Cars Cheaper In Chaing Mai

[george]

Cheaper in Chiang Mai

CHIANG MAI: There are good deals on offer at the northern province’s Chiang Kong market

Most people would say Bangkok is the place to get everything and anything at the cheapest price possible. But when it comes to second-hand auto parts, they’d be off by several hundred kilometres

In terms of prices, Chiang Kong, the second-hand parts market in Bangkok, often cannot match Chiang Kong in Chiang Mai.

“Many items here are cheaper than in Bangkok,” said Prasert sae Heng, manager of Saha Alai Import-Export, which is located in Chiang Kong Chiang Mai, near the city train station.

“Just take this Nissan SR 20 DE engine as an example. We sell it for Bt20,000, but Bangkok sellers quote prices between Bt22,000 and Bt25,000,” he said.

Prasert attributed the cheaper prices to the fact that people in Chiang Mai insist on value for money.

“They are thriftier than people in Bangkok,” he said.

But the false assumption that things are cheaper in Bangkok has lured some Chiang Mai residents to Bangkok. And once they visit Chiang Kong in the Pathumwan area and find that the prices are higher, they can’t afford not to buy anything. “It’s to save face. Thais just hate to lose face,” Prasert explained.

Some Bangkokians, on the other hand, are wise to the better bargains in Chiang Mai.

“Most of them bought the parts to resell,” Prasert said of people who have visited his shop.

Still, Chiang Mai’s Chiang Kong market has its drawbacks. Though it offers a lot of wares and is more spacious, the fact that its clientele is mainly local means that most of the parts available are for diesel vehicles.

Diesel-vehicle parts account for 80 per cent of all the items available, Prasert said. “Most of our clients are farmers who rely on diesel engines. Those who rent out cars or operate shuttle services also come, mostly during the high tourism season. Sometimes, we sell items to tourists. Mostly they are looking for used engines or parts for imported cars for which new parts are expensive and take time to deliver,” he said.

Prasert said some of the parts on sale were brought in from Japan and others from Bangkok.

Not all the parts the vendors order are in good condition. If any seller encounters a bad item, that means he will have to sell it as scrap metal, which fetches only Bt8 per kilogram.

“It’s a risky business as we need to buy items with cash. Sometimes, after investing Bt100,000, we make only Bt2,000. Still, we love to do it, just to ensure that Chiang Mai has something that Bangkok doesn’t,” Prasert said.

--The Nation 2004-06-21

[chanchao]

Hm... If this is the shops along Charoen Muang road then I think you better beware. Typical Thai 'oo' (As in "Boo") with dusty cardboard boxes scattered all over the place with some ok and some very old parts, dirty, oily environment, some 3000 baht per month hilltribe 'chang' unable to even find the release lever for the bonnet.... all things that don't really give me a lot of confidence...

That said, I only could find new rubber rings for my fake Warn shock absorbers there.... It all has a distinctly 'grade B' feel about it.

Of course, great for farmers trying to keep their 1968 Mazda Familia from falling apart and perhaps even running.

If anyone knows a general purpose shop in that area then I'd love a recommendation.

For me I only have a recommendation for a shop selling basically pointless accessories, you know, lights, skirts, spoilers, all the bits of plastic that can be fitted to cars to make them look cool, alarm systerms, 'Locktech' steel locks, those windscreen wiper fluid squirters with blue LEDs in them, 'roll bars' that are just intended to look cool, roof racks for people who don't need them, etc, etc, etc. But anyway: If you want some of those things then a very good and professional place to get it installed is PPS on the Hang Dong road, past Lotus on the right hand side. Big sign. And you get this 'toy store' feeling you never had since you were a kid in a toy store... So many shiny blinking useless crap things to put on your car!! But prices is very fair and they do a good job.

Cheers,

Chanchao