Changing Owner Problem For A Motorbike(airblade)

[NHJ]

hi,

a friend of mine who's living in koh samui bought a motorbike in chiang rai from a foreign resident going back to its country(france).

all papers were ok including immigration letter confirming the adress however, my friend being slow to show all papers to the transportation department, the immigration letter is now expired.

everyone is telling me that a motorbike or any other vehicule sold by a foreigner can't be changed of ownership without this letter.

the owner is now back in france so it's dead to get another immigration letter.

my question is : is there another way to be able to transfer the ownership if the owner is now living in another country?

thanks.

[husskydog]

Interesting question, i cant help but i too would like to see the options ...good luck

[pattayabuggy]

Your advice is correct, you cannot now change the name to your own. Well done the Thailand authorities, how utterly stupid. This is why many vehicles run around without the correct owners name in the book, and after an accident, and it's serious enough, the owners simply run away. 

Instead of making it easy to transfer ownership, so it's easy to trace owners, it's made as difficult as possible.

In common sense terms it doesn't matter the immigration letter has expired, however common sense isn't very common, especially here!

You can buy, use and tax, I have done the same myself with many vehicles because although I would prefer to be correct and in my name I have been unable to do so for one reason or another, nothing serious, just small problems, it doesn't take much. Technically illegal, but what can you do?

 

 

[12DrinkMore]

What is this letter from immigration?

All that I needed to supply was a signed copy of my passport and a signed copy of the "power of attorney" document so I didn't have to appear myself.

[NHJ]

this is a stupid requirement to annoy you at the highest point, same as the tabien baan copy requirement.

this is to prove your adress, big deal if you changed adress since the time you bought the motorbike.

the requirements should be like in europe, original of the green book, signed sale paper, copy of the ID or passeport and that's it.

[LivinLOS]

Yeah exactly this has happened multiple times to people I know.. Seller gives paperwork, including the passport entry stamp, buyer doesnt do the transfer within that entry stamp time.. Seller goes buyers fecked..

You now have a bike that is in limbo, and will remain so.

Down here (phuket) the seller doesnt need to show the proof of residence only the buyer.. And one not legit thing that works is the sellers passport copy coupled with someone elses entry stamp, as theres no coding on an entry stamp making it traceable. This of course works but is not without issues.

[jbeck]

Yeah exactly this has happened multiple times to people I know.. Seller gives paperwork, including the passport entry stamp, buyer doesnt do the transfer within that entry stamp time.. Seller goes buyers fecked..

You now have a bike that is in limbo, and will remain so.

Down here (phuket) the seller doesnt need to show the proof of residence only the buyer.. And one not legit thing that works is the sellers passport copy coupled with someone elses entry stamp, as theres no coding on an entry stamp making it traceable. This of course works but is not without issues.

in chiang mai i did a farang to farang transfer, the seller (me) presented an expired phuket residence certificate and it worked.

i bought another bike from a thai, and i presented an expired chiang mai residence certificate to put it into my name and that worked too.

all in all it was pretty easy to do, except I don't speak good that, and can't read the forms, and feel intimidated at the transport office because I don't know anything

I don't bother to think (or post!) about rules in other countries because what is the point, they don't apply here, if you don't like it and think it's stupid here, you don't have to stay...

jbeck

[pattayabuggy]

Yeah exactly this has happened multiple times to people I know.. Seller gives paperwork, including the passport entry stamp, buyer doesnt do the transfer within that entry stamp time.. Seller goes buyers fecked..

You now have a bike that is in limbo, and will remain so.

Down here (phuket) the seller doesnt need to show the proof of residence only the buyer.. And one not legit thing that works is the sellers passport copy coupled with someone elses entry stamp, as theres no coding on an entry stamp making it traceable. This of course works but is not without issues.

in chiang mai i did a farang to farang transfer, the seller (me) presented an expired phuket residence certificate and it worked.

i bought another bike from a thai, and i presented an expired chiang mai residence certificate to put it into my name and that worked too.

all in all it was pretty easy to do, except I don't speak good that, and can't read the forms, and feel intimidated at the transport office because I don't know anything

I don't bother to think (or post!) about rules in other countries because what is the point, they don't apply here, if you don't like it and think it's stupid here, you don't have to stay...

jbeck

I have a problem almost every time, with registration, I usually solve it, but not always. I always take a Thai with me to check the paperwork, and yet still there is almost always a problem, this is Chonburi. It obviously varies throughout the country. It is plainly obvious that the vehicle has been legitamately bought and not stolen, all the "problems" that they like to find are of no consequence, there is absolutely no need whatsoever for this bullsh*t except it makes some Thai feel important that he can reject the request, for that is indeed the only possible justification. 

Some of the problems argueably my own fault, I have been here 15 years and still have never bought a Japanese car, ever in my life, so older European stuff mostly, because I like them better, just a personal thing. 

I agree with what you say, we can change nothing, but it doesn't mean we have to like it. I get rather tired of the Thai's saying what you have just said, "if you don't like it, then go home" without other Ferangs saying the same. If the Thai's themselves complained about things such as this, then things might change, and that's the problem here, people accept and don't speak out. As Ferangs, we can do nothing, I agree.

And there is absolutely no doubt that it is indeed stupid, it's in everyones best interests that ownership is made easy to help stop the problem of the people who cause serious accidents simply running away, it happens all the time, whose fault, the registration authorities themselves!

[NHJ]

thanks all for your answer, especially you LivinLOS , i called a friend in phuket and indeed this is still true no need for the seller to get the immigration letter.

my friend's gonna call the mainland surat thani to know if they require this paper or not, otherwise he'll try nakon si tammarat or nearest provinces.

in samui, everytime i buy a vehicule, i have the feeling i'm commiting a crime, papers are checked 45 times looking for a mistake and of course expired papers are not accepted.

last time i had all the paperwork ready and waited for two hours(online check to see if the bike is stolen or not i guess), the transfer paper was ready BUT the staff asked me if i'm allowed to work in thailand(i'm using my work permit instead of immigration letter) , they were not sure if i was still allowed to work in thailand and they asked me to show my work permit wich of course was at home...

finally the highest officier(the one dressed like a general) told the staff to let me go without the need to come back with the work permit.

i'm not the type of guy to give up and go the illegal way(not registering my new vehicules) but i understand why some people take this way and why so many people drive in samui without a license plate or expired tax sticker.

one more thing about this office is that they don't provide license plate you have to go to surat thanni for this, two times of course, i'm glad some people provide service to change the license plate without you to go there with the bike two times.

[jbeck]

Yeah exactly this has happened multiple times to people I know.. Seller gives paperwork, including the passport entry stamp, buyer doesnt do the transfer within that entry stamp time.. Seller goes buyers fecked..

You now have a bike that is in limbo, and will remain so.

Down here (phuket) the seller doesnt need to show the proof of residence only the buyer.. And one not legit thing that works is the sellers passport copy coupled with someone elses entry stamp, as theres no coding on an entry stamp making it traceable. This of course works but is not without issues.

in chiang mai i did a farang to farang transfer, the seller (me) presented an expired phuket residence certificate and it worked.

i bought another bike from a thai, and i presented an expired chiang mai residence certificate to put it into my name and that worked too.

all in all it was pretty easy to do, except I don't speak good that, and can't read the forms, and feel intimidated at the transport office because I don't know anything

I don't bother to think (or post!) about rules in other countries because what is the point, they don't apply here, if you don't like it and think it's stupid here, you don't have to stay...

jbeck

I have a problem almost every time, with registration, I usually solve it, but not always. I always take a Thai with me to check the paperwork, and yet still there is almost always a problem, this is Chonburi. It obviously varies throughout the country. It is plainly obvious that the vehicle has been legitamately bought and not stolen, all the "problems" that they like to find are of no consequence, there is absolutely no need whatsoever for this bullsh*t except it makes some Thai feel important that he can reject the request, for that is indeed the only possible justification.

Some of the problems argueably my own fault, I have been here 15 years and still have never bought a Japanese car, ever in my life, so older European stuff mostly, because I like them better, just a personal thing.

I agree with what you say, we can change nothing, but it doesn't mean we have to like it. I get rather tired of the Thai's saying what you have just said, "if you don't like it, then go home" without other Ferangs saying the same. If the Thai's themselves complained about things such as this, then things might change, and that's the problem here, people accept and don't speak out. As Ferangs, we can do nothing, I agree.

And there is absolutely no doubt that it is indeed stupid, it's in everyones best interests that ownership is made easy to help stop the problem of the people who cause serious accidents simply running away, it happens all the time, whose fault, the registration authorities themselves!

There's a lot better things to think about than this...again you propose solutions that will not happen. You think it's stupid. Is it really stupid? No. It's just the way it is.

[pattayabuggy]

Last word, there are stupid things everywhere, in countries throughout the world, Thailand doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity. But why is it that if it refers to another country or own own home country it's fine we can critisize, but not when it comes to our host nation.

Thank you, I'm not really trying to be argumentative, but if I said something was stupid about England, and there are lots of things to chose from, a long list, no one would defend England, least of all the English.

Get my point?

[jbeck]

Last word, there are stupid things everywhere, in countries throughout the world, Thailand doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity. But why is it that if it refers to another country or own own home country it's fine we can critisize, but not when it comes to our host nation.

Thank you, I'm not really trying to be argumentative, but if I said something was stupid about England, and there are lots of things to chose from, a long list, no one would defend England, least of all the English.

Get my point?

Since you're asking...no I don't.

And again this has nothing to do with the original post, a specific request for help.

Everyone who subscribes to this topic gets emailed even when people reply off-topic and this is inconsiderate to them.

And this is not the last word on the original poster's request for help either.

Thailand is not stupid.