Driving With Red Plates Around Thailand

[mike37]

I will be picking up a new SUV this Monday and i do not seem to be able to get a straight answer on whether i can drive my car out of the Chonburi provence or not on red plates. i have searhed the forum for any previous posts,but with no luck.

If anyone could guide me on this, i would be very grateful.

thanks,

[Soutpeel]

I will be picking up a new SUV this Monday and i do not seem to be able to get a straight answer on whether i can drive my car out of the Chonburi provence or not on red plates. i have searhed the forum for any previous posts,but with no luck.

If anyone could guide me on this, i would be very grateful.

thanks,

Yes you can, but dont get caught in BKK after the sun goes down as they can and do fine you as I found out....I have no idea what the rational is about not driving a car on red plates after dark and after 8 years here driving no one I know has been able to give a rational answer to this one.....

And before someone comments that it was because the BiB wanted tea money...The BiB who stopped me must be the only one in BKK who wouldnt take the tea money...I tried...jumped on his bike with my DL and told me to meet him at Bang Na cop shop....3 hour wait...lecture from headman and a THB 380 fine....to get my DL back..all very strange as I had offered THB 500 to the BiB..

[mark5335]

I will be picking up a new SUV this Monday and i do not seem to be able to get a straight answer on whether i can drive my car out of the Chonburi provence or not on red plates. i have searhed the forum for any previous posts,but with no luck.

If anyone could guide me on this, i would be very grateful.

thanks,

Yes you can, but dont get caught in BKK after the sun goes down as they can and do fine you as I found out....I have no idea what the rational is about not driving a car on red plates after dark and after 8 years here driving no one I know has been able to give a rational answer to this one.....

And before someone comments that it was because the BiB wanted tea money...The BiB who stopped me must be the only one in BKK who wouldnt take the tea money...I tried...jumped on his bike with my DL and told me to meet him at Bang Na cop shop....3 hour wait...lecture from headman and a THB 380 fine....to get my DL back..all very strange as I had offered THB 500 to the BiB..

When I took delivery of a new Honda car in Rama 4 Bangkok last year, the Honda sales lady warned me to be careful of driving at night with red plates or the BIB will stop us. We therefore got our white plates as soon as possible. By the way, the Honda sales lady said that sometimes the BIB stay in the soi behind the Honda dealership ready to collect tea money from folks who had only took delivery of their car a few minutes before.

Edited March 25, 2009 by mark5335

[thaieagle67]

I will be picking up a new SUV this Monday and i do not seem to be able to get a straight answer on whether i can drive my car out of the Chonburi provence or not on red plates. i have searhed the forum for any previous posts,but with no luck.

If anyone could guide me on this, i would be very grateful.

thanks,

When my wife got her car a couple of years back she asked this very question to Toyota. To get out of Chonburi on Red plates, she had to pay a little bit extra to the garage and they supplied her with Red plates that allowed her to travel wherever. We had a look around and many new cars waiting to be picked up were wearing a similiar numbered Red plate but the one issued to my wife had a completely different set of numbers (if that makes any difference ). We drove to Hua Hin and Chiang Rai and never had an issue. I am not sure how you would approach this question without being Thai but worth a go!

[mike37]

Thanks to the replys so far. i am not to worried about slipping the BIB a few baht if i get pulled. My concern is, am i covered insurance wise?

[hansnl]

Thanks to the replys so far. i am not to worried about slipping the BIB a few baht if i get pulled. My concern is, am i covered insurance wise?

The red plate is a temporary numberplate, issued to the company that delivers you the car or motorbike.

Temporary, because the official numberplate will only available to you after a certain period of time.

If checked by the police, they can look up the register of red plates.

No restrictions should be applied to the red plate, if the insurance is paid and valid for the car.

If you have to pay somewhere for driving with a red plate, or getting another red plate, guess...............

Yes, indeed, welcome to the club!

Edited March 25, 2009 by hansnl

[conimex]

I will be picking up a new SUV this Monday and i do not seem to be able to get a straight answer on whether i can drive my car out of the Chonburi provence or not on red plates. i have searhed the forum for any previous posts,but with no luck.

If anyone could guide me on this, i would be very grateful.

thanks,

When my wife got her car a couple of years back she asked this very question to Toyota. To get out of Chonburi on Red plates, she had to pay a little bit extra to the garage and they supplied her with Red plates that allowed her to travel wherever. We had a look around and many new cars waiting to be picked up were wearing a similiar numbered Red plate but the one issued to my wife had a completely different set of numbers (if that makes any difference ). We drove to Hua Hin and Chiang Rai and never had an issue. I am not sure how you would approach this question without being Thai but worth a go!

As long as you drive your car during day time, you will be allowed to use it out of the Chonburi provence, when you collect your SUV, they will give you a brown booklet , when you are going out of the provence or planning to do a long distance trip, you should write down, where your trip is going to..

[Soutpeel]

No restrictions should be applied to the red plate, if the insurance is paid and valid for the car.

If you have to pay somewhere for driving with a red plate, or getting another red plate, guess...............

Rubbish....go and tell Bang Na copshop that, My insurance was valid and the BiB wouldnt take the bung ... ...agreed there is no issue driving on red plates during the day in BKK, irrepective of where the car is registered (province), but once the sun goes down, there appears to be a law, which says red plated cars cant be on the road... ...as mentioned previously have talked to people here in the know, and they say there is law, and nobody really knows why there is a law..

[cathyy]

When we got our car out here in Korat we were told the same thing, that the plates were only valid for driving in the daytime. Lucky for us the local BiB didn't seem to care about us driving at night. But the rule does exist, and seems to be national. Enforcement seems to vary.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi.

I got my new truck end of last November and it was decided to register it after new year (2009 model, should be registered 2009) so i had the red plates on too. Went to Chiang Mai over x-mas and no problems, got stopped once just to see the brown book and the same again on the way back already in Bangkok (near Don Mueang).

Then there were delays in paperwork and finally it was almost end of February when i finally got the "real" license plates. During that time of course also some "night driving" was required and once more i got stopped and AGAIN they only wanted to see the brown book, didn't even check if the trip was entered (it was), just to make sure i HAVE that book... otherwise i could have stolen the truck.

On the other hand a friend of mine (Thai!) got stopped in a Vios during night and he was fined even though he, too, had the book with him. So that law appears to be enforced "selectively".

Best regards.....

Thanh

[hakku]

If you go out of your registration city, you're supposed to fill in the book with the trip. I got stopped around Tak on the way to Chiangmai and we (cop and I) filled it in together. I paid him for helping me fill in the book and thats it. Insurance is fine.

[p_brownstone]

Some Dealerships will issue fake Red plates and these are the ones that usually cause trouble.

The "Real" plates issued by the relevant Government Department have a small, round, embossed stamp on them.

You are not supposed to drive before 6.00 am or after 6.00 pm when using Red plates.

I just bought a new car and early last Wednesday was coming into town to meet up with my usual Golf group when we were stopped at the Tollgate on the Rama IX Expressway. It was 6.10 am so I knew I was OK but the policeman asked my Driver where I lived - when he told him the cop said "Ah - so you must have left the Farangs' home before 6.00 am to get here at this time"! Obviously this was a preliminary to trying to fine me but fortunately I speak quite good Thai and intervened myself - he quickly waved us on but I thought it was a pretty inventive attempt to make some money!

I have also made 2 day trips down to Rayong - which in theory is not allowed with Red plates - but was never stopped.

Patrick

[basjke]

I just bought a new car and early last Wednesday was coming into town to meet up with my usual Golf group when we were stopped at the Tollgate on the Rama IX Expressway.

Patrick

To me wqas told when I collected my new car with red plates that I was not allowed on the express ways.So that seems to be not true then as you didn't get fined for it.

[Soutpeel]

You are not supposed to drive before 6.00 am or after 6.00 pm when using Red plates.

And this is question which has perplexed me for many years....why cant you drive before 06:00am or after 6:0pm...

[CDNinKS]

And this is question which has perplexed me for many years....why cant you drive before 06:00am or after 6:0pm...

TIT

I was also told that the red plates are only valid for 45 days. Anyone else hear that one?

[Jimjim]

They're not red, but orange. At least, I've always thought they looked Reddish-orange or orangish-red. Who really cares? Not me.

Edited March 26, 2009 by Jimjim

[neverdie]

Be patient, the white plates come slowly because they are busy making red number plates

[Soutpeel]

And this is question which has perplexed me for many years....why cant you drive before 06:00am or after 6:0pm...

TIT

I was also told that the red plates are only valid for 45 days. Anyone else hear that one?

If this is the case then, I have been illegal on my last two cars, as had the red plates on for more than 45 days.. ...think it would be a record if you got you legal plates in 45 days

[BSJ]

It's a strange one! Maybe the dreaded orange-red number plate hating dragon comes out at night and it bad luck for anyone if the dragon catches them. Which seems perfectly logical to me!

[khundon]

I got round it by getting some red and white striped plates.

Seriously though, we had new car on red plates from Pathum Thani main Isuzu dealer.

Drove all over several provinces outside BKK and on expressway day and night and never got stopped once, except for speeding on the expressway and the wife did her angry thing and threatened cop with a stint of duty in the south, we got off with no ticket and a salute.

Did this for almost 3 months.

Edited March 27, 2009 by khundon

[oncebitten]

Dear ALL... it's pretty simple.

The red plate is the trade plate used to deliver your car from the dealer to your home. That is it!

The book is to register the journey BEFORE you take it.

Technically the car should be plated at the point of collection.... but the dealers dont plate them until they are sold.

Obviously there is a time delay between the car arriving (with numbers available to file for the registration) and the plates being available.

So the dealer gives you a red-plate. So that you may 'take it home' (wink, wink).

Everybody knows that you will drive around on it... but nobody tells you that you can (or can't).

0600 - 1800 If you are caught out of the hours possible to be going to/from a dealer... you are obviously not strictly legal. No registration, but your insurance MAY still be valid (if it lists the chassis number of the car instead). Check with your insurance to find out. Red plate, out of hours... thank you for the money.

I think that it is a whole grey area and different police tolerate it differently.

Some can understand why it is necessary and others just want the cash (and have a legitimate excuse).

Who's to blame?

The dealer? They wont tell you to wait.

The DMV? for not producing plates faster.

You? for driving the car.

It's all and none... drive at your own risk.

[Gary A]

I think it's just another stupid scheme to extract money. I drove a new Ford Focus for three months with no plates, just a paper taped to the wind shield. No problem in Issan but I didn't try any large cities. The dealer was out of red plates.

[scorecard]

There's another factor in this which many posters would be unaware of, the transition from red to white plates.

Some dealers deliberately etablish good realtionships (read pay offs) with the appropriate authorities and the result is very quick transition red to white.

I experienced this some 12 years back when I bought a new car. The dealer delivered the car with red plates, I was informed in advance in detail to beware of driving after 6pm (in those days, in Bangkok, if you were on the streets with red plate after 6pm you would definitely get fined, every time).

But luckily my dealer had the right relationship and I got my white plates the day after I took delivery of the car.

[yabaaaa]

I thought it was to do with "theft of vehicles" that they were more likely to be stolen at night so to avoid this you shouldlt drive at night. Police seeing a re d number at night assume its stolen and give chase??????

[poldebol]

Hope this useful for somebody

Apparently a red license plate is accompanied by a book. If you want to cross province borders at night, you must ask permission before crossing the borders. If you have the permission, you will not have to pay. Of course nobody does this.

It took me three fines to find out, than a fluently speaking policeman explained the system.

If you want to know why there are red plates: it makes it easier for the police to stop you and give you a fine. It is also very helpful for car thieves.

[cardholder]

Hope this useful for somebody

Apparently a red license plate is accompanied by a book. If you want to cross province borders at night, you must ask permission before crossing the borders. If you have the permission, you will not have to pay. Of course nobody does this.

It took me three fines to find out, than a fluently speaking policeman explained the system.

If you want to know why there are red plates: it makes it easier for the police to stop you and give you a fine. It is also very helpful for car thieves.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I heard that the red plate rules had changed.

I understand about the journey record book and about the paper from the Land Transport office but someone suggested new rules were coming out about allowing X number of Km on new plates.

Does anyone have any recent experiences ?

[hansje]

I got a ticket for not filling in my logbook

What a f....d up rule, i mean i cant even understand what its saying... Next time i just ignore it and step on the peddle... What they wanna do?

[hansje]

Arrest me? Haha

[katabeachbum]

Hope this useful for somebody

Apparently a red license plate is accompanied by a book. If you want to cross province borders at night, you must ask permission before crossing the borders. If you have the permission, you will not have to pay. Of course nobody does this.

It took me three fines to find out, than a fluently speaking policeman explained the system.

If you want to know why there are red plates: it makes it easier for the police to stop you and give you a fine. It is also very helpful for car thieves.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I heard that the red plate rules had changed.

I understand about the journey record book and about the paper from the Land Transport office but someone suggested new rules were coming out about allowing X number of Km on new plates.

Does anyone have any recent experiences ?

as of November? 2010, limit is 30 days and 3.000 km. Just display your trip meter at less than 3k km, and none will care about the milage .

[katabeachbum]

I got a ticket for not filling in my logbook

What a f....d up rule, i mean i cant even understand what its saying... Next time i just ignore it and step on the peddle... What they wanna do?

wright very ugly in english place of departure and arrival, Like Phuket-Nong Khai, date and sign. as long as something is written you get by.

Fine up to 50.000 baht and imprisonment is the punishment for red plate offences since November? 2010

The point is, buying a car or bike, get in writing when you will recieve white plates and book, and dealer accepts deal canselled/funds refunded if they cant make it.

Then they will make it