Went to renew my long (3 months already) expired 1 year car and motorbike licences in Phuket with all the copies and copies of copies required in hand and well before 11 am.

There was no queue, I took a number and waited only a minute, and after handing in all docs at the counter downstairs and a relatively short wait I got both my licences back and they are valid for 6 years, no joke. I asked for the 5 year one. So was that a mistake, a 'pay 5 years and get one free' promotion or is that normal?

Last year my last name was spelled incorrectly on both licences, this year they cut off the last letter of my last name on both licences. Last year my date of birth (Thai date) was 2 years off, making me older, this year I got them to correct that.

I was suprised that the chaotic process I went through in July last year seemed to have disappeared.

(Last year it involved having to stand in a long queue upstairs waiting to hand in all complete docs and copies to a guy who was sitting in the hallway on a chair with a small table and then going downstairs to several counters until being told to come back in the afternoon after their lunch break to collect the licence, all with long long waits, making it a full day project in 2006 to get a Thai licence, after going to the doctor, to a stall outside to take photos, to immigration for the residence cert to a copy shop to take copies and to a shop to laminate the paper licences afterwards.)

Process and documents required for renewing Thai DL as of Oct 2007:

Step 1: Get at least 1 passport photo per drivers licence before you go to immigration and at least 2 photos per drivers licence before you go to the Transport Office.

Step 2: Go to any clinic to get a doctors certificate for a drivers license. (Takes 30 seconds, doctor only asks you if you are healthy and if your eyes are good, you say yes, pay and walk out, no exams.)

Step 3: Take a copy of your house paper, passport photos and your passport to Immigration, sign a few forms that they hand to you and get the residence certificate.

Step 4: Go to the copy shop next to immigration and make many copies of your passports main page, visa page and page with the departure card, make just as many copies of the residence cert you just got from immigration, make just as many copies of your doctors certificate

Step 5: Go to the Transport Office and hand in all documents / copies and your old Thai licence(s) to get the new ones (cost 255 Baht for motorbike, 505 Baht for car)

Now they even have a laminating service right in the Transport office that wasn't there last year (I think 20 Baht per lamination) and a photocopy machine 1 Baht per page.

Look at the expiry date and it should be your birthday, you get five years from the next birthday after you renew it

cheers

mascot you're right! The expiry day is not the day I got the licence, but 5 years from my next birthday next year.

And I thought I was lucky

(Last year it involved having to stand in a long queue upstairs waiting to hand in all complete docs and copies to a guy who was sitting in the hallway on a chair with a small table and then going downstairs to several counters until being told to come back in the afternoon after their lunch break to collect the licence, all with long long waits, making it a full day project in 2006 to get a Thai licence, after going to the doctor, to a stall outside to take photos, to immigration for the residence cert to a copy shop to take copies and to a shop to laminate the paper licences afterwards.)

Hardly apples to apples tho is it.. One is getting a new license (the guy upstairs is part of the test system, even if you skip the tests) to getting one simply renewed.

Look at the expiry date and it should be your birthday, you get five years from the next birthday after you renew it

cheers

Wish I had spotted that first.. I went and renewed a few weeks before my birthday !!

(Last year it involved having to stand in a long queue upstairs waiting to hand in all complete docs and copies to a guy who was sitting in the hallway on a chair with a small table and then going downstairs to several counters until being told to come back in the afternoon after their lunch break to collect the licence, all with long long waits, making it a full day project in 2006 to get a Thai licence, after going to the doctor, to a stall outside to take photos, to immigration for the residence cert to a copy shop to take copies and to a shop to laminate the paper licences afterwards.)

Hardly apples to apples tho is it.. One is getting a new license (the guy upstairs is part of the test system, even if you skip the tests) to getting one simply renewed.

I should have explained in more detail I think. It's right last time I got my first Thai licence and first time I came around 11 am and was told it was too late to get my licence that day, the queue chaos upstairs had to be joined in order to hand in all docs before 11 am, so I had to come back another day to join that queue.

Now this time I also went upstairs and it was before 11 am, so I expected that same queue going all the way into the testing room where they used to do the theory tests, and there was no longer any sign of a queue, no guy on his little table, the doors were all closed and there were 2 people doing a theory test while standing on computer stations, they were the only people upstairs as opposed to what seemed like hundreds of stressed people last time.

This is what led me to believe that even if I was there to get my very first Thai licence, the process has now been improved, the opening hours have been improved (no more lunch break) and not all people are required to come into the office at the same time in the morning anymore and can now come at any time of the day from what it looks like.

(Last year it involved having to stand in a long queue upstairs waiting to hand in all complete docs and copies to a guy who was sitting in the hallway on a chair with a small table and then going downstairs to several counters until being told to come back in the afternoon after their lunch break to collect the licence, all with long long waits, making it a full day project in 2006 to get a Thai licence, after going to the doctor, to a stall outside to take photos, to immigration for the residence cert to a copy shop to take copies and to a shop to laminate the paper licences afterwards.)

Hardly apples to apples tho is it.. One is getting a new license (the guy upstairs is part of the test system, even if you skip the tests) to getting one simply renewed.

I should have explained in more detail I think. It's right last time I got my first Thai licence and first time I came around 11 am and was told it was too late to get my licence that day, the queue chaos upstairs had to be joined in order to hand in all docs before 11 am, so I had to come back another day to join that queue.

Now this time I also went upstairs and it was before 11 am, so I expected that same queue going all the way into the testing room where they used to do the theory tests, and there was no longer any sign of a queue, no guy on his little table, the doors were all closed and there were 2 people doing a theory test while standing on computer stations, they were the only people upstairs as opposed to what seemed like hundreds of stressed people last time.

This is what led me to believe that even if I was there to get my very first Thai licence, the process has now been improved, the opening hours have been improved (no more lunch break) and not all people are required to come into the office at the same time in the morning anymore and can now come at any time of the day from what it looks like.

I just checked my license & noticed you guys & gals are right. I also got a bonus 8 months!

Hard to believe that most Thais don't get their lic. Once your in on the first one(providing your of age to drive) the next up to 6 years is practically on the house