Renewing my Thai motorcycle driving license for another five years

[acepredator]

My Thai motorcycle driving license expired last November. My Thai friend advised me to reserve a time slot to visit the Department of Land Transportation here in Chiang Mai to renew my license. I was able to register and book a time on the DLT webpage as a foreigner using English without complications. The next step is to listen to a one-hour instructional video and then take a test based on the information presented in the video. Unfortunately, this was the complicated part. The problem is that the presenter in the video is speaking Thai. An exhaustive search could produce no English language video. The questions that followed the video were in English, so no problem there. But I can't answer the questions without watching the video, and I can't watch the video if it's not in English. Has anyone else experienced this problem while trying to renew a motorcycle driving license? The voice of experience is always the wisest. Any advice as to how I can solve my problem or information about the driving license renewal process would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much in advance.

[keithcresswell]

I just successfully renewed my license yesterday. I had the same problem with the website, but someone suggested I use www.dltelearning.com (no hyphen) instead which shows the video (with subtitles) and questions in English. You have to register first by choosing the Foreigner option.

I got a QR code which I had to print out and take to the DLT. To be honest I don't think they even looked at it. Anyway it worked for me at the Pattaya office.

[steve187]

i have watched the movie in English so its on the web somewhere, i think from the link posted by keith above

[TKDfella]

I think depending on your browser, could one use the the right mouse click in the middle of the window which provides a list of options, one of them 'translate to English' ?

[KhunBENQ]

When I watched this eLearning, there were subtitles for the parts spoken in Thai.

Did you enter the website through the "Foreigner" option and register with your passport number?

I don't remember the exact steps.

[alanrchase]

I am not required to sit a test to renew my car/motorcycle licences. I do the reaction and vision tests, watch a video in english on the computer at the DLT and get issued my new licenses. 

[HarrySeaman]

I renewed my auto license last year, motorcycle this year.  After registering I watched the video in English.  The problem was that the "instructional" video is in segments. 
Each segment goes by quickly with only one mention of some rules then a test - sometimes with questions not covered in that segment.  I also got the exact same question after two segments.  I passed and got a QR code but they didn't tell me my score.

 

Hint:  If you fail don't worry, just keep trying until you learn the rules and pass.

 

At the DLT office I did have to do the eye test and the brake test but I think the distance alignment test wasn't working because I didn't have to do it.  If you have never done these tests then try to get toward the back of the line so you can watch others do the tests to see how they are done.

[acepredator]

7 hours ago, keithcresswell said:

I just successfully renewed my license yesterday. I had the same problem with the website, but someone suggested I use www.dltelearning.com (no hyphen) instead which shows the video (with subtitles) and questions in English. You have to register first by choosing the Foreigner option.

I got a QR code which I had to print out and take to the DLT. To be honest I don't think they even looked at it. Anyway it worked for me at the Pattaya office.

I was able to find the video with the English subtitles. It was the third of the three videos for the motorcycle license. I had only tried the first one last night, assuming the other two were the same. Thanks very much for your invaluable assistance. It will make getting the new license much easier than it would have been otherwise. Extremely gratifying to know that as Thai Visa members we are available to help each other out if we can. As I said in my post, the voice of experience is always the wisest.

[acepredator]

5 hours ago, steve187 said:

i have watched the movie in English so its on the web somewhere, i think from the link posted by keith above

Yes, I was able to find the right video with English subtitles from the link provided. Thanks very much for your reply.

[acepredator]

4 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

When I watched this eLearning, there were subtitles for the parts spoken in Thai.

Did you enter the website through the "Foreigner" option and register with your passport number?

I don't remember the exact steps.

I was able to register as a foreigner without any complications at the website mentioned above, the one without the hyphen. It wasn't until I checked the third video of the three for motorcycle licenses that I found the English subtitles. So it should be no problem completing the renewal process from here. Thanks very much for your reply.

[acepredator]

9 hours ago, HarrySeaman said:

I renewed my auto license last year, motorcycle this year.  After registering I watched the video in English.  The problem was that the "instructional" video is in segments. 
Each segment goes by quickly with only one mention of some rules then a test - sometimes with questions not covered in that segment.  I also got the exact same question after two segments.  I passed and got a QR code but they didn't tell me my score.

 

Hint:  If you fail don't worry, just keep trying until you learn the rules and pass.

 

At the DLT office I did have to do the eye test and the brake test but I think the distance alignment test wasn't working because I didn't have to do it.  If you have never done these tests then try to get toward the back of the line so you can watch others do the tests to see how they are done.

Thanks for the information and for your advice. I got my first motorcycle license in 2004, so I've been through the renewal process more than once. This is the first time, however, that I've had to do anything online. In the past, I just showed up early with the necessary documents and waited all day until I got my new license. I don't remember now which tests were conducted. Once I get through the online testing, I expect the rest will be relatively simple, especially since I've already booked an appointment for 1:30 in the afternoon. If it takes all afternoon, so be it. This process takes place only once every five years, so I can and will endure. Thanks again for taking the time to reply to my post.

[acepredator]

9 hours ago, alanrchase said:

I am not required to sit a test to renew my car/motorcycle licences. I do the reaction and vision tests, watch a video in english on the computer at the DLT and get issued my new licenses. 

That's the way I did my renewals in the past also, but now it's different with the online reservation and testing systems. It's probably best to do as much as you can online to save time when you do your next renewal. The website to book a reservation to visit the office is: https://www.dlt.go.th/en . 

The website to do the testing is: https://www.dltelearning.com . I would suggest visiting these websites before renewing your license next time. Thanks very much for your reply.

[acepredator]

11 hours ago, TKDfella said:

I think depending on your browser, could one use the the right mouse click in the middle of the window which provides a list of options, one of them 'translate to English' ?

My browser is Google Chrome, which has the right-click option to translate to English. The problem wasn't the nature of the text, all of which is in English. The problem, instead, was that the video featured an instructor who was speaking Thai. It wasn't until I checked the third video of three that I found the one that had English subtitles. Unfortunately, the DLT authorities didn't indicate which video was intended for foreigners. If they had, I would have saved a great deal of time and effort. Thanks very much for the information and for taking the time to reply to my post.

[chrissables]

On 2/24/2023 at 10:54 AM, alanrchase said:

I am not required to sit a test to renew my car/motorcycle licences. I do the reaction and vision tests, watch a video in english on the computer at the DLT and get issued my new licenses. 

The whole system has changed, certainly in Pattaya. Online test. TM30. Go the make an appointment. Return at time of appointment.

[chrissables]

On 2/24/2023 at 8:42 PM, acepredator said:

Thanks for the information and for your advice. I got my first motorcycle license in 2004, so I've been through the renewal process more than once. This is the first time, however, that I've had to do anything online. In the past, I just showed up early with the necessary documents and waited all day until I got my new license. I don't remember now which tests were conducted. Once I get through the online testing, I expect the rest will be relatively simple, especially since I've already booked an appointment for 1:30 in the afternoon. If it takes all afternoon, so be it. This process takes place only once every five years, so I can and will endure. Thanks again for taking the time to reply to my post.

Renew late and you get 6 years

[acepredator]

13 hours ago, chrissables said:

Renew late and you get 6 years

Sorry, but that's a bit confusing. My license expired in November of 2022. If I'm able to successfully renew it next month, will the new license expire in November of 2027 or 2028?

[chrissables]

9 hours ago, acepredator said:

Sorry, but that's a bit confusing. My license expired in November of 2022. If I'm able to successfully renew it next month, will the new license expire in November of 2027 or 2028?

2028 my license finished at Christmas, last week renewed to Christmas 2028 

[steve187]

17 hours ago, acepredator said:

Sorry, but that's a bit confusing. My license expired in November of 2022. If I'm able to successfully renew it next month, will the new license expire in November of 2027 or 2028?

it will expire on your birthday so 5 years + the time to next birthday, ie apply the day after your expiry date and it will be valid for almost 6 years

[acepredator]

13 hours ago, chrissables said:

2028 my license finished at Christmas, last week renewed to Christmas 2028 

That makes it crystal clear, in that yours is the voice of experience. I'll look forward to getting an extra year on my license this time.

[acepredator]

4 hours ago, steve187 said:

it will expire on your birthday so 5 years + the time to next birthday, ie apply the day after your expiry date and it will be valid for almost 6 years

That's very good to know. I hadn't realized that there's actually an advantage to waiting until after your license has expired to renew it in order to get an extra year. I just didn't pay attention to the expiration date until a friendly and helpful police officer pulled me over for a traffic violation and pointed out that my license had already expired. He informed me that there is a one year grace period during which you can renew your license without any penalty. 

 

Thanks very much for the information.

[MrJ]

On 2/27/2023 at 4:06 PM, steve187 said:

it will expire on your birthday so 5 years + the time to next birthday, ie apply the day after your expiry date and it will be valid for almost 6 years

it used to be like that - not anymore, now 5 years only

[steve187]

2 hours ago, MrJ said:

it used to be like that - not anymore, now 5 years only

so doesn't expire on birthday

[transam]

2 hours ago, MrJ said:

it used to be like that - not anymore, now 5 years only

Do you have info on that, cos I got six years not so long ago.....

[keithcresswell]

1 hour ago, steve187 said:

so doesn't expire on birthday

I got my license last week and it shows my birthday as the expiry date.

[acepredator]

12 hours ago, MrJ said:

it used to be like that - not anymore, now 5 years only

Now we have two versions of the story. I'll just have to wait until later this month to see if I get the five or six year renewal. It seems likely to me that Mr J is right -- that it would only be five years. I doubt that the DLT would give people an incentive to wait and deliberately let their driving licenses expire in order to get an extra year until their next renewal. That would be rewarding irresponsible behavior, which I don't think any branch of the Thai government would do. 

[acepredator]

10 hours ago, steve187 said:

so doesn't expire on birthday

No. It would still expire on your birthday, but it would be the birthday five years after your expiration date rather than the birthday six years after. If you renewed your license after the expiration date you would only get four years and some months to use it before the next expiration date. 

[chrissables]

21 hours ago, MrJ said:

it used to be like that - not anymore, now 5 years only

Wrong i just 6 years less the 2 months late of renewal. 

[MrJ]

6 hours ago, chrissables said:

Wrong i just 6 years less the 2 months late of renewal. 

Where are you? My friend was in DLT Pattaya about 2 weeks ago and was told policy has changed, now max 5 years......

Edited March 2, 2023 by MrJ

[transam]

1 minute ago, MrJ said:

where are you? my friens was in DLT Pattaya about 2 weeks ago and was told policy has changed max 5 years......

Ask them the expiry date printed on their licence...

[crouchpeter]

On 2/26/2023 at 4:20 PM, acepredator said:

Sorry, but that's a bit confusing. My license expired in November of 2022. If I'm able to successfully renew it next month, will the new license expire in November of 2027 or 2028?

2028 on your birthday.