Transport In Thailand

[Dawn]

We'll be moving to Ko Lanta soon and were wondering what's the best option with regards to transport.

We'd ideally like a 4 wheel drive of some description and have heard it's cheaper to lease as it's still expensive to buy outright in Thailand.

Anyone have any experiences of this?

If we do lease will we get insurance included - and everything else that we will need to be on the road legally?

We'll be coming to Thailand with IDP's and will be applying for Thai driving licenses as soon as we arrive (on non imm B visas with work permits).

Many thanks in advance for your help!

[grahamb]

I don't know specifically about 4 wheel drives but I recently took out a lease and it included all the necessary insurance, etc. When I phoned around various lease companies in Bangkok, they all advertised the fact that their lease came with insurance so it's probably worth checking this - there may be some places where it doesn't.

I went down the lease route because it was convenient. I know people who lease and I know people who bought. If you buy, you've got something to sell at the end so you're not 'throwing money away'. However, you do have the maintenance costs, insurance costs, etc.

We're here initially for 2 years so I took out a 2 year lease (longer lease = lower price). After that, I'm going to see what's the best option for us.

[Dawn]

Hi Graham,

Thanks for your reply

Do you mind me asking what vehicle you've leased and the cost for the 2 years?

Cheers

Dawn

[richb2004]

I have found the price of second hand 4WD's quite reasonable. I guess it depends what you want. We bought a second hand 4WD Mitsubishi L200 a few months ago. It cost roughly 650K. Its a few years old, but looks like new. Its very big, which I recommend for the Thai roads and isn't to fast, which I also think is a benefit. It even had a VCD player, just of offset some of the safety factors.

I think anything Thai made should be reasonably priced.

[KevinN]

Thai made will most pobly be cheap,,but the price will be equal to what you would pay in the USA for automotive things.

I bought for my wife a 96 Honda Civic 4 dr sedan,low miles,but still payed $10K for it.

[grahamb]

No doubt someone will tell me I paid too much but here goes...

We've got a 2yr old Honda Accord that costs B27000 per month for everything (insurance, unlimited mileage, etc.; gas is not included). A colleague at work had it previously and I know a few people at work who use the lease company so it was easy to check the history of the car. They also do maintenance at the office which is convenient.

I did make some notes of the prices when I was ringing around a few places but I think I threw the notes away now (I got the phone numbers from the Bangkok Post or The Nation). From memory, approx 24k could get a 1.6 car, around 28k-30k could get a 1.8. A new Honda Accord was approx 35k I think. These prices were all for regular Japanese-brand cars (Honda, Toyota, etc.)

If you are phoning lease places, check if the prices are for new or used cars - most places I called had a selection of both. If a price seems cheap, it's probably a used car.

[KevinN]

A lease is a lease, and they are good for some folks and the best way to go for their purposes.

But it would not be good for me as I live here and will live here for a good many years.

and in 10 years we will put 200K KM on a car,which with care is only half the life of a Honda.

To do the figures,,it will cost you 900 a day for 2 years , close to 1/3 the cost of a new accord which was last week, I looked at one and the sticker was 1.8M

[Dawn]

Cheers for all this info folks

Looks like second hand (a few years old) is the way to go. I had heard that, like in the UK, if you buy second hand it works out much cheaper.

Over here (I'm still in the UK for now unfortunately ) as soon as you drive a new car off the forecourt you lose at least a couple of grand so second hand works out a bargain.

Rich - did you get any warranty on the second hand Mitsubishi you bought?

Dawn