Picture: Thai Rath

 

The purchase of a brand new Toyota Vigo pick-up for a lady called "B" was quite normal.

 

She went to a large showroom in Taling Chan and got a red bow to go with her red plates for the vehicle she got on HP terms. 

 

That was on August 21st and everything for the next two weeks was normal.  But on September 6th she was stopped by the police and told her red plates were false.

 

She was taken to the Bang Kaew police station despite her protests that the red plate had been fitted by sales staff at the showroom.

 

She was charged with using false registration and needed 100,000 baht bail that she didn't have.

 

She persuaded the sales department at the showroom to front up the money, which they did after a five hour wait at the police station. 

 

Now after the case stalled B is calling for justice.

 

She said she is just a law abiding customer who made a purchase in good faith and now finds herself in deep trouble. 

 

Thai Rath could not confirm if an arrest had yet been made at the showroom. 
 

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Another example of the stupidity of the Thai justice system

I had use of the car for 2 weeks before the showroom could provide red plates for my Toyota pickup.

This case sounds like a police money grab scheme to me though.

Red plates should come with a log book and usually require a deposit (if I remember it was about 3000 Baht in our case".

 

The paper trail should be proof as to which party is at fault!

And yet many cars driving with no plates at all !

19 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

And yet many cars driving with no plates at all !

If I remember correctly the fine for this is only 500 Baht. Better she would have used this obviously much cheaper option... 

Red plate nonsense needs to be scrapped

Is it still illegal to use red-plates at night? I could well be wrong but that is what I was told 20+ years ago.

3 hours ago, bdenner said:

Red plates should come with a log book and usually require a deposit (if I remember it was about 3000 Baht in our case".

Same here and the 3000 are given back when you get your white plates. Well, that's what happened to me.

 

You should write all travels in the book (no one does it I guess) and should not drive after 22h and.... 5555

4 hours ago, JoePai said:

Another example of the stupidity of the Thai justice system

And lack of ethics and honesty by Thai business organizations.

5 hours ago, foreverlomsak said:

I had use of the car for 2 weeks before the showroom could provide red plates for my Toyota pickup

Same for me. When I received the red ones they told me about 6 weeks for normal ones. After many visits to the dealer and 6 months later they finally discovered the salesperson had not done the paperwork so car was not registered.

 

2 hours ago, rbkk said:

Is it still illegal to use red-plates at night? I could well be wrong but that is what I was told 20+ years ago.

I got mine about 9 years ago with a logbook but no one at the dealership informed me as to what the book was for and that I shouldn't drive at night. New to Thailand I didn't ask.  Many inter provincial trips day and night in the 6 months I had the red plates on the car.

There have been times not so long ago, whereby red plates were no longer going to be used!....There's many vehicles now with no plates and no-one cares!

17 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

I got mine about 9 years ago with a logbook but no one at the dealership informed me as to what the book was for and that I shouldn't drive at night. New to Thailand I didn't ask.  Many inter provincial trips day and night in the 6 months I had the red plates on the car.

".....they are commonly issued to new vehicles for use during the eight weeks or so that it takes for new plates to be issued.

Trade plates carry a significant number of restrictions. Drivers with red plates must seek permission from authorities if they want to use the vehicle at night. Cars with red plates cannot be driven out of the province where the vehicle was registered at purchase. Drivers must ask for permission each time they want to travel outside the specified area. Documents must be in order, with the destination and the dates of travel. Red-plated cars are not allowed to use expressways. Drivers of cars with red plates must have all car-related documents, a proper driving licence, and ID card ready for checks at all times. Police officers are authorized to stop any car with a red plate to examine the car and the driver's documents even if no traffic offence has occurred."  

"As of July 2015, DLT has a plan to stop the use of trade plate as temporary license plates, and use a quicker car registration process."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Thailand

I guess things move slowly at the DLT Thailand!

scam

Some years ago when I bought my Nissan Teana, during my first few weeks with the red plate, police stopped me and told me the same thing about my red plate. He demanded to go to police station, or pay him some money to let me go. I paid him 300 Baht and he let me go. I contacted the showroom and informed the salesperson of the incident, and he just apologized for incident. I just forgot about it then.

8 minutes ago, cyrus9 said:

Some years ago when I bought my Nissan Teana, during my first few weeks with the red plate, police stopped me and told me the same thing about my red plate. He demanded to go to police station, or pay him some money to let me go. I paid him 300 Baht and he let me go. I contacted the showroom and informed the salesperson of the incident, and he just apologized for incident. I just forgot about it then.

Easy to spot fake plate, they don't have the round embossed logo thingo in the lower RH corner.

 

You sure your plate was not fake ?

 

7 hours ago, rbkk said:

Is it still illegal to use red-plates at night? I could well be wrong but that is what I was told 20+ years ago.

Yes it is.  But like most laws ignored 99% of the time.

9 hours ago, rwill said:

Yes it is.  But like most laws ignored 99% of the time.

Some years ago a co-incidental accident occurred, two red plate cars had an accident, both cars had the same numbered red plates, turned out the dealer had several sets, only one was real and the necessary fees paid by the dealer. The dealer was thus saving money by not paying fees for the fakes but still sell new cars to the unsuspecting buyers. Story went quiet about what happened to the dealer after the exposure. But use your own imagination. 555

22 hours ago, webfact said:

She was taken to the Bang Kaew police station despite her protests that the red plate had been fitted by sales staff at the showroom.

 

She was charged with using false registration and needed 100,000 baht bail that she didn't have.

 

She persuaded the sales department at the showroom to front up the money, which they did after a five hour wait at the police station. 

Upside down back to front inside out Thailand.

22 hours ago, JoePai said:

Another example of the stupidity of the Thai justice system

Police system... it didn't get to court yet.

18 hours ago, rbkk said:

Is it still illegal to use red-plates at night? I could well be wrong but that is what I was told 20+ years ago.

Technically yes. In practice it depends on the RTP officer.

On 10/27/2022 at 12:40 PM, rbkk said:

Is it still illegal to use red-plates at night? I could well be wrong but that is what I was told 20+ years ago.

No driving at night or going out of the province on a red plate btu I drove mine to Had Yai on a red plate and never got any problems

On 10/27/2022 at 9:32 AM, ChrisY1 said:

There have been times not so long ago, whereby red plates were no longer going to be used!....There's many vehicles now with no plates and no-one cares!

I bought a new Toyota Hilux Vigo in 2005 and drove from Nakhon Si Thammarat to Loei and back via downtown Bangkok with no plates. Even got stopped for speeding (legit) and having no plates was no issue at all. Getting white plates takes minutes at DLT. It seems to me that dealers are just too lazy to do the paperwork promptly.