Bad economy? Thais buying million b cars

[ericthai]

On 8/16/2020 at 8:37 AM, dingdongrb said:

No different than the USA. I can't count how many times I would be following a Mercedes or BMW home from work and watch them pull into the trailer park (aka mobile home park).

I agree with you, but there is a big difference in the price of luxury cars in the USA and Thailand. 

In the USA you can get a 2nd luxury car at an affordable price.

[habfan]

On 8/16/2020 at 3:34 PM, trevoromgh said:

I've never understood where the money comes from for the Thais to all be buying flash new cars at exhorbatant prices. I understood salaries over here are pretty low compared to other parts of the world so unless they all have rich parents or are leasing the vehicles and are therefore in-hoc for millions of baht.  If so it could all backfire if the pandemic leads to large scale redundancies longer term. 

Image and perception. Thais are no different than pretty much everyone else in the world. People will put themselves into debt and ruin all for a little bit of flash.

[rickudon]

I am  amazed at how many people only know Thais earning 60,000 baht a month or more. Most earn far, far less. One problem in Thailand is the reliability of the data. This wikipedia article makes interesting reading - 

 

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

 

According to this the average wage in Bangkok was 20,854 baht per month in January 2020. Although this is higher than 3 years previously, real incomes have fallen substantially due to the rising cost of living. Also bare in mind that wages outside Bangkok are considerably lower, and that only a bit more than 50% of Thais actually work (children, students, pensioners, disabled and the unemployed account for this). So it is pretty safe to say that the average Thai PERSON lives on less than 10,000 baht a month. Because of this, obviously many (the majority?) live on far less. 

But, there is about one car or pickup truck for every 4 people, and 2 motorbikes. I guess access to motorised transport is pretty universal.

[Pravda]

4 minutes ago, rickudon said:

I am  amazed at how many people only know Thais earning 60,000 baht a month or more. 

 

And let's stop right here. 

 

Most of these comments come from insecure westerners who justify their existence in Thailand by proclaiming they only hang around with successful thais who hold good jobs and make 100,000++ a month. Yes, some do, but not many and as a matter of fact very few unless they have a side family business. 

 

Some real examples from the real world. Previous wife has been working for Siemens BTS project for 15 years. Salary just above 50k a month (plus some end of the year bonus/pension fund). 

 

Current Chinese very presentable wife is a top sales person for a Japanese company that supplies every car manufacturer in Thailand. Top as if they didn't have her they would have to pack their bags and fly to Japan. Salary with performance bonus averages 80,000 a month. No pension fund whatsoever. 

[warcy]

There is an imbalance of wealth distribution in Thailand. The poor outnumber the rich many folds.

 

What you see in the pics are the few rich.

[Airalee]

12 minutes ago, Pravda said:

 

And let's stop right here. 

 

Most of these comments come from insecure westerners who justify their existence in Thailand by proclaiming they only hang around with successful thais who hold good jobs and make 100,000++ a month. Yes, some do, but not many and as a matter of fact very few unless they have a side family business. 

 

Some real examples from the real world. Previous wife has been working for Siemens BTS project for 15 years. Salary just above 50k a month (plus some end of the year bonus/pension fund). 

 

Current Chinese very presentable wife is a top sales person for a Japanese company that supplies every car manufacturer in Thailand. Top as if they didn't have her they would have to pack their bags and fly to Japan. Salary with performance bonus averages 80,000 a month. No pension fund whatsoever. 

Exactly.  And also, to carry it just a bit further....have you ever noticed how “average” income is always used here and there is no source (that I know of at least) to gauge “median” income?  What would the average be If we removed the fat cat developers, factory owners and the rest of the “1%”.   I feel that “averages” are presented to paint a much rosier picture than the actuality and also make people feel that all their peers are far better off financially so that they go further into debt in order to keep up appearances and as we say...”keep up with the Jones’s”

 

The catch is....the Jones’s are up to their eyeballs in debt.  Who wins?  The debt peddling banks.

[Don Mega]

34 minutes ago, rickudon said:

I am  amazed at how many people only know Thais earning 60,000 baht a month or more. Most earn far, far less. One problem in Thailand is the reliability of the data. This wikipedia article makes interesting reading - 

 

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

 

According to this the average wage in Bangkok was 20,854 baht per month in January 2020. Although this is higher than 3 years previously, real incomes have fallen substantially due to the rising cost of living. Also bare in mind that wages outside Bangkok are considerably lower, and that only a bit more than 50% of Thais actually work (children, students, pensioners, disabled and the unemployed account for this). So it is pretty safe to say that the average Thai PERSON lives on less than 10,000 baht a month. Because of this, obviously many (the majority?) live on far less. 

But, there is about one car or pickup truck for every 4 people, and 2 motorbikes. I guess access to motorised transport is pretty universal.

Iam outside Bangkok and the average wage here at my work for Thai's would be 20k a month.

[Don Mega]

1 hour ago, rickudon said:

 

 

 there is about one car or pickup truck for every 4 people, and 2 motorbikes.

Where do those numbers come from ?

[Harrith54]

Well, I wanted to buy a Nissan, and all was made up, Including deliverie, my navara pickup was to come next wee it was at the next moment. OK, that can happen, well then next week it is. But then they have no car!!! And back to nothing, sorry they say, we cannot get the car... We tried to change color, salesman says, we can have it repainted to your color if you like. The limits!!! Paint a new car only to sell the color and pay for it to??? We declined and got back to the showroom to talk it over. Sorry again and we don't know when we can deliver, you can get money back and not buy a car. That we did and now angry I never greeted and or said anything to the people and the manager was not even coming out to apologize for it. So we now ha e bought a Ford Ranger, that was made ready in a fortnight. 

So there are moments cars are not sold to. Not go Nissan Surin I would suggest... 

[Don Mega]

1 minute ago, Harrith54 said:

Well, I wanted to buy a Nissan, and all was made up, Including deliverie, my navara pickup was to come next wee it was at the next moment. OK, that can happen, well then next week it is. But then they have no car!!! And back to nothing, sorry they say, we cannot get the car... We tried to change color, salesman says, we can have it repainted to your color if you like. The limits!!! Paint a new car only to sell the color and pay for it to??? We declined and got back to the showroom to talk it over. Sorry again and we don't know when we can deliver, you can get money back and not buy a car. That we did and now angry I never greeted and or said anything to the people and the manager was not even coming out to apologize for it. So we now ha e bought a Ford Ranger, that was made ready in a fortnight. 

So there are moments cars are not sold to. Not go Nissan Surin I would suggest... 

Highly possible Nissan is still playing catch-up from the WuFlu shutdown period.

 

Ford are just in time at the moment, the Ranger I  purchase will be ready for delivery next Friday, Ive checked the VIN and it is rolling down the production line tomorrow.

[rickudon]

4 hours ago, Don Mega said:

Where do those numbers come from ?

I found some stats online for the number of registered vehicles - about 15 million cars and pickup trucks and 25 million motor bikes. It was a bit out of date and not sure if it included mini buses. Of course probably quite a few unregistered ones as well!

 

You say that the Thais where you work earn 20,000 baht, outside Bangkok. Obviously salaries are job dependent. I have never met any retail employee, waitress, farm worker or  construction labourer who ever made that much, only some teachers. The self employed may sometimes make more, but as they tend to try and avoid income tax, they all usually say they earn a bit below the income tax threshold ......

 

Statistics in Thailand are always suspect!

[Don Mega]

18 minutes ago, rickudon said:

 

 

You say that the Thais where you work earn 20,000 baht, outside Bangkok. Obviously salaries are job dependent. I have never met any retail employee, waitress, farm worker or  construction labourer who ever made that much, only some teachers.

 

 

My work involves none of those occupations.

[pineapple01]

I cant se why these Aliens keep moaning, they never gave a rats ass for poor back home, perhaps they came here Cockey Rich n blew it all.

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, pineapple01 said:

I cant se why these Aliens keep moaning, they never gave a rats ass for poor back home, perhaps they came here Cockey Rich n blew it all.

I gave not rats ass for the poor back when I lived there, why would I now ?

[bwpage3]

On 8/16/2020 at 9:00 AM, tomazbodner said:

I know several Thais here who earn between 2 and 10 million baht per month. Most that I know earn over 60,000 baht per month.

 

Heck, seems the poorest in this country are the farang who can't even afford to save up enough to meet the requirements to extend their visa!

And all these Thai folks just voluntarily shared their financial information with you?

 

 

[tomazbodner]

Just now, bwpage3 said:

And all these Thai folks just voluntarily shared their financial information with you?

Thais yes. Farang no... they are just asking for advice how to bypass requirements in this forum.

[ericthai]

5 hours ago, Don Mega said:

My work involves none of those occupations.

Then really you're not working with the average Thai.  Workers in our factory average 12-15K per month but this is with overtime. If they work regular hours no overtime they make a little over 9K. 

Office staff 14-18K   

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/16/2020 at 8:34 PM, trevoromgh said:

I've never understood where the money comes from for the Thais to all be buying flash new cars at exhorbatant prices. I understood salaries over here are pretty low compared to other parts of the world so unless they all have rich parents or are leasing the vehicles and are therefore in-hoc for millions of baht.  If so it could all backfire if the pandemic leads to large scale redundancies longer term. 

Easy credit.

[pineapple01]

8 hours ago, ericthai said:

Then really you're not working with the average Thai.  Workers in our factory average 12-15K per month but this is with overtime. If they work regular hours no overtime they make a little over 9K. 

Office staff 14-18K   

So they only have old cars, same the world over.

[Don Mega]

3 minutes ago, pineapple01 said:

So they only have old cars, same the world over.

Be like every other company with a staff car park full of newish vehicles.

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

On 8/20/2020 at 6:02 PM, pineapple01 said:

By this constant use of THEY, it seems many Posters are referring mainly to their Bar Girls Families, low income.

Uh-huh. Any foreigners who’ve married someone not hi-so, must have married a bar girl. All lo-so girls in Thailand are bar girls.

 

Go down the small sois in any of the major cities in Thailand, and see the low rent apartments. The ones with laundry hanging off the balconies, and kids and animals running around. Yes, all the women in there are bar girls. No.

 

Among them are factory workers, maids, nannies, hotel housekeepers, security, cooks, waitresses. I’m a teacher and ride the songthaew to school in the mornings, and accompany these hard working people in their uniforms, from various factories, cleaning companies, security companies, and restaurants. They’re the ones truly keeping the wheels of Thailand turning, I’d say much more than the hi-sos in cushy offices barely lifting a finger, and getting paid ridiculous amounts for it.

 

I’ve worked with such hi-so people and know their arrogance, their unwillingness to extend their fortunes and influence to the majority of the population, through their hiring practices and low wages. Such is one of this country’s primary ills. My family members have related to me stories of what they’ve had to deal with in hotels and restaurants, where I met my wife some years ago. Yes, I’ll admit some extended family members are bar girls, who are now back working on the farm. My wife’s not one of them.

 

Keyboard warriors, I strongly suggest you be very careful with where you lob such accusations. You do so freely here, comfortably free from consequences. I welcome you to try this in the real world, and enjoy the severe difference in how your comfortable, hi-so livelihoods will be affected.

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

I’ve worked with such hi-so people and know their arrogance, their unwillingness to extend their fortunes and influence to the majority of the population, through their hiring practices and low wages.

Can't say I'm all that keen to extend 'my fortune' to the majority of the population either.

Some posters think strange thoughts.

[scoupeo]

On 8/20/2020 at 11:24 PM, ericthai said:

 

When I first moved to Thailand I became good friends with a Thai guy that dove a BMW M3 (about 12 million THB at that time). He invited me over his place one day a small condo (about 5 Million THB for the place). I asked him why not buy a cheaper car and get a bigger condo. His reply " Nobody sees where I live, everyone sees my car" that pretty much explains most Thai's thinking right there!

 

and usually they only sleep at home, so why do they need bigger ? to keep more $hit as most people do ? $hit that their kids will have to throw to garbage when they die ? So boring, it reminds me my Mom ! And 5mb condo is already big actually.

 

 

[bkk6060]

42 minutes ago, scoupeo said:

 

and usually they only sleep at home, so why do they need bigger ? to keep more $hit as most people do ? $hit that their kids will have to throw to garbage when they die ? So boring, it reminds me my Mom ! And 5mb condo is already big actually.

 

 

So very true.  Selfish in a way but some people cannot throw anything away.

I had to fill 3 of those large dumpster cans ( the 25 foot long ones) when my folks passed and fill with collection of garbage from their 3 car garage.

Why?

 

 

[wolf81]

On 8/21/2020 at 11:29 PM, ericthai said:

Then really you're not working with the average Thai.  Workers in our factory average 12-15K per month but this is with overtime. If they work regular hours no overtime they make a little over 9K. 

Office staff 14-18K   

I live in the Chiang Mai countryside and wages here are for farming / construction around 300 THB per day, which equals to around 9000 THB per month. But not everybody has work all days of the week, so I guess for many people (e.g. brother of my girlfriend) the actual income would be lower still. 

 

From what I understand teachers here also earn around 10.000 THB per month, even at the private school our daughter goes to. Perhaps the main class teacher earns a couple of 1000s more compared to the assistant teachers.

[dingdongrb]

I am curious as to how much the average Grab or Panda driver makes as this business appears to have been booming over the past several months. Although the number of drivers seen has increased significantly so perhaps it's a cutthroat job.

 

Do folks tip these drivers? I know I do. I probably order MK duck once a month or so to satisfy my craving for it and the bill comes to 449 THB. I hand the driver a 500 THB note and tell them to keep the change.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 8/22/2020 at 5:07 PM, bkk6060 said:

So very true.  Selfish in a way but some people cannot throw anything away.

I had to fill 3 of those large dumpster cans ( the 25 foot long ones) when my folks passed and fill with collection of garbage from their 3 car garage.

Why?

 

 

It wasn't garbage to them.