Importing Car From Uk

[tuktukmike]

Hi All

I posted this on the wrong site before so here goes again.

I am shipping my car from uk to bkk at the end of september and would like to know of any problems i might have missed,

Ok shipping company who i have used for the last 5 years in bkk have had the full details of my car ie chassis no, engine no, make and model and i have been told that as i have a business visa and a work permit i will be charged an import duty of 80% of total cost including shipping costs.

This is a relief as i know they can charge up to 200% import duty on imported cars, the only other problem i forsee is thai customs can inflate the value of the car which means paying more duty.

So i have the feeling that i must try and make the car look quite rough and maybe get a respray in bkk, the only other quirk i have been told is that the reg documents have to show i have owned the car for two years, this is also no problem so anyone out there who has any horror stories please let me know as forewarned is forearmed.

many thanks, mike

[tuktukmike]

HI all

Well i am surprised, no one on this site with any ideas of the probs i may encounter with this car.

I hope all goes well as i meet with UK shipping agents today and had hoped that maybe someone on this site had done the same.

Never mind i will go ahead and keep fingers crossed.

Thanks all.

[bkk barney]

its generally very problematic dealing with thai customs so i will think u will find most ppl try to avoid it, basically in the law everything is all fair, but unfortuneately in life with thai customs it aint fair and basically anything can happen, anyway good luck

[Axel]

Are you a returning Thai or resident?

Otherwise I see problems coming up.

The 80% is true for duty, but they forget to mention Excise Tax, Interior Tax and VAT which brings the total duty and tax to 213-308 % depending on Cylinder Capacity. You do need an "Import Permit" from the Ministry of Commerce.

Generally, I do advice NOT to import any vehicle into Thailand.

Have a look in here:

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/Perso...Nme=PersonalPer

[bkk barney]

na, he has a work permit so he is exempt from a lot of the taxes as they are personal possessions, and as long as he dont sell erm for a certain period he should be alright, but he will still be metaphorically speaking be held up at gun point by the customs ppl he is dealing with and how greedy they are..

[bkk barney]

axel if he was a returning thai why would he have a thai work permit??

am i missing something here??

[chanchao]

Whatever happens, tuktukmike, please post back and tell what happened.

I always thought they take the NEW value of the car (!).

When you start talking like 'maybe if I'll make it look rough then...' then this worries me a bit about how well you've researched this. I would (try to) (have someone) make a deal with the customs people BEFORE the vehicle leaves the UK!

But, by all means, please do tell what happened!!! It must be possible as there are some companies importing fancy Japanese (mostly) cars that aren't officially on sale in Thailand. Those are rather expensive cars, but prices are not completely outrageous, or at least no so outrageous that the price would likely include some insane import tax like 200-300%...

Cheers,

Chanchao

[Axel]

axel if he was a returning thai why would he have a thai work permit??

am i missing something here??

Sorry Barney, overlooked this. So anyway, can import one used vehicle.

Duty 80% ++ against import permit. Held at gunpoint in customs house....

Duty and taxes are shown in the link I gave before.

Importing Used/Secondhand Household Effects freee of duty and tax is ok, but

NOTE: Motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages and tobacco are excluded from this rebate.

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

[chanchao]

Or befriend a diplomat who doesn't want to bring in his own car. :-) Additional bonus would be the blue license plates meaning you can pull absolutely anything in traffic without police bothering you.

Cheers,

Chanchap

[bkk barney]

any diplomats out there that want to be my friend?

[Harry Palmer]

any diplomats out there that want to be my friend?

even your dog doesn't like you... does axel know that you drive a little red car that in any other country would only ever be driven by a woman? thought not

[bkk barney]

this is not a womans car, its a car that makes women hot,hot,hot,and really hot.

[Harry Palmer]

this is not a womans car, its a car that makes women hot,hot,hot,and really hot.

well maybe you should spend an extra few quid & get it fitted with air-con....

i heard that the only ones you were interested in getting excited were the katoeys

[tuktukmike]

Hi all

Thanks for your replies,

I am going ahead with the export of my car from the UK to Thailand after speaking to the shipping company today, had to wait as yesterday was august bank holiday here.

I am assured that the rate for me with a B visa and work permit will be 80% of CIF but that maybe the customs will try and increase the value of car, I am told to make sure i have log book showing that i have owned the car for two years and also the purchase invoice.

I also used to be told that thai customs charge on new price of car but i can now assure all that this is not true, local gossip is a terrible thing.

My car is a 1990 Toyota Supra and yes i know its not worth much to most people in the UK, but try to understand this car is my pride and joy and would rather swap my wife than this car, falang wife at that.

I will for sure keep everyone updated on events as they happen but the car wont leave Southampton until 24sept04, Also i do expect to have to grease the palms of certain officials as i have been doing with shipments from Bkk to UK, I hate the idea of my containers waiting at the dockside until someone decides to clear it so it is always better to pay what to us is a small sum to hasten depature.

Again thanks all, Mike.

[Mr Helper]

For the amount of containers full of drugs that leave Thailand, surely it must be pretty easy to import a car!!! Thai Customs are notoriously corrupt, well the majority anyway. So surely a blind eye can be turned against a car coming in???

A friend of mine wants to know how rigorous the checks are made against the imported car, as he has a rather tasty 'ringer' (stolen high value car) he wants to import, and has all the fake documents to go with it. Can anyone advise???

Surely again customs can be paid off here???

[Up2U]

As well as Axel's thread (and I believe he is in the shipping business) I have posted this link on another thread - deals with discounts for second-hand cars.

http://www.thai-la.net/legalize/car-impt.htm

But note that most of the imposts are placed on the total value of the car and what has been added before - not on the basic value of the car.

[Thetyim]

I have posted this before but will post it again for Mr Helpers benefit.

I have been to Bangkok Port and seen all the rusty old Ferrari Porche etc, etc that someone thought he could bribe through customs. I tried to get an Aston Lagonda released but all to no avail. The asking price was in excess of one million baht and offers (of both kinds) were not being accepted.

[tuktukmike]

Hi All again

Well i have not seen anything posted yet that would put me off so its full steam ahead and fingers crossed,

I am importing the car in the right way and am not going down the route of trying to bend the rules, having said that i have learnt from other friends who have shipped their belongings from EU that it does pay to help things along with a small payment to customs.

As previously stated i have often had to pay small amounts to Thai customs to make sure that my export containers do get on the boat to Singapore that i wanted to avoid delay of arrival in Southampton.

We are all aware of this sort of thing in Bkk but my feeling is that at least you can see it and its in your face, in the EU countries it is more hidden away but for sure it still goes on,

The most crazy thing that happens in UK now is that customs have to x ray a certain amount of containers everyday and if one of mine is picked i have to pay in exess of £375 plus vat and also if they do a full container clearout search this costs £700 to £900, I have no problem with customs checking my containers but why the ###### should i pay for this.

So as you see, things work out much the same as far as payments go both here in Bkk and in the UK.

Many thanks all, Mike. Ps thanks for the threads.