Buying A Car In Thailand - Advice Sought

[byzantinus]

Hello,

We live in the US, but we visit Thailand once or twice a year (my wife is Thai, I'm "farang"). We'd like to buy a car in Thailand, to have it when we go there. So, I would like to ask the following questions:

1) what would be a decent car to buy there, i.e., one that is sturdy, a brand & model known not to break soon?

2) what would be a car that has a good mileage/gallon (liter)?

3) what would be a fair price for such a car?

4) do prices differ significantly from dealer to dealer, from city to city?

5) some salesman quoted my wife about 900,000Baht for a Toyota Corolla Altis - a price that I thought was a rip-off (heck! for US$30k I can buy a VW fully loaded here, maybe even a BMW...); the guy offered financing at 3%... what's your take on this?

Thanks a lot in advance for your advice and informed opinions.

Byzantinus

[Maestro]

I am moving thie topic from the forum "Thai visas, residency and work permits" to the "Thailand Motor Forum"

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Maestro

[byzantinus]

I am moving thie topic from the forum "Thai visas, residency and work permits" to the "Thailand Motor Forum"

--

Maestro

I was wondering whether you could do me a favor and leave it on that board (i.e., "Thai visas, residency and work permits" - as opposed to the "Thailand Motor Forum" which not many people read.

I trust my questions were not offending, and even if the topic seems a bit off (i.e., nothing to do with visas), it surely doesn't have anything to do with car/motorcycles afficionados.

On the other hand, I'm sure many of those who live for a while now in Thailand (and give advice to newbies like me) would be able to throw in their 2c...

Kop khun krap!

Byzantinus

[nakhonsi sean]

Hello,

We live in the US, but we visit Thailand once or twice a year (my wife is Thai, I'm "farang"). We'd like to buy a car in Thailand, to have it when we go there. So, I would like to ask the following questions:

1) what would be a decent car to buy there, i.e., one that is sturdy, a brand & model known not to break soon?

2) what would be a car that has a good mileage/gallon (liter)?

3) what would be a fair price for such a car?

4) do prices differ significantly from dealer to dealer, from city to city?

5) some salesman quoted my wife about 900,000Baht for a Toyota Corolla Altis - a price that I thought was a rip-off (heck! for US$30k I can buy a VW fully loaded here, maybe even a BMW...); the guy offered financing at 3%... what's your take on this?

Thanks a lot in advance for your advice and informed opinions.

Byzantinus

New prices here are generally much higher than in the west. New pickups and the smallest cars (Toyota Vios and Honda Jazz/City) are the exception. Secondhand everything is far more expensive. 900,000 is what the higher speck Corollas go for. Having said that from your criteria it seems it would fit the bill. Prices are much the same but deals can be made. Corrollas range in price from 709,000 - 979,000.

[Meerkat]

If you buy a car on finance, bear in mind that the interest rate is quoted differently here to most places. The 3% would be simple interest on the entire loan throughout the entire tenor i.e. even as you pay down the original loan amount, your interest each month will stay the same (3%/12 of the original loan per month). That, on a 36 month 100% loan, would equate to an APR of around 5.7% if I've got my maths correct.

As you say, prices here are comparatively steep, the upside being that when it's time to sell, cars here generally depreciate less than in the West. There is much less discounting here on price too; dealers prefer to throw in a few extras instead.

[samran]

dunno how long you stay here each time, but an option would be simply to lease for the duration of your stay.

They take care of everything, and you always have a late model car to drive.

[stingray]

If you buy a "market car" like Toyota or Honda you pay high prices. I living in Hawaii before, so i know that you'll get overthere a fully loaded Buick (6 cylinder), many airbags (Side and front), automatic traction and suspension control, ABS, digital AC, for 2 side regulated, leather, (we talk about real leather ,wich is good for at least 10 years), heater, much better safety standards, etc, etc) for a lower price than a Altis overhere, and the Buick isn't bornig car like a Altis. Problem is that cars are very expensive overhere, because you can't import any car, so you have to depend on here what they offer you. You have no choice, so they can control the prices and peaple still buy. But in another way: maintenance, labour, insurance and roadtax is very cheap in compare the US. So basicly if the car getting older it still cheaper to run a car in Thailand than in US (Exeption if you fix your car by your self overthere). But in another way: Manythings in Thailand is so much cheaper then in the US. We not only talk about the nightlife. We talk about, medical services, clotes, food, Hotels. appartements, especially Police Tickets, etc. I remember in Hawaii you could not find a Hotel below 200 Dollar a night, and a ticked for not putting the safetybelts cost 150 bucks. So we should just not compare the prices of cars. I prefere to have a expensive car, but a cheap life, than a cheap car and a expensife life.

[ballbreaker]

Its sounds to me like your buying a car for in-laws because they will use it and probably trash it while you are gone. You might want to read this recent thread and see what might happen.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=195325

If your still intent on buying a car rather than renting or leasing while in Thailand you could scale back to a Toyota Vios or Honda City and save a couple hundred thousand baht. Both are great little cars and much cheaper.

[Cuban]

Motor forum's a good place for the thread, fear not.

1) what would be a decent car to buy there, i.e., one that is sturdy, a brand & model known not to break soon?

Depends what you like to drive? Pick up or car - and what you will use it for? Like another poster suggests, if it is left in 'family' care while you are back home it is likely to get used/abused, not serviced and if a pickup used to transport a ton of pineapples around the country. Toyotas are a popular well supported 'Thai' car.

2) what would be a car that has a good mileage/gallon (liter)?

One with a small engine. Or one that is NVG (or LPG) ready. You are making me think of a four door compact car.

3) what would be a fair price for such a car?

Depends on the year and extras fitted.

A two year old Toyota Yaris (sub compact) would be between 450-500,000 Baht.

4) do prices differ significantly from dealer to dealer, from city to city?

Shop around and there are a few Thai car dealer web sites to look at.

5) some salesman quoted my wife about 900,000Baht for a Toyota Corolla Altis - a price that I.....

Car prices in Thailand are not as cheap as elsewhere, used cars appear expensive by comparision due to cheap labor repair/servicing costs. Example: Corolla 2005 559,000 Baht.

Finance deals are loaded in the dealer favor (or course) try a bank loan, check any early repayment penalties.

HTH

[torrenova]

dunno how long you stay here each time, but an option would be simply to lease for the duration of your stay.

They take care of everything, and you always have a late model car to drive.

Completely agree but leasing does not transfer money from the farang ATM to the poor Thai family does it ? My sucker of a brother in law now owns 3 trucks, one old, two withing 18 months old. He comes to LOS about once every 2 or 3 years, his wife about double that. Pure and simple they could not get him to pony up for a house so they got the stupid bugger to buy depreciating assets as it still has some value, even if just sitting there rusting away.

There is no need to buy a vehicle if the annual cost of depreciation, repairs, insurance etc. is higher than a lease for the length of time you want it. Now if you want little Somchai to have a nice free car / truck to drive around and smash up, never service, never spend one satang on, then go ahead.