Shipping In A Car

[paulfr]

I should have my retirement visa 1 year status with

a few weeks and may want to move out a bit from

BKK to keep rental expenses low. Cars have quite

a surcharge here so I thought I might be better off

shipping one in from the States or Australia.

Anyone have any experience or first hand knowledge

of what is involved and what the costs are ??

Thank you in advance

[Axel]

Just one advise: "don't do it. "

Used/secondhand vehicles are regarded as restricted goods and, therefore, generally not allowed for importation...

New cars cost you somewhere between 210 and 310 % on duty and taxes, based on the cif value decided by the customs house.

As said, don't do it, but you can have a look in here:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Perso...Nme=PersonalPer

[Thetyim]

This has been discussed here a few times, no-one has ever admitted to sucessfully importing a car.

The import duty is high and you are unlikely to make any savings.

Bite the Bullet and pay the asking price here

[kenkannif]

This won't help much but FYI. I know a Canadian lady that brought her Harley from Canada to here and she had to get like a special Visa for it to say it was hers and she wouldn't be selling it. It might be worth looking into this. I'm also under the impression if you import you're stuff within the first 6 months of extending your Non-imm O with funds you won't be charged tax/duty!

[dr_Pat_Pong]

This won't help much but FYI. I know a Canadian lady that brought her Harley from Canada to here and she had to get like a special Visa for it to say it was hers and she wouldn't be selling it. It might be worth looking into this. I'm also under the impression if you import you're stuff within the first 6 months of extending your Non-imm O with funds you won't be charged tax/duty!

That is only for limited household goods. Any motor vehicle is subject to that heavy tax, and they make the actual task of importation too hard to do. In essence they don't want you to do it at all.

[kenkannif]

Do you think the fact that the Canadian lady brought her bike with her (she came in on a tourist Visa) helped her avoid paying tax/duty then? As a Harley to me isn't a household good?

[LivinLOS]

Because it probably stayed on its host country plates ?? and had to leave the country every 6 months..

Here in Phuket you see quite a few singapore registered cars and bikes as people just do a visa run on thier vehicle rather than pay the import duties.

[Mr.Mr.]

Better to buy a new car in Thailand, ISUZU pick-up or Toyota Soluna. A used car in Thailand is mostly not a good deal.

You can how ever "import" a car for one year and use it without pay tax, but you have to pay a deposit in your home country to ensure that you bring the car back and not sell it. But all thogether it is not worth it. And if you "import" a expensive car like Benz, BMW or Porsche your have only the basic ensurance and in the case of an exident it can be very expensive for you If you have to pay for your demage. If you do it better to shipp the car to Penang and drive the car to Thailand, because the coustomes in BKK are known to be difficault to relese the car.

[Dutchy2]

Just one advise: "don't do it. "

Used/secondhand vehicles are regarded as restricted goods and, therefore, generally not allowed for importation...

New cars cost you somewhere between 210 and 310 % on duty and taxes, based on the cif value decided by the customs house.

As said, don't do it, but you can have a look in here:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Perso...Nme=PersonalPer

I'll second that, as off 2004 no second hand tyres can be imported anymore because of safety reasons. The same safety reasons that won't allow for importing/selling any brand new big motorbike apart from BMW and Harley Davidson. Be prepared for the Thai way of logical thinking when you plan to retire here.

Dutchy

[Dutchy2]

Just one advise: "don't do it. "

Used/secondhand vehicles are regarded as restricted goods and, therefore, generally not allowed for importation...

New cars cost you somewhere between 210 and 310 % on duty and taxes, based on the cif value decided by the customs house.

As said, don't do it, but you can have a look in here:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Perso...Nme=PersonalPer

Hi Axel,

I didn't read your posting that well, where did you find those tariffs? It's about 136/137% when I checked last. I have been involved in this a couple of times and the tax and duties you mention make Denmark a tax haven on earth...

Dutchy

[kenkannif]

Because it probably stayed on its host country plates ?? and had to leave the country every 6 months..

Here in Phuket you see quite a few singapore registered cars and bikes as people just do a visa run on thier vehicle rather than pay the import duties.

^ Gotcha! Yeah that must be it, thanks!

What happens if you get a WP does the bike/car still have to leave every 6 months or whatever?

[Axel]

Just one advise: "don't do it. "

Used/secondhand vehicles are regarded as restricted goods and, therefore, generally not allowed for importation...

New cars cost you somewhere between 210 and 310 % on duty and taxes, based on the cif value decided by the customs house.

As said, don't do it, but you can have a look in here:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Perso...Nme=PersonalPer

Hi Axel,

I didn't read your posting that well, where did you find those tariffs? It's about 136/137% when I checked last. I have been involved in this a couple of times and the tax and duties you mention make Denmark a tax haven on earth...

Dutchy

Hi Dutchy,

click on the link I gave, nearly at the bottom are examples.

But let's take the one the Thai Customs is using:

CIF-value Baht 1,000,000. Total taxes and duties payable Baht 2,131,707.20 or

213.171 %.

Consider the import duty is 80%, than on Baht 1,800,000 you pay the excise tax, than you pay the Interior tax on the excise tax amount and on top of this 7% VAT on everything.

The example Baht 1,000,000 is for a less than 2.4 litre, if you take a higher class, not exceeding 3 litres or more than 220 HP you have the priviledge of paying 308.051 %.