Car Import

[leebie]

ok where do i start i have just joined this forum,so please be patient lol i have small car dismantlers in the uk and im thinking about the export of accident damaged cars to thailand,the cost of the car will be minimal as it will be an insurance write off once in thailand i will want to repair the vehicle my self in sisaket where me and my future wife are planning to build a house for her family and us for holidays and hopefully living there eventually,ive been involved with the repair of cars for the last 23 years so this wont pose a problem hmm i hope,i would like to no if anybody has any idea on the cost of shipping and the duty which will need paying as the value damaged will be alot less than the road worthy state im hoping this will be the basis customs work the duty out..any thoughts on this will be greatly appritiated..thx

[MJo]

Use the search function in the top corner. There is several threads of this with good info. General agreement is that import of cars is vaste of time and money due high taxes and duties and corrupt officials. If you bring in parts you could save on taxes etc but then you run into trouble with the registration of the vechiles...

Also you need to set up a company and employ some locals to get work permit etc to be legit. For this there is good info in existing threads already.

Have fun and let us know what you think once you have read those posts on car imports and duties

[leebie]

Use the search function in the top corner. There is several threads of this with good info. General agreement is that import of cars is vaste of time and money due high taxes and duties and corrupt officials. If you bring in parts you could save on taxes etc but then you run into trouble with the registration of the vechiles...

Also you need to set up a company and employ some locals to get work permit etc to be legit. For this there is good info in existing threads already.

Have fun and let us know what you think once you have read those posts on car imports and duties

thanks for that i will mull over old threads see wa i can pick up....

[LivinLOS]

And even if you imported parts.. Once here and assembled you will not get a book (easily)..

Now if you could find accident write offs here.. With thier books.. Then bringing in matching cars would make a mint..

[basjke]

And even if you imported parts.. Once here and assembled you will not get a book (easily)..

Now if you could find accident write offs here.. With thier books.. Then bringing in matching cars would make a mint..

Why bring in matching cars,you didn't have something illegal in mind did you?

[Dave the Dude]

thanks for that i will mull over old threads see wa i can pick up....

Then, I am sorry to say you will realise its a non starter.

If it were that easy many of us would be doing something similar and driving round in nice safe,high spec, incredibly cheap 'Euro' cars. Especially as the UK has recently been flagged as the cheapest place in the world to buy 2nd hand cars. I understand the 'Poles' have a great trade in driving them 'home'.

Good luck in Isaan BTW

Dave

[leebie]

thx for all your prompt replies,i think i will just have to give it a try with something cheap first to see how it goes it wont be untill end of year,i wasnt sure how i would stand having fixed the car in thailand would i pay duty on the repaired value or the value of the car when it left the docks,the cars will be in quite a state so unless the officials.but we will see...im just going through the same thing as most farang i dont want to be in blighty anymore just trying to think of some way of not dying from bordom and making enough money to live hence repairing salvage for resale.....thx

[hansgti]

thx for all your prompt replies,i think i will just have to give it a try with something cheap first to see how it goes it wont be untill end of year,i wasnt sure how i would stand having fixed the car in thailand would i pay duty on the repaired value or the value of the car when it left the docks,the cars will be in quite a state so unless the officials.but we will see...im just going through the same thing as most farang i dont want to be in blighty anymore just trying to think of some way of not dying from bordom and making enough money to live hence repairing salvage for resale.....thx

Save your money, even if the car was free, it wont be worth risk, you stand to lose all the money you paid in transport and shipping agents fees, yor thai shipping agent will liase with customs and get you the best price for import tax, the customs will look at the car and assess how much import duty has to be paid they have a criteria with engine size etc, but dont forget this is thailand and it wont cost as much to put you damaged car back on the road here as it would at home, he will asses the selling price of the car in thailand not uk.

You would be better off bringing in as parts in this case.

If you dont pay the import tax the container will stay there, accruing daily charges until its auctioned off.

Dont forget if your car is not japanes, expect to pay alot of money for parts and panels, even jap parts are the same price as home.

How do you register these cars? start there b4 yu go any further. id like to know as well, how much for the blue book etc.

If your working on cars your doing a thai out of a job, you can be the boss but manuall work like that forget it.

After all that you have to sell it, you will be selling it cheaper than the 2nd handcar dealer price, more likely the trade will buy it.

The trade usually capitalize on other peoples misfortunes, so hope its not yours

Realistcially you could set up a business importing spare used car parts, fill containers back home, open a nice yard, maybe specialise in something, dont bother importing ford vauxhall renault peugoeot saab etc.

This is thailand, the car game is not the same as the uk, prices are way out of scale compared to 5 to 10yr old cars back home, although the recent scrap your 10 yr old car get paid 2000 gbp will bring it back abit.

Before sinking money good money in this idea , live over here for a bit an see what other opportunitys come your way.

Saying all that you could of course give it a try!

Ps keep us posted if you..

Edited May 18, 2009 by hansgti

[stingray]

And even if you imported parts.. Once here and assembled you will not get a book (easily)..

Now if you could find accident write offs here.. With thier books.. Then bringing in matching cars would make a mint..

Why bring in matching cars,you didn't have something illegal in mind did you?

Some peaple not want accept the rules in Thailand and allways dream about cheap cars from Europe. This treath is mentioned a 100 times in the TV Forum. There is absolutely NO posibility to import any cars (not like 30 years ago) and all the Loopholes are closed. Registration is impossible. Tell me one person who ever can import a nice car for a normal price? I would be the first who like to see imports. But it's not possible. Welcome to the world of boring Vioses and Jazzes. Here, they want peaple buy this "crap cars". We have to accept or if we don't, we have to move to another country. So i prefere to accept their rules and drive what they have on the marked here and pay the high prices.

[raro]

Once again, the import of USED cars into Thailand is not allowed. Very few exceptions (diplomatic passport for instance) apply, but for ormal folks it is NOT POSSIBLE.

The sparepart-and-screw-it-together-in-thailand method doesn't work either as someone else pointed out already.

[Rdrokit]

Some people never learn.

[BlackArtemis]

Trust me, i looked at bring a cosmetically beat to hel_l 5.0 in because my wife is Thai. Even with the "registered to a Thai for X amount of years" and her father and friends being high ranking government officials, I accepted if I want a fast car in Thailand I had better buy it in Thailand.