can you tell the age of car by the number plate ?

[yeahbutif]

can you tell the age of car by the number plate ?  

this will probley be as clear as MUD but like most things in Thailand that should be so easy NOT..... but will see lol

[stubuzz]

No

[KhunBENQ]

There are always exceptions which would result in an "old" sign on a new car.

For Bangkok you can roughly guess the higher the leading digit (unique in Thailand) the later the sign has been issued.

I think they have reached "9" now?

Will be interesting what their next botch workaround will be instead of a basic reform. I doubt there are many countries with such a confusion of plate types and exhausted number ranges etc.

Edited October 28, 2021 by KhunBENQ

[Jitar]

Yes you can. 

The red plates are the young cars. 

[steve187]

18 minutes ago, Jitar said:

Yes you can. 

The red plates are the young cars. 

unless its on an old car

[Kwasaki]

Age of car in Blue book. 

[JAS21]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Age of car in Blue book. 

Not convinced that is totally correct.

But you should get a very good idea from the warranty book.

[johng]

The date of first registration will be in the Blue book..It's possible to transfer an "old" number plate with fewer digits and letters to a new car

[big dendrobenaes]

no only by the blue book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brianthainess]

The blue book and the vin plate will tell you the age. If you register a car in a new province you will get new plates, therefore no you can not tell the age from the plate. IMO.

[Ombra]

16 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

There are always exceptions which would result in an "old" sign on a new car.

For Bangkok you can roughly guess the higher the leading digit (unique in Thailand) the later the sign has been issued.

I think they have reached "9" now?

Will be interesting what their next botch workaround will be instead of a basic reform. I doubt there are many countries with such a confusion of plate types and exhausted number ranges etc.

Seven years ago, my wife got a Bangkok number beginning with 3, but two years ago I got one beginning with 1.

[Rampant Rabbit]

check the seatbelts, theyll  look new as Thais  dont wear them, theres a  manufacture  date  on a  small  tag  on them

[alesaldana]

As other user stated, I think the easiest way is checking the date on the seatbelts.

1 hour ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

check the seatbelts, theyll  look new as Thais  dont wear them, theres a  manufacture  date  on a  small  tag  on them

 

[VocalNeal]

1 minute ago, alesaldana said:

As other user stated, I think the easiest way is checking the date on the seatbelts.

Which of course Thai car dealers know nothing about? 

[yimlitnoy]

To find the age of a car I normally look at the laser stamp on the side windows, it has the manufacturer and the date it was made.

[Brock]

Check the VIN dataplate, you can find age info from that online

 

[chilly07]

Yes The sun bleaches out the number progressively over the years. White out occurs about the same time as vehicle inspections kick in.

[JAS21]

The Blue Book gives the date of first registration which could be a year or more after it was first used on the road… so be careful!

 

The VIN number will give you the date of manufacture and of course other information as well. Google will tell you how to read a particular VIN.

 

The warranty book will tell you the first date that the car could have been used… just look at the start date of the warranty. The dealer has to start the warranty if he uses the car eg demo. And of course when the car is sold new.

 

Cars like Mercedes now don’t have warranty books so you  need to ask the dealer to show you the electronic version.

 

 

 

[MajorTom]

The blue book has both year of registration AND year of manufacture in it.

[Kwasaki]

2 minutes ago, MajorTom said:

The blue book has both year of registration AND year of manufacture in it.

I would say you are correct and believe as I do because it has a date and a VIN number in the blue

book. 

 

Cars must be similar to bikes my bike was manufactured in Japan 2 years before it was registered for the road in Thailand.

[PETERTHEEATER]

19 hours ago, big dendrobenaes said:

no only by the blue book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lift the bonnet (hood), locate the VIN plate (Vehicle Identification Number) usually atop a front wheel arch. The DoM should be there.

[bbko]

6 hours ago, Rampant Rabbit said:

check the seatbelts, theyll  look new as Thais  dont wear them, 

My Thai wife and I always buy a new car about every 5 years and every time she tries to keep as much factory wrapped plastic intact as long as possible, to show it's a new car 555.  I swear on the last car we sold, the bar at the bottom of the seats (to slide front & back) was still wrapped in factory plastic after 5 years.   I jokingly told her she reminds me of a US actress from a while back named Minnie Pearl that like to keep the price tag attached to her hat to show off it's still new.

[yeahbutif]

All sounds good . But the Reason I was asking was to find out what models secondhand cars of a type were brought out...as I was looking for a replacement.. don't think people will appreciate me looking at their seat belts ... was thinking more of an observation....lol

[BTB1977]

The 10th number in the VIN will tell you the year. 

[JAS21]

On 10/29/2021 at 12:52 PM, MajorTom said:

The blue book has both year of registration AND year of manufacture in it.

Very true…The Blue Book has the year of manufacture and the day/month/year when it was first registered at the LTO.
 

But the only way to realistically know when it first went on the road, if you want to know, is the date shown in the warranty booklet.

[richard_smith237]

On 10/28/2021 at 8:14 AM, yeahbutif said:

can you tell the age of car by the number plate ?  

 

Yes and No... 

 

For many cars registered within a few months of their purchase date the number plate can be ‘relatively’ aged as the Thai letters are all sequential and over the past few years its even easier as they have a numerical prefix. 

 

BUT, aging a car by its number plate is not reliable, people can change plates, use old plates, choose a preferred number etc... 

 

The ONLY way to accurately age a vehicle is from the VIN number to obtain year of manufacture. 

Edited October 31, 2021 by richard_smith237

[digbeth]

On 10/29/2021 at 8:18 AM, Ombra said:

Seven years ago, my wife got a Bangkok number beginning with 3, but two years ago I got one beginning with 1.

for the first letter ก they went from 1กx - 9กx it's now up to 1ขx (the second thai alphabet)  this scheme stats around 2012, the new 1ข is only starting now for Bangkok car plate, so each number last around a decade so far

also the 3กx is well known to fade to white a lot