Can I Drive In Thailand With A Us Driver's License?

[coconutty]

sorry if this was asked before, couldn't find the answer after searching.

thank you

[dotcom]

If you never get stopped or never get in a crash the answer is yes.

But really you should bring an internetional lisence.

[Pseacraft]

You can get away with many things when overseas, like getting out of fines by the BIB because your both military vets. :-)

But you should really go to AAA and pay the few dollars and get the International Drivers Permit. It's valid for a year and can be post-dated to match your travel arrangements.

Department of State Website:

http://travel.state.gov/travel/tips/safety/safety_1179.html

Surprisingly AAA offers the ability to issue you one while you are overseas:

http://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html

Eric

[britmaveric]

IDL is needed especially for insurance coverage to be valid.

[Crossy]

Yup ^^^ you need an IDP from you national motoring organisation (AAA, AA, RAC etc etc), this is NOT the same as the "International Driving License" being sold on the web, these are not legal to drive in Thailand (or many other places for that matter).

Look here http://www.geocities.com/bkkriders/law/idp.html

[bubba]

IDL is needed especially for insurance coverage to be valid.

Not necessarily. My insurance policy has a clause that states that only a "valid drivers licence" is required for the class of vehicle insured. After enquiring, I got it in writing that this includes foreign licenses. And just to verify that whilst driving on a foreign licence, my car was smashed by an uninsured pickup with my repair bill being 24,000 baht. My insurance company sent their adjuster out, he made out a report, and I was compensated fully.

The police officer taking the report didn't have a problem with my lack of a Thai licence either.

Edited August 16, 2008 by bubba

[bob4you]

I've been driving here for 5 years, stopped a couple of dozen times. Hawaii drivers license was accepted (never questioned once) each time.

[Joensen]

You can get a Thai driver license for 250 Bath, that will do in Thailand I guess.

Cheers

Joensen

sorry if this was asked before, couldn't find the answer after searching.

thank you

[soic]

The story I got was that we can drive on an American driver's license as long was we are in a country with a visitor's visa. Albeit countries that we have visa agreements with. If we have any other kind of visa, we are required to get that country's driver's license. I've been stopped a few times... once the guy looked like he was going to try to graft the crap out of me, then my wife recognized him as the guy that built our fence. I reminded him who we were and we got a happy wave off. The other time, he looked at my license, handed it back and said "ok".

[OZEMADE]

sorry if this was asked before, couldn't find the answer after searching.

thank you

Short answer NO,

However if you purchase an International Licence before you come to Thailand then yes you can drive.

And same for motorbike.

If you don't have a legal licence and are involved in a minor or major accident and you have taken out sickness and accident insurance before you left home, the massive car's and medical bill will not be paid by the insurance company once they check you were unlicensed. Further to that if someone is killed you then involve Immigration and Police and all bills must be settled before you are allowed to leave the country.

Sounds like doomsday, better to be safe than sorry.

[bubba]

Perhaps there are two ways of looking at this: de facto and de jure

While the below may be true from a legal perspective, very few things are strictly de jure in Thailand. Here is my experience:

Partly out of keeping a busy schedule and partly out of self-admitted laziness, I have not been bothered to get a Thai licence, and I don't have an international licence. I do have a valid licence from home. Having driven in Thailand for more than ten years now in both hire cars and my own car, I have been involved in three minor property damage accidents, two in a hire car and one in my own car. None was judged by the police to be my fault. None of the police asked for a Thai or international licence, nor did the insurance companies and my own insurance company explicitly allows for coverage of drivers using a foreign licence, so long as that licence is valid for the class of vehicle driven. I have been stopped at police checkpoints and police invented traffic infractions dozens of times, and sometimes they ask for my licence. No problem. The police just want the money, not a big hassle. I have hired cars in Thailand dozens of times and no Thai or international licence is required by those companies either, including the majors such as Avis and Budget.

That experience seems to be shared with other expats I know here. Yes, I should do the right thing and get a proper Thai licence and I might not be lucky the next time, but the short de facto answer to this is "Yes" you can drive on your home country licence, at least from my experience.

sorry if this was asked before, couldn't find the answer after searching.

thank you

Short answer NO,

However if you purchase an International Licence before you come to Thailand then yes you can drive.

And same for motorbike.

If you don't have a legal licence and are involved in a minor or major accident and you have taken out sickness and accident insurance before you left home, the massive car's and medical bill will not be paid by the insurance company once they check you were unlicensed. Further to that if someone is killed you then involve Immigration and Police and all bills must be settled before you are allowed to leave the country.

Sounds like doomsday, better to be safe than sorry.

[mgjackson69]

I have been driving here for about 4 years now with my USA (Nebraska) operators license + the aformentioned AAA-issued IDP. Also for the last year I have had Thai operators license for private vehicle and motorcycle.

When I have had reason to show my USA ID to the local constabulary, most times they have not asked for anything else (ID-wise). Twice I have been asked to show "international", which I had with me and showed it, no problem.

One stop was that place in Silom where they are set up every night...I pulled a dumbass and U-turned almost right on top of it... som nom nah on me for that one. Anyway, the officer asked for my ID. I showed him my USA operators license and he started making talk about,"hmmmm, no license". He seemed a bit disappointed when I opened the seat of the motorbike and pulled out the IDP. I still had to pay for the U-turn though...at that one, they have the infamous "cashier table" set up right there.

My advice would be to either get the Thai license, or get the IDP, or both. That way you are certainly covered.

As another posted, you can get the IPD "remotely". Link here -> http://www.aaa.com/vacation/idbp.html

Do not get the "International Drivers License" sold on many internet sites and right here in the City of Angels from many vendors on Khao San Road. They are not a legal drivers license.

Edited August 18, 2008 by mgjackson69

[Cuban]

However if you purchase an International (Drivers) Licence before you come to Thailand then yes you can drive.

Just to add 2 satang's worth.

International Drivers Licence = Waste of money, it is not a document that is recognized anywhere. Can be bought via web sites or dodgy instant ID shops found everywhere.

International Driving Permit = Issued by a number of oganisations and bodies worldwide, aka IDP, provides an internationally reconised translation of the driving licence from your home country into a number of other languages. Is accepted as proof that you can operate a motor vehicle of a particular class, but needs to be supported by your driving licence from your home country. Usually cheaper than the fake IDL.

I accept that the poster I have quoted might have meant IDP - but in this and many other cases the exact use of the correct words can make a big diffence.

Consider the number of people that consider they get 30 day tourist visas, on arrival at the airport.

-------------

Can you drive without an IDP, yes.

You might be stopped by the police at one of the checkpoints - they normally ask to see an IDP - you might get away with your US licence photocard - Thais like cards with pictures on them. You might get fined for not having the correct licence, 200-400 Baht typical.

Assuming you are renting a car - the company might insist on an IDP as well as your US licence - they might not.

Technically your IDP is valid for one year from the date on the cover, you can post date the document by a month or two (?). In Thailand the IDP is considered valid for a period of no more than three months from the last date of entry into Thailand. So if you are doing three monthly boarder runs then the IDP is accepted as valid for another three months as you re-enter Thailand. If you are on a longer visa and are not re-crossing the boarder every (90 days) three months, you should get a Thai drivers licence. Easy (IME) process using your IDP as the basis to avoid taking a Thai driving test.

I have spoken with people involved in a bad traffic accident in Thailand - their fault - no IDP only licences from their home country - the insurance paid out for all costs no problem.

HTH

PS - I have handed over out of date IDPs in the past - again the police were happy to see a picture and the same design of IDP that they are used to seeing and completely ignore the date.

Edited August 18, 2008 by Cuban

[bubba]

Assuming you are renting a car - the company might insist on an IDP as well as your US licence - they might not.

Do you know of any who "insist on an ICP"?

Here are the car rental companies in Thailand that I have used and none require an IDP or Thai licence so long as I had a recognisable and valid foreign licence:

Hertz

Avis

Budget

Master Car Rental

North Wheels (Chiang Mai)

There may be some companies that do require an IDP, but I don't know any. Makes sense in the end: they know their insurance covers you and they want to rent cars. Why should they care if you have a problem with the BiB?

[Cuban]

>Why should they care if you have a problem with the BiB?

Agreed, I have rented from Expat and Charlie Car Rent (Pattaya) before now, they just want money and 'a' driving licence, passport.

I had assumed that they would have volunteered this infromation about IDPs - but I understand the focus is on their legal (business?) requirement to have the correct paperwork for rental and insurance - not the detail for out on the road experiances.

It is down to language, 'Can I...' vs "Is it legal to...'

[Crash999]

Whereas I was also able to rent without a Thai license I've found since then that having a Thai license is very useful. I fully recommend it for those who can get one.

Not only is it useful for driving but also it's useful to use as an ID in lieu of a passport and also as supporting evidence in the old 'I'm a Thai resident so I shouldn't have to pay the farang price' debate.

[barryofthailand]

Many Many different stories, and yes you might get away with driving without a proper license, but if you want to know what the law is in Thailand here is the law. The IDP International driving Permit which can be obtained from AAA in the U.S. for $10.00 is only good with a tourist visa. This was a convention by many countries so people can travel freely and be able to drive a vehicle or motorbike. If you live in Thailand and have a non immigrant Visa you must have a Thai drivers license. Yes again you can get away with many things in Thailand and Asia, but it is always good to be within the law.

Barry

[think_too_mut]

sorry if this was asked before, couldn't find the answer after searching.

thank you

Mate, ignore all other posts and just use your Oz driving licence. I have been doing it for 8 years, when pulled out, never asked for IDL.

The International one is for Japanese, Korean, Serbian, Russian...where there is no english translation of it - that's all the IDL is = a certified translation of national driving license.

Oz one is already that. No worries. Just check TV car rental - even they say it is not essential if your driving licence is in English.

[dingdongrb]

What happens if more than the usual 'waved' over for 'tea' money happens? That is let's just say for bad luck one of those courteous and well driven motor scooters pulls in front of you. (Not that this will really happen in LOS. ) And that motor scooter for some reason crashes down and you run him over and kill him. Would you like to have just your IDP or home country license backing you up? (Whether they were current or out of date.) I wouldn't, that's why I highly recommend getting a valid Thai license.