Driving without a licence

[poppysdad]

My Thai lady left early this morning for a hospital appointment in another province a couple of hours drive away. She just telephoned me to say she had arrived safely and was waiting to see the doctor and revealed to me that her daughter came with her as she was feeling rather tired. She says  her daughter might well drive back home. Her daughter is 23 but to the best of my knowledge has never driven a car although my lady says she can drive but more importantly to me is she doesn’t have a licence and although my car has first class insurance I’m of the opinion that if she was to have an accident the insurance would be invalid and I could be sued  for any third party damages plus damage to my own car wouldn’t be covered either. I’ve told her in no uncertain terms is she to let her daughter drive my car home. Am I right in my assumptions?

[NanLaew]

Chances are her daughter already drove her to the doctor's appointment.

 

It's only a "couple of hours" anyway.

 

But if it's an issue, and for peace of mind, you could go there by bus or whatever and do the return driving?

 

Get your insurance adjusted to named-driver only; you and your wife ONLY. It will probably be cheaper and may discourage her from being 'tired' in the future and letting anyone drive it.

[pedro01]

That's pretty bad. 

 

But my son had driving lessons here, then passed his test.

 

Lessons were about 6 hours. Not nearly enough and now he's learning on the road.

 

 

[actonion]

 I'm informed Its the car thats insured, not the driver, unless your Insurance states otherwise..

 

When my Thai niece was 11 years old  she rode her family motorbike to school  everyday she had no driving licence, on the way to school she collided with   6 wheel truck, writing off her  bike, and denting the truck..

 

Fortuneatley her bike was Insured, and the Insurance company paid for the damage to the truck, not sure what would've happened if  a Farang was riding that bike !!!

[warrima]

1st class insurance is good to have but you need to invest in the true thai insurance - A highly powered Amulet. Also if the monk has done his blessing on your vehicle you really should have little to worry about.

[Dmaxdan]

You are correct in your assumption that many car insurance policies here won't pay out if the car is being driven by someone who is unlicensed.

And rightly so.

 

I personally wouldn't allow any person who doesn't have a valid driver's license to drive my car here. You could end up seriously out of pocket. 

 

 

 

[Dmaxdan]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

It's only a "couple of hours" anyway.

 

An awful lot could happen in a four hour return trip especially on Thai roads...

[2long]

This is so common here, it's not funny.

They always seem to find a way of wriggling out of these situations, that would make westerners cringe. 

No licence, no insurance, red plates at night, red plates for a year or more, drunk, the wrong way up the road at high speed... it's all commonplace here.

Sad, but true.

[CharlieH]

From personal experience, a family drove a car, no licence, got invoved in a minor incident.

The  car was insured for anyone, the insurance guy came out, the car was later fixed.The Police arrived and took details. At no time was a licence  mentioned by anyone. The drivers of both the vehicles had NO LICENCE.

 

Now, lets be clear, I am not advocating this nor am I saying this is standard practice, everything in Thailand is inconsistent. This is my experience only.A licence is a legal requirement to operate a vehicle in Thailand.

 

The licence system and enforcement is a joke.Its cheaper and more convenient to pay a 400bt fine for no licence (example) than take the nonsense test.

[theoldgit]

We made a small claim for some damage I did to my wifes car when I was driving it, it's insured for any driver.

 

I needed to present my driving licence to the insurance guy on his motorbike at the scene as well as at the insurance office who actually process the claim, as did my wife.

 

Copies of both of our licences were sent of by the local office.

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, poppysdad said:

Am I right in my assumptions?

Your 1st class insurance may state drivers must have Thai DL or valid DL. 

Our 1st class states any driver over 25 years old with a full DL. 

The daughter can drive the car and be covered by CTPL. 

The problem as you say if she should have an accident and it is her fault then you could be liable for pay outs.

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Kwasaki

[NanLaew]

7 hours ago, pedro01 said:

That's pretty bad. 

 

But my son had driving lessons here, then passed his test.

 

Lessons were about 6 hours. Not nearly enough and now he's learning on the road.

 

 

I think I had a total of about 6 hours of driving lessons in Scotland but failed the first test (not stopping at an unmarked 4-way). Had another 6 hours (6 lessons) and failed again (not using my mirrors enough). Took a couple more lessons with my incredibly angry driving instructor and sailed through at the third attempt. My employer was paying for the lessons so they were probably more relieved than I was.

 

The following day, my first as journeyman engineer, I had two car accidents with two different company cars, one in the morning (skidded off the road, rendered undriveable) and the other about six hours later (sideswiped by another car but driveable). Phoned the boss and he told me just to go home. The day after that, I had my third consecutive prang (I rear-ended another car at a roundabout taking the second damaged car to the garage). The prevailing snow and ice were not considered as mitigating circumstances.

 

Subsequently, I became the best (only) workshop-based engineer they had.

[Hummin]

I had my gf to E-Driving school in Hua Hin, and believe it is the best option in Thailand. Gave her double amount of hours to cover both automatic and manual. 
 

If I know she is tired, or it is start to get dark, I just tell the check in to a hotel instead of driving hours in the dark inThailand. I would not let anyone else in the family drive her. 

 

[4MyEgo]

9 hours ago, poppysdad said:

she doesn’t have a licence

A big no, no IMO

 

9 hours ago, poppysdad said:

my car has first class insurance

Your car, your rules.

 

9 hours ago, poppysdad said:

I’m of the opinion that if she was to have an accident the insurance would be invalid and I could be sued  for any third party damages plus damage to my own car wouldn’t be covered either.

I would have to agree with you there, under a normal 1st class policy, that said, I haven't read your policy, but wouldn't want someone driving my car, regardless if it is family or not, because the law states to drive, you must have a valid license, and yes many drive without one, but what happens when the $hit hits the fan, lets look at the worst case scenario, a fatality, then what ?

 

9 hours ago, poppysdad said:

I’ve told her in no uncertain terms is she to let her daughter drive my car home.

I'd be having strong words with her, she shouldn't be thinking this way from the beginning, totally selfish IMO and if my wife did ever try this one on me, she would think twice about thinking that way next time, not that she ever would think this way.

 

9 hours ago, poppysdad said:

Am I right in my assumptions?

Yes, as far as I am concerned, stand your ground, it's your way or the highway.

[Kwasaki]

5 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

A big no, no IMO

 

Your car, your rules.

 

I would have to agree with you there, under a normal 1st class policy, that said, I haven't read your policy, but wouldn't want someone driving my car, regardless if it is family or not, because the law states to drive, you must have a valid license, and yes many drive without one, but what happens when the $hit hits the fan, lets look at the worst case scenario, a fatality, then what ?

 

I'd be having strong words with her, she shouldn't be thinking this way from the beginning, totally selfish IMO and if my wife did ever try this one on me, she would think twice about thinking that way next time, not that she ever would think this way.

 

Yes, as far as I am concerned, stand your ground, it's your way or the highway.

divorce on the way. ????

[4MyEgo]

35 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

divorce on the way. ????

Nah, not a chance in the world, the future payout when I am gone is worth her holding onto me as if her life depended on it....lol

 

If there is one thing I learned in life from my previous divorce, is that money is a powerful tool, i.e. if you don't wear your heart on your sleeve ????

[Pmbkk]

 

I'd be more afraid of an illegal driver killing someone driving my car. 

 

Can still do that obv' - but they may not go straight to jail without passing "go".  And maybe not weigh on my conscience by allowing them to do it.

 

I would disallow it 100% in my car or my wife's.

[Kwasaki]

9 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Nah, not a chance in the world, the future payout when I am gone is worth her holding onto me as if her life depended on it....lol

 

If there is one thing I learned in life from my previous divorce, is that money is a powerful tool, i.e. if you don't wear your heart on your sleeve ????

Only a joke buddy it's only from experience of watching falangie Thai wife marriages when they husband start coming down hard the relationship doesn't get better.

[4MyEgo]

2 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Only a joke buddy it's only from experience of watching falangie Thai wife marriages when they husband start coming down hard the relationship doesn't get better.

I agree, each should be equal, but when one attempts to do something as stupid as that, or suggests it, coming down hard can save a lot of grief and also teach that person that there are consequences, coming down hard would of course be the extreme.

 

If the car was hers, by all means, do as you please, but if was my car, then I would be at risk, so respect is required, i.e. DO NOT EXPOSE ME TO THE RISK, same would apply if the reverse. 

[Kwasaki]

1 minute ago, 4MyEgo said:

I agree, each should be equal, but when one attempts to do something as stupid as that, or suggests it, coming down hard can save a lot of grief and also teach that person that there are consequences, coming down hard would of course be the extreme.

 

If the car was hers, by all means, do as you please, but if was my car, then I would be at risk, so respect is required, i.e. DO NOT EXPOSE ME TO THE RISK, same would apply if the reverse. 

I'm an alien in Thailand nothing is in my name, if my wife want to do something I will of course voice my concerns but at the end of the day it's up to her. 

[4MyEgo]

27 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

I'm an alien in Thailand nothing is in my name, if my wife want to do something I will of course voice my concerns but at the end of the day it's up to her. 

I have to agree, nothing in my name as well, except my overseas assets, plan B ????

 

[kwonitoy]

When my ex-wife was learning to drive and without a DL we went to pickup my work truck.

She drove my Toyota sport rider into the condo parkade as she had done before, lost control and smashed into a parked Honda Accord. The damage was quite extensive to the car, the truck not so much.

Insurance came, police report was made and no mention of a DL ever came up.

Insurance paid for the Honda to be fixed and my truck, 100% covered.

Quite some time ago so, and personal experience only.

YMMV