Expat Auto Financing

[bunta71]

Hey there money people...

I have been living full time in the land of fake smiles for 4 years steady. I have an old Volvo (1984) that is in mechanically and aesthetically prime condition. I regularly drive it from Pattaya to Chiang Mai and Pattaya to Phuket. Bulletproof. I will sell it for about 110,000Baht and need or want to buy a used pickup probably in Chiang Mai for around 225,000 -250,000 Baht. I need to finance the balance. My retirement income is a little over 100,000 Baht/month. I am married to a Filipina so have no significant "Thai other" to sign for it nor do I know any Thais personally that would do this. Any insight or ideas to accomplish this? Any and all replies thanks in advance. Even ones from <deleted>.

[aussiebebe]

If you have 100k/month income, why not save? If I've understood your post correctly, you estimate that you need a measley credit of 115-140,000baht to buy a new truck? Saving that won't take long. If you need immediate credit (don't know why), credit cards from banks in your home country (wherever your pension is paid from) would be the cheapest and simplest option, wouldn't they?

[bunta71]

I threw away my credit cards several years ago. I would like to do this soon for a couple of reasons, so I am exploring what options are available here...

[Soutpeel]

I threw away my credit cards several years ago. I would like to do this soon for a couple of reasons, so I am exploring what options are available here...

Simplest and surest way is to get a Thai national to co-sign for you.

Have a talk to Tanachart or similar, some branches will finance without Thai national, others require it

My very first car with Tanachart had to have a Thai co-sign, all other cars didnt need one, as I had built up a credit history with them...

[keestha]

It might happen that they check if the co-signing Thai national has a financial situation which makes it credible that he/she accepts this liability.

[Time Traveller]

Since you don't have a job, even with the good pension income, banks generally won't provide auto finance to foreigners without a work permit. Even then you'll probably also need to have a Thai co-sign. You could get approved if you had a fixed deposit account that you were happy to lock up as security for the loan. But then that's not really worthwhile unless you only want to establish a credit history. Have you checked in the country where your pension is paid from ? Another thing (may not apply in your case) but many banks don't like to provide finance unless loan terms are >2 yrs , amount at least 200,000 bath and car is not over 10yrs old.

[WarpSpeed]

Possibly true about banks so don't go to one, go to a leasing company and they'll finance you with 50% down which it sounds like you'll be doing at a minimum.. Give City Leasing a call we financed our first car through them 7 years ago around the same amount you're looking for. Our most recent purchase we were going to finance too but found a car within our budget to purchase cash for mostly and the dealer financed the small balance..

If you're going to purchase through a dealer most have several finance companies to deal with though not having any credit cards might be a bit of hurdle..

[bunta71]

Possibly true about banks so don't go to one, go to a leasing company and they'll finance you with 50% down which it sounds like you'll be doing at a minimum.. Give City Leasing a call we financed our first car through them 7 years ago around the same amount you're looking for. Our most recent purchase we were going to finance too but found a car within our budget to purchase cash for mostly and the dealer financed the small balance..

If you're going to purchase through a dealer most have several finance companies to deal with though not having any credit cards might be a bit of hurdle..

Some good info here and my thanks to all. I am looking for that phone number for City Leasing and now realize I must have left all the phone books back in america. Ha Ha ....You have a number for City leasing? I live in Pattaya so any local numbers would be appreciated...