Renting A Car In Chiang Rai

[wdrk7]

Do anyone here have any suggestion on any car rental service here in Chiang Rai . I will need to rent a car from 24th May to 27 or 28 may 08 . Need to drive up to Doi Mae Salong . Many Thanks in advance .

[ImageDude]

Do anyone here have any suggestion on any car rental service here in Chiang Rai . I will need to rent a car from 24th May to 27 or 28 may 08 . Need to drive up to Doi Mae Salong . Many Thanks in advance .

I have sent you PM.

ImageDude

[wdrk7]

Do you have his email address ?

Thanks .

Do anyone here have any suggestion on any car rental service here in Chiang Rai . I will need to rent a car from 24th May to 27 or 28 may 08 . Need to drive up to Doi Mae Salong . Many Thanks in advance .

I have sent you PM.

ImageDude

[Domyamkung]

http://www.northwheels.com/

also in Chiang Rai.

[email protected]

[chivo]

There are many Mom and Pop type private renatal shops with anywhere from 1 to a dozen cars. Some decent models and some older musty ones.

Have had good service at most.

You can find them on the Main road, Phahonyothin, just walking the street. You'll see the blue rental signs on the car tops.

If you need to reserve and have the car delivered to the airport for your arrival, I recommend Budget based on they usually wait for me at the airport, and I get about the same rate as Mom and Pop shop, but with REAL insurance.

Had a passer by clip and smash the side mirror from a Jazz once, and it cost me nothing.

Professional all the way.

[soap]

Do anyone here have any suggestion on any car rental service here in Chiang Rai . I will need to rent a car from 24th May to 27 or 28 may 08 . Need to drive up to Doi Mae Salong . Many Thanks in advance .

i am not pluging AVIS but i took a frien yesterday to the airport and checked out their rental charges,

the cheapest car was a VIOS, it worked out at about 1,300 bhat a day short term but if you take the car for

one month it was only 12,800 bhat inclusive of insurance

[wdrk7]

Tried asking Avis and some other company but they need a credit card to rent it to you which i do not use one . Any suggestion which i could pay cash and have the same coverage ?

Do anyone here have any suggestion on any car rental service here in Chiang Rai . I will need to rent a car from 24th May to 27 or 28 may 08 . Need to drive up to Doi Mae Salong . Many Thanks in advance .

i am not pluging AVIS but i took a frien yesterday to the airport and checked out their rental charges,

the cheapest car was a VIOS, it worked out at about 1,300 bhat a day short term but if you take the car for

one month it was only 12,800 bhat inclusive of insurance

[SurichTan]

http://www.northwheels.com/

also in Chiang Rai.

[email protected]

Yes. I tried www.Northwheels.com many times and they really provide excellent services and good rates.

[Sparkles]

http://www.northwheels.com/

also in Chiang Rai.

[email protected]

Yes. I tried www.Northwheels.com many times and they really provide excellent services and good rates.

Northern Wheels are ok but I did need a credit card so had to use my wifes. How ridiculous is it that you cant get a Thai credit card unless you have a work permit ????

[mcgriffith]

Northern Wheels are ok but I did need a credit card so had to use my wifes. How ridiculous is it that you cant get a Thai credit card unless you have a work permit ????

Off topic, I know....

It is possible to get a Thai credit card without a work permit. I just did so a couple of months ago, for the purpose of internal travel within Thailand, car rental, etc. Of course there is a catch....TIT

If you already have an account with them, Bangkok Bank will issue a card. Here's the catch. Say you want a gold card with a 200,000 B credit line. What they do is- they freeze DOUBLE (sorry for shouting) the amount in any account you choose that you have with them. In my case, I have a fixed deposit account that I use for my retirement visa/extension qualification. So I have an account with 800K, fixed deposit, earning currently 2.375% which is laughable, I know (inflation is about 7% currently). They freeze 400K of the monies (I can't withdraw this frozen money unless I cancel the card, and go through 1 entire billing cycle/1 month). They issue a card with a 200K limit. Catch number 2- it really isn't a credit card! It is a charge card. When the billing cycle ends every month, they will on the due date automatically debit the monies from whatever account you have with them; in my case I designated a Bangkok Bank savings account that I keep some monies in as well.

I know this sounds like a tremendous amount of effort to go through, with a lot of money tied up, just to have a Thai credit card. However, I use it for cash flow management (there is a 45 day grace period), and to pay big bills- I just paid Bupa Thailand many tens of thousands of baht for my annual health care insurance premium- I didn't really fancy carrying 46K B in currency around....very convenient.

BTW, this particular card I was issued has no annual fee, as long as you charge a minimum of 5000 B a year.

Hope this helps.

[klikster]

How ridiculous is it that you cant get a Thai credit card unless you have a work permit ????

Maybe things have changed in the last dozen years. Having a good relationship with a bank officer helps. One way is/was through the recommendation of a substantial Thai customer of the bank. My VISA card was first issued in '96 .. I have never had a work permit, just a "retirement" visa.

It has been renewed automatically on a regular basis .. the last card was for 3 years.

I originally thought here would be an account hold, but that proved to not be the case. At one point, due to transferring funds to another bank, my balance dropped significantly below my credit limit .. and remained at that reduced level for more than 1 year.

Business and social relationships seem to me to have a much greater influence here than in the west.

[mcgriffith]

And I will agree with you 100% here, klikster.

It is the relationship that is everything here.

If I need to withdraw the "frozen" monies, and the bank wants to cancel my card, no problem.

They need me (money on deposit at very low interest payout) more than I need them.....

The Thai banking sector is modernizing very rapidly. Hopefully some of this modernization will extend to farang here, who, to state it bluntly, generally have much more money and a much better credit rating than many/most of the Thai national customers who the banks here pursue.

Eventually they will figure this out.

[Sparkles]

Northern Wheels are ok but I did need a credit card so had to use my wifes. How ridiculous is it that you cant get a Thai credit card unless you have a work permit ????

Off topic, I know....

It is possible to get a Thai credit card without a work permit. I just did so a couple of months ago, for the purpose of internal travel within Thailand, car rental, etc. Of course there is a catch....TIT

If you already have an account with them, Bangkok Bank will issue a card. Here's the catch. Say you want a gold card with a 200,000 B credit line. What they do is- they freeze DOUBLE (sorry for shouting) the amount in any account you choose that you have with them. In my case, I have a fixed deposit account that I use for my retirement visa/extension qualification. So I have an account with 800K, fixed deposit, earning currently 2.375% which is laughable, I know (inflation is about 7% currently). They freeze 400K of the monies (I can't withdraw this frozen money unless I cancel the card, and go through 1 entire billing cycle/1 month). They issue a card with a 200K limit. Catch number 2- it really isn't a credit card! It is a charge card. When the billing cycle ends every month, they will on the due date automatically debit the monies from whatever account you have with them; in my case I designated a Bangkok Bank savings account that I keep some monies in as well.

I know this sounds like a tremendous amount of effort to go through, with a lot of money tied up, just to have a Thai credit card. However, I use it for cash flow management (there is a 45 day grace period), and to pay big bills- I just paid Bupa Thailand many tens of thousands of baht for my annual health care insurance premium- I didn't really fancy carrying 46K B in currency around....very convenient.

BTW, this particular card I was issued has no annual fee, as long as you charge a minimum of 5000 B a year.

Hope this helps.

That is extremely useful information ,thank you,and will visit my local Bangkok Bank here in Bangkok to enquire. As for establishing a relationship with a bank person I have in the past and everytime I need help they have been transferred to another branch and its back to square one.

[klikster]

And I will agree with you 100% here, klikster.

It is the relationship that is everything here.

If I need to withdraw the "frozen" monies, and the bank wants to cancel my card, no problem.

They need me (money on deposit at very low interest payout) more than I need them.....

The Thai banking sector is modernizing very rapidly. Hopefully some of this modernization will extend to farang here, who, to state it bluntly, generally have much more money and a much better credit rating than many/most of the Thai national customers who the banks here pursue.

Eventually they will figure this out.

Actually, I believe that they know that but refuse to admit it.

My direct transactional experiences have been limited to BKK Bank, Siam City Bank and the old Bangkok Metropolitan Bank. BMB issued me a Debit type CC with a similar hold as you described, but that was during the 'meltdown' era after they and Siam City Bank had been taken over by the Thai government, so their policies were perhaps more controlled.

Lots of folks like to complain about BKK Bank, but I have found their services to be more modern and thir bank officers more individually approachable than any others. TFB, now Kasikorn(sp?) seemed to have a more "we don't need you" attitude back in the 90's than any other Thai Bank I knew of.

My most bizarre banking experience was Siam City Bank. Their headquarters in BKK would not allow withdrawal of funds (beyond 20K ATM) from a branch in Chiang Rai .. even after we (Thai fried and I) took my request to a senior operations officer, and verified account and availability of funds at the branch in Chiang Rai. They claimed to have no verification ability other than telephone.

Aside: I realize that I have assisted in taking this thread off topic, maybe it can be made it's own thread? But please leave it here .. not all banking threads need to fall victim to the pundits in Bangkok and to folks who don't even live in Thailand.

[robee]

Do anyone here have any suggestion on any car rental service here in Chiang Rai . I will need to rent a car from 24th May to 27 or 28 may 08 . Need to drive up to Doi Mae Salong . Many Thanks in advance .

i am not pluging AVIS but i took a frien yesterday to the airport and checked out their rental charges,

the cheapest car was a VIOS, it worked out at about 1,300 bhat a day short term but if you take the car for

one month it was only 12,800 bhat inclusive of insurance

is there advantange to avis over a mom n pop that someone said

[sceadugenga]

Avis cars will probably be newer and better serviced. Probably is the key word here.