I just bought (well put down the deposit for) my first car in Thailand at a car tent. The car is second hand but still quite new and has the red plates still on it, they say they will have to convert it to white plates within a week. As my Thai and the seller's English does not match perfectly I have some questions about the process of getting insurance.

When I go to pick up the car I would like to have everything (insurance) arranged as I would not like to drive it around uninsured. The dealer says he will arrange the registration and get the white plates, but for the insurance it's not so clear. I want 1st class insurance, how can I arrange that (or can I have it arranged)? I do work so I would like to avoid trips to any governmental agencies. Does the car have to be put in my name first? Is the dealer allowed to arrange everything and does he need any copies of passport/workpermit/proof of address etc? How can I pay for it, straight to the dealer?

Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions but the whole procedure of buying/insuring a car here is a bit unclear to me...

Its best to get a fluent Thai speaker to deal with this and get quotes for the make/model/age of the car etc… once you are satisfied with a company the procedure has been quite simple. There are advertisements all over and pretty much every bank has their insurance branch.

Recently I swapped over insurance companies because my current insurance company was undervaluing my car (i.e. the payout in the event of a total write off etc to the difference of nearly 1MB)....

With the help of my girlfriend I successfully found an insurance company who would insure my car for closer to its real value.

The company came round to my apartment, took photos of my car, chassis number etc. I'm told this is only necessary for cars greater than a certain value. I wired the years payment and faxed them the receipt, the same day the documents were couriered to my apartment.

Insurance companies are quite competitive. They will more than likely send an agent round to your office with the forms etc although don't expect an English speaker.

If its a standard Japanese car (i.e. Civic, accord etc) they will be able to value it based on the age and model without looking at it.

It would be a good idea to also have the Chassis number and new registration number.

I just bought (well put down the deposit for) my first car in Thailand at a car tent. The car is second hand but still quite new and has the red plates still on it, they say they will have to convert it to white plates within a week. As my Thai and the seller's English does not match perfectly I have some questions about the process of getting insurance.

When I go to pick up the car I would like to have everything (insurance) arranged as I would not like to drive it around uninsured. The dealer says he will arrange the registration and get the white plates, but for the insurance it's not so clear. I want 1st class insurance, how can I arrange that (or can I have it arranged)? I do work so I would like to avoid trips to any governmental agencies. Does the car have to be put in my name first? Is the dealer allowed to arrange everything and does he need any copies of passport/workpermit/proof of address etc? How can I pay for it, straight to the dealer?

Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions but the whole procedure of buying/insuring a car here is a bit unclear to me...

Do not worry it’s not dumb to ask and in Thailand there are many ‘experts’ - unfortunately one not always gets the correct answers !

Insuring a brand new vehicle. This is an easy, straight forward process. Simply go to the Thai Visa Insurance site and send in you details. We shall then go out to all the approved insurance companies and generate quotes for you.

http://insurance.thaivisa.com/quote-form