Buying A New Bike

[baz69er]

Hi Guys,

Im planning on buying a new motorbike when i return to thailand in october, with the intention of traveling around asia, ive seen the bike i want in krabi which is my main place of stay, the guy in the shop said i would need passport & proof of recidency, im also assuming i would also have to have a valid visa, i would have an O visa, ive been staying at my friends house on & off for the last few years, so i can use his address for purchasing the bike....

I will be staying in thailand for about 6 months of the year & my friend will store my bike while im away.

I have a few questions to ask, would i have to go to immigration each time i return for recidency even though i will be staying in the same address (silly question).

Im going to take my bike test (restricted licence) up to 250cc as this is the engine size of the bike im planning on riding before i return, would this be recognised in thailand?

One last question, i asked about the deposit for the bike (Kawasaki D-Tracker) 155,000 baht, he said he wanted the full ammount? Surely hes having a laugh?

Would appreciate any feedback regarding this post.

Thanks

Baz

[asiascharlie]

D trackers are available at Kawasaki dealers .Getting it over the border could be tricky as you might have to put up bond for the the bike in each country .You should check with the embassies.

[bellste]

I wouldn't buy anything in this shop, who want you to give them all the money in advance.

Edited January 11, 2010 by bellste

[munns]

D trackers are available at Kawasaki dealers .Getting it over the border could be tricky as you might have to put up bond for the the bike in each country .You should check with the embassies.

i bought 2 new bikes never had a problem just took my passport and the cash that was it what is a le

what is a licence is it a note like thing with 100 baht written on it

[ScubaBuddha]

im also assuming i would also have to have a valid visa, i would have an O visa,

Yes. O visa should be fine. Based on the price you listed, you are buying new from an authorized dealer. They should take your passport to the Land transport Department (LTD) to register the bike for you. Any one of a number of items may work for this. A residency letter from your embassy, a residency letter from Thai immigration (may not be doing anymore), an address on the back of your Thai drivers license, a house or apartment rental contract with your name on it, bills with your name and address on them, possibly even a letter from the landlord stating you live at your friends place. For me all that they wanted was my home address on the stamp on the receipt of my 90 day reporting slip which is stapled inside my passport. See below. You will need to ask which they want because I have seen and heard different reports of peoples experiences on this.

would i have to go to immigration each time i return for recidency even though i will be staying in the same address (silly question).

No, it is a one time thing when you register the bike in your name. Each year you need to make a trip down to the LTD, or pay the additional 100-200 baht for a Thai to do it for you, to pay for and get the current tax/insurance disk. They only need the book for this, nothing else.

Im going to take my bike test (restricted licence) up to 250cc as this is the engine size of the bike im planning on riding before i return, would this be recognised in thailand?

Yes it is recognized, but you may want to eventually get a Thai one as foreign residents are technically required to get one after a certain amount of time here, like 60 days or something, but it isn't enforced. It is very easy to get one if you have one from home already. Then you don't have to take the written or driving test in Thaialnd. They asked me to print out on the internet from the California DMV what a "class C" and "class M" license were, then they gave me the corresponding Thai licenses for car and motorcycle. There is no differentiation between cc sizes with the motorcycle license here.

One last question, i asked about the deposit for the bike (Kawasaki D-Tracker) 155,000 baht, he said he wanted the full ammount? Surely hes having a laugh?

If this is an authorized Kawasaki dealer, then normally a deposit of 5,000 to 10,000 is routine. If they give you problems, just choose a different dealer. There are many and they all should have D-Trackers.

This information is based on my experiences with in the last 6-8 months, in addition to reading what others have said here. Others may post different experiences. Things can change quickly, such as Thai immigration often will no longer issuing free residency letters, unless maybe you pay them.

D-tracker is a great bike for the money. Good luck and let us know how it goes and what had changed. Surely you will have an experience a little different than mine, but I hope this helps none the less.

@muns: Why the long gap between sentences?

@asiascharlie: What border are you talking about? I saw no reference to a border. OP is buying in Thailand and using in Thailand.

Edited January 11, 2010 by ScubaBuddha

[richardt1808]

Hi there,

The deposit issue is covered above. Around 10K should be fine. Yes, your license would be valid. Strictly speaking you should get your original one converted to an international one in your own country before arriving, but even if you show your original one with a photo, the police would accept it without any questions in 99.999% of all cases. You can convert your international license to a Thai license within an hour at the land transport dept.

3. The comment about residency is not valid. Having a Thai travel visa is a long way away from having Thai residency. As mentioned above, a letter form your Embassy to complain your place of residence should suffice.

Good luck with your trip !

Edited January 11, 2010 by richardt1808

[skybluestu]

I saw a couple of D-Trackers recently in the classifieds for about 115,000 I think, both had very low km's, maybe worth a look for a 50k saving!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Kawasaki-tra...Sa-t327849.html

Edited January 11, 2010 by skybluestu

[ScubaBuddha]

Strictly speaking you should get your original one converted to an international one in your own country before arriving, but even if you show your original one with a photo, the police would accept it without any questions in 99.999% of all cases. You can convert your international license to a Thai license within an hour at the land transport dept.

There is no such thing as an international drivers license (IDL). What richard is suggesting is to get an authorized translation of your drivers license from home into several languages (Thai not being one of them). This is called and International Drivers Permit, or IDP and is based on various UN Conventions on Road Traffic. I've never found a need for an IDP myself, but it's probably not a bad idea as long as you don't pay for a bogus internet one, of which there are many. Only certain motoring clubs such as AAA in the US, or AA in the UK are authorized to issue these, and they are only good for one year, and only if your home country/state is also valid for that time. They usually cost between 10-20 USD and are a passport size piece of white paper which must be kept with your current and valid DL from home. See picture below. You can buy bogus highly overpriced but very nice looking ones on the internet that come with a plastic card which looks like an actual DL for 30 to 150usd which sometimes claim to be valid for 3 to 20 years, such as the banner seen here on Thaivisa from Google Ads. (http://www.international-license.com) These are not legitimate but may fool alot of cops, and probably be accepted by counter staff when renting a car which is why these bogus IDL and IDP businesses stay operating. Remember that by UN Convention and in practice, your US or UK or Aussie drivers license is already an international one, thus, it is really unnecessary in most cases to get an IDP if coming to Thailand unless you are going to be driving in many countries around the world. If you do, get it from a legit motoring club, don't buy it off the internet. I am a big opponent of the IDP's as there are so many entities exploiting the average persons misunderstanding of this.

Again, any internet site offering an IDL or IDP is wanting to sell you a useless piece of plastic/paper.

Another Thaivisa thread on the subject:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Internationa...dp-t235338.html

sources:

Legitimate IDP's:

For US citizens: http://www.theaa.com/getaway/idp/index.html

For UK citizens: http://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html

More info on scam IDL's and IDP's

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/license.asp

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt108.shtm

IDP:

3. The comment about residency is not valid. Having a Thai travel visa is a long way away from having Thai residency. As mentioned above, a letter form your Embassy to complain your place of residence should suffice.

To which comment are you referring? I certianly wasn't suggesting an O visa was all that is needed, if that is what you are saying. I said any one of documents I listed could do it. I think I also made it clear that requirements can change quickly, even from province to province. I should have added that it may largely depend on how the official you are dealing with is feeling at that particular moment. It sounds silly, but when smile lots and joke with them, things seem to go much smoother and quicker.

Have fun and good luck!

Edited January 11, 2010 by ScubaBuddha

[SeanMoran]

There is no such thing as an international drivers license (IDL). What richard probably means is get an authorized translation of your drivers license from home into several languages (Thai not being one of them). That is called and International Drivers Permit, or IDP.

Have fun and good luck!

Just a minor point regarding the mention of C & M (car & motorcycle?) classes of licence from your home country/state. It's one of the plusses to the apartheid in Thailand between cars and motorbikes that if you're licenced to drive a four-wheeled vehicle back home, then you'll be unlikely to have any problems in Thailand driving a car or a motorbike. There are a lot of minuses to go with it, but the car licence would seem to qualify you to ride a bike as well, if you're feeling lucky.

Don't forget to smile. Have fun and good luck, especially at night.

[baz69er]

I saw a couple of D-Trackers recently in the classifieds for about 115,000 I think, both had very low km's, maybe worth a look for a 50k saving!

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Kawasaki-tra...Sa-t327849.html

Thanks for the link, if i was buying now it would be ideal, will just have to wait to october when i return...

Cheers

Baz

[baz69er]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all your advice on this post, i think i will try another dealer when the time comes regarding the deposit that they are asking for, will let you know how i get on....

Cheers

Baz