would never use his company again while this driver drove, three weeks later he came to me in a bar and announced ''the driver had committed suicide and killed two Russians at the same time '' 

i realized i had used the words ''he could not of drove any worse even if he was trying to kill himself'' 

it was all over the papers about ten years ago.  

Sorry for those two Russians, and the driver. I guess you are one of the lucky ones. I have read that some, if not most of those drivers have very bad work conditions. Long work hours, not much rest, and the next morning the same again,....every day again and again....No wonder some are taking refuge in alcohol or drug abuse....

13 minutes ago, off road pat said:

Sorry for those two Russians, and the driver. I guess you are one of the lucky ones. I have read that some, if not most of those drivers have very bad work conditions. Long work hours, not much rest, and the next morning the same again,....every day again and again....No wonder some are taking refuge in alcohol or drug abuse....

a few years later we where in Bangkok to get the freedom to marry paperwork we were outside the M.O.F.A i flagged a taxi down we jumped in and the missus (then girlfriend) started shouting ''get out

get out'' as i grabbed the door i looked at the driver's mirror and as white foam came out of his mouth his eyes rolled back and it was like a horror movie as we scrambled out to the growl of ''YA-BA  YA- BA  from the wife...i only use known or recommended taxi's now and check their eyes asap.

The two Russians and the driver were all killed instantly as the van went off the road and into a building if my memory serves me right. apparently the YA-BA keeps them awake but that lad must of either fell asleep or had a heart attack and when you are flying like they do its usually a real bad one.

they have to work long hours to earn decent money and this being TIT it don't get fixed. 

19 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The poster said that around 5% of his fleet of 160 vehicles had been repossessed.

Is it supposed to sound better in percentage terms. It's only eight. No big deal. He probably had too many before covid and it was a good excuse to downsize. I'll shed some tears if they have to relinquish 50% or more of their fleets, in fact, when I clicked on this article that's more like the number I was expecting.

 

Did the truck driver drive at 430kph as some sort of fitting tribute? 

A few years ago after that horror crash in which around 27 (or thereabouts)  died in the inferno the government said no more vans,  all were to be replaced with mini buses... I wonder why it never eventuated??? 

The vans are as safe as houses, as the expression goes. It's the crazy assed drivers. They should be repossessed. Oh, perhaps that's what the problem was. They were possessed.....

IN CM before the virus the van drivers are always racing to get to their pick up spot in the mornings. Used to be the most dangerous but all seem to have gone. Now it is the Grab and Panda bike riders who are taking the prize for being a danger to everyone.

Good news for once - let the tourists eat cake and ride monorails! 

I seem to be the only one who finds most of these drivers ok. I've never had any problems with them on the road. If slow drivers would just get out of the fast lane half of the problems would disappear.

25 minutes ago, alien365 said:

I seem to be the only one who finds most of these drivers ok. I've never had any problems with them on the road. If slow drivers would just get out of the fast lane half of the problems would disappear.

 

I rarely take minibus. One time I booked a diving trip to Similians.  Minibus up to catch boat. Nightmare driver. All pax complaining to him. Don't overtake here.