Is it legal to drive a Toyota Hiace with Family members in Thailand its either that or a new Ford Ranger !

[kwak250]

Can a foreigner legally drive and own a Toyato Hiace as i still miss the Ford Transit from the uk many years ago

If not it might have to be the new Ford Ranger .

Yes i know they are completely different but i do use my current Toyota Revo a fair bit and fancy a change 

Also take family members in the back of the Revo and thought taking some seats out the Toyota hiace and putting them back in when needed would be ideal

Ford ranger would be good for a change but also worried about all problems they have had in the past

I am sure transam is going to tell me to get a 4 door new Toyota Rocco which i must admit would be good but since 2007 i have had a 4x4 Toyota Vigo from new then changed to the Revo so a change is needed. 

 

[Kwasaki]

I hired one and drove one what makes you think you can't.

[kwak250]

6 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

I hired one and drove one what makes you think you can't.

I have been looking at older posts and as its a 12 seater it looked like only thai nationals are allowed to drive these and the taxation on a 7 seater is much more expensive so taking seats out to have a large area but taxed as a 12 seater would probably be a problem

I have been told they are horrible to drive a long distance . How long did you hire one for?

[VocalNeal]

[Kwasaki]

5 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

I have been looking at older posts and as its a 12 seater it looked like only thai nationals are allowed to drive these and the taxation on a 7 seater is much more expensive so taking seats out to have a large area but taxed as a 12 seater would probably be a problem

I have been told they are horrible to drive a long distance . How long did you hire one for?

4 days hire years ago the hire place would of said I can't drive it wouldn't they. ????

 

Nowadays frankly if I wanted to buy one I'd go to Toyota show room.

If they say OK I would still go to my local DLT to make sure Thailand can be stupid place. 

[kwak250]

3 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Yes i like those but not as easy to take seats out as i do take some large items also if i am honest i am not sure about how easy it would be to sell a Hyundai in say 5-6 years?

[NanLaew]

2 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

Yes i like those but not as easy to take seats out as i do take some large items also if i am honest i am not sure about how easy it would be to sell a Hyundai in say 5-6 years?

Don't worry about that, I'll take it off you.

[kwak250]

5 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

4 days hire years ago the hire place would of said I can't drive it wouldn't they. ????

 

Nowadays frankly if I wanted to buy one I'd go to Toyota show room.

If they say OK I would still go to my local DLT to make sure Thailand can be stupid place. 

Haha not sure if the hire place would tell you if you are allowed to drive it but once they smell the money they will tell you No Ploblem . 

Hiring might be a bit different but good idea to see at the showroom and check with DLT

[kwak250]

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Don't worry about that, I'll take it off you.

Yep that is what i thought!

 

[Excel]

I assume you have a Thaidriving  license.  Hope this helps.

 

http://web.krisdika.go.th/data/outsitedata/outsite21/file/Vehicle_Act_BE_2522_(1979).pdf

 

The relevant section regarding your question is on page 3 under "Private vehicle" 

 

this states;- "(2) a private car for passengers exceeding seven but not more than twelve in number and a private pick-up truck with vehicle weight of not more than one thousand and six hundred kilograms which is not used in transport for reward under the law on land transport;"

 

 

 

 

[Kwasaki]

38 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

Haha not sure if the hire place would tell you if you are allowed to drive it but once they smell the money they will tell you No Ploblem . 

Hiring might be a bit different but good idea to see at the showroom and check with DLT

And as shown there are are vehicle on sale.

The cheaper way to go would be a smart cab truck with a high roof Carryboy canopy fitted. 

MG trucks are the cheapest I believe.

[kwak250]

18 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

And as shown there are are vehicle on sale.

The cheaper way to go would be a smart cab truck with a high roof Carryboy canopy fitted. 

MG trucks are the cheapest I believe.

I have a Smart cab Revo but would need to sort out A/C with a carryboy roof

++++++++

 

[Kwasaki]

6 minutes ago, kwak250 said:

I have a Smart cab Revo but would need to sort out A/C with a carryboy roof

++++++++

 

I see,  I would say there's a good few ways and means of doing that.

[Jitar]

2 hours ago, Excel said:

I assume you have a Thaidriving  license.  Hope this helps.

 

http://web.krisdika.go.th/data/outsitedata/outsite21/file/Vehicle_Act_BE_2522_(1979).pdf

 

The relevant section regarding your question is on page 3 under "Private vehicle" 

 

this states;- "(2) a private car for passengers exceeding seven but not more than twelve in number and a private pick-up truck with vehicle weight of not more than one thousand and six hundred kilograms which is not used in transport for reward under the law on land transport;"

So smaller versions of the Toyota Commuter / HiAce with 12 seats with or less are classed as private vehicles so OK with a private vehicle (car) license. 

 

The pick-up truck wording "vehicle weight of not more than one thousand and six hundred kilograms" is unfortunate.  Most modern pickups are heavier than 1,600kg so under this regulation, do not classify as private vehicles!  BiB would love that, (if they knew). 

 

[Excel]

6 minutes ago, Jitar said:

So smaller versions of the Toyota Commuter / HiAce with 12 seats with or less are classed as private vehicles so OK with a private vehicle (car) license. 

 

The pick-up truck wording "vehicle weight of not more than one thousand and six hundred kilograms" is unfortunate.  Most modern pickups are heavier than 1,600kg so under this regulation, do not classify as private vehicles!  BiB would love that, (if they knew). 

 

I have no doubt that somewhere there will be an amendment to that I suspect but what i attached was the only official translation to English that I could find.

[tompelli]

I have driven both commuters & ventury with friends & family, no issues. The main factor (I'm told) is the colour of the registration plate. The normal, for commercial purposes mini bus plate is yellow & incurs higher taxes. The blue text plates are family/private use but are not easy to get because of the lower tax.

[tompelli]

The Ventury back seat row folds up leaving enough space for luggage.

[thailand49]

I have a 2018 4x4 Revo Hilux, I don't remember the Rocco being much bigger or anything special about it in fact I didn't like the add on designs the black rim and larger tires. Prior to hitting the road I went next down and traded in the stock rims and tires with 18 inch and a set of BF Goodridge.

 

Last year, I decided to give the Revo to my son,  started looking for Vans, of course Toyota first but realized majority of them were imported from Japan.  Top models like Alphare? Majestic were in the range of 3-4.5 million Baht!

 

Commuter, Hiace as my wife and son noted more for work? Being used for tours, airport, running you up and down Sukhumvit to and from Pattaya. In my research the bare bones Communter,Hiace, start at 1.3 million?  then I think the Hiace comes only in a manual transmission by the time you put what you need into the Vans it could run you close to 1.7 Million.

 

Nissan has a similar truck like the Hiace, price starts the same or close.  Then Honda has a smaller Van called StepWagon it looks like a Van smaller price range 2 million.

 

I noticed a lot of Hyundai, July 2021, price model started 1.3, next 1.5 Elite, 1.7 Deluxe, 2022 new model new generation 1.7 1.9.  1.3 is barebones,  even the Elite, a bit more but they didn't even offer a camera while backing up, in the end, I got the Deluxe just under 1.7 fully loaded.

 

I have a Thai license never cross my mind as to whether I can drive one or even own one!  it still a vehicle. Next month I will know the cost to register the vehicle and the insurance since first year was given free. The plates number are Blue not sure what that means for commercial use ( which in my cased not )  the noticed the insurance coverage is bit higher might be because most buy Vans for business use not in my case so I will cut the coverage in have to what I have for the truck.

 

I immediately took the rear seats out for storage so far with Hyundai no problems a real comfortable ride space for a 200 lbs son and his wife who is also big, now a big granddaugther who won't go anywhere unless we use the Van?

Edited July 21, 2022 by thailand49

[scorecard]

On 7/19/2022 at 10:15 AM, VocalNeal said:

My Thai son had a Hyundai (as above) for many years, beauiful vehicle, very comfortable, but expensive for parts, servicing etc. He was given an option re seating, which he took, to reduce the comprehensive insurance and the road tax costs. 

[kcpattaya]

Ehhh.... What was the question exactly? 

[Lee4Life]

I drove a 90's HiAce for years, didn't just transport family members but friends from back home and the wife's relatives from both Thailand and Laos. Once in a while an officer would check everyone's paperwork but that was it. Did it on an international driving permit. When I first bought it, I didn't change the Bangkok plates to the Isaan province we live in, I got stopped at nearly every police checkpoint. Then a Thai friend told me I needed to change the plates to our province, I did so and then the police at the checkpoints stopped pulling me aside.

Edited July 22, 2022 by Lee4Life

[kwak250]

On 7/21/2022 at 10:13 PM, scorecard said:

My Thai son had a Hyundai (as above) for many years, beauiful vehicle, very comfortable, but expensive for parts, servicing etc. He was given an option re seating, which he took, to reduce the comprehensive insurance and the road tax costs. 

I did look at the Hyundai .

What option is there to reduce insurance/Road tax? 

 

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, kwak250 said:

I did look at the Hyundai .

What option is there to reduce insurance/Road tax? 

 

Son changed the rego to private vehicle (was originally commercial van rego), and reduced the total number of seats. Make a difference to comp. insurance and to road tax.

[Lancashirelad]

I thought blue font plates are for hotel/hospitality business use?

Black on white for private use.

RetirecheapJC might be the man to ask, he used to drive a Hiace.