Hi all - this is my first post to this wonderfull mind of information and advice (and some moaning) and i would be most gratefull for some advice.

I have recently become resident in thailand and i am looking to buy a car - pref used upto a year or so old. I currently stay in east pattaya but would be able to travel a reasonable distance.

I would be particularly interested in a toyota vios or small honda.

Thanks for any advice

Try www.tarad.com

If you research the market you'll see that there are few bargains in the less than 1 year old category and remember that this is Thaialnd, not some country with real laws so my advice is to buy new and be 100% sure what you are getting.

Take a look at www.taladrod.com and www.rotbarn.com

Both sites are written in Thai, but you still should be able to figure out how to search for the make, model and year you are looking for. Note that some of the "for sale" adds are from used car dealers. If you steer away from those, you may notice that the prices of private party sellers are a bit more reasonable.

There is a garage in BKK that has a black vois J manual with 70k miles if i remember rightly for 375k bht in Northburi. Looks immaculate inside and out. Also a friend of mine is selling her Vios VVT sport 2003 in gold with just over 70k for 460k bht, again it's in excellent condition as i have driven it, all city driving as well i think She has just bought a merc.

As one poster said you wont save a great deal on a car 1 year old. If your interested in either ill pass the numbers onto you.