Rent Or Buy Car

[Andy B]

Hi

Been here for 2 months. Need advice. Will be here for about 2-3 years.

Would it be better to rent or buy a car? Currently using BTS and taxis - but sometimes not convenient for out of town.

How much average rent for say a Soluna?

If buy looking for the smallest car - is Honda Jazz the smallest. And what about second hand? Where to get the prices?

BTW what is the cheapest new car in the market? I think its Jazz but not sure. Can it hold its value and would it be easy to dispose in 2-3 years time.

Sorry if I am repeating some questions that may have already been answered.

thanks.

[bkkexplorer]

Hi

Been here for 2 months. Need advice. Will be here for about 2-3 years.

Would it be better to rent or buy a car? Currently using BTS and taxis - but sometimes not convenient for out of town.

How much average rent for say a Soluna?

 

If buy looking for the smallest car - is Honda Jazz the smallest. And what about second hand? Where to get the prices?

BTW what is the cheapest new car in the market? I think its Jazz but not sure. Can it hold its value and would it be easy to dispose in 2-3 years time.

Sorry if I am repeating some questions that may have already been answered. 

thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There are a few websites that offer 2nd hand cars for sale, however I believe they do not have a huge listing. To get a good selection, there is a local magazine that lists hundreds of cars on the market with relevant prices. It'll probably have prices for the new Jazz you're asking. If not, any Honda dealer would. I've seen smaller cars on the road but have no idea what they are. Actually saw a two seater car a couple of weeks ago (does anyone know what car I'm talking about? / it's not the mini pick up or a sports car, like a 2 seater Jazz really, very funny on the road). As for holding it's value, the magazine would give you an idea of depreciating prices from older models. No idea about renting except for the info in the bangkok post.

[j634]

Try www.thairentacar.com

Rented there myself. The cars are not new, price for soluna or city was 12,000 baht a month. You need a credit card with 30,000 baht deposit. All the places I checked to rent were the same. Except rental price. Ranges I found were 12,000 - 16,000 baht a month. Hope this helps.

[paulfr]

At Lumpini Rental on Wireless Rd I am paying 24000B/month for a Toyota Vios bottom line model. I paid a 2000B refundable deposit. They are very nice there but maybe you can get a slightly better price at Petchiburi.

Buying a car is easy. They offer financing if you have a Thai wife but may even do it without one ... watch the interest rates though as they are really 2x the stated number. But 100KB down and you can drive away. A bottom line Vios can be had for 510KB. Top line Altis which is nicer is 900KB. Up to a Camry and you are 1.2-1.6MB.

The economics definitely say buy.

Check out www.expatmotors.co.th for used cars.

Cars hold their value very well here in LOS.

Edited July 4, 2005 by paulfr

[phormio]

I recently did some car shopping(decided on the Toyota Fortuner Diesel 3.0L for about 1.3 million Baht when all is said and done - found it by accident since this car is not available in the Europe/North America - found out about it when I saw it at a dealer, there are many models like this); I went to many dealers - they give you a price list with the models listed, downpayment(25%) and monthly payments required for 1,2,3,4 & 5 year loans. For instance,

the Honda Jazz VTEC AT is 652,000 with a 25% downpayment of 163,000 baht at a 2.75% interest rate(this is really the equivalent of about 5%, since you pay 2.75% of the original loan amount every year - the interest payment is constant and does not reduce with outstanding principal), and a 2 year loan your monthly payments would be about 21,500 baht. The Jazz gets about 13 Kilometers/Liter, according to the dealer (not sure if this is for highway or for the combined highway/city ).

But remember in 2 years time you'll have a car which , if properly taken care of, will (my best guess) be sellable at approximately 80% of its current value(if you want to be conservative , say 60%).

As was mentioned above, cars in Thailand generally hold their resell values very well when compared to, say, the US , for a variety of reasons.

Don't forget, fuel efficiency is important since oil prices are up and subsidies for gas in Thailand are gone and/or on the way out.

Pop in to some dealers and see what they have. Some things will surprise you.

Good luck.

[Andy B]

Thanks guys great advice.

Is there any website in english with price listing of new cars?

paulfr, is the 510KB for a new Vios?

The petchuburi's rental rates are pretty good for the older cars, thanks j634.

Is there no daihatsu cars here, or daewoo here? There have nice small cars like the matiz for daewoo and boon for daihatsu. Yeap what about Hyudai Getz and Kia Picanto ?

cheers

[corkscrew]

Hi

Been here for 2 months. Need advice. Will be here for about 2-3 years.

Would it be better to rent or buy a car? Currently using BTS and taxis - but sometimes not convenient for out of town.

How much average rent for say a Soluna?

 

If buy looking for the smallest car - is Honda Jazz the smallest. And what about second hand? Where to get the prices?

BTW what is the cheapest new car in the market? I think its Jazz but not sure. Can it hold its value and would it be easy to dispose in 2-3 years time.

Sorry if I am repeating some questions that may have already been answered. 

thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I strongly suggest that you get a Thai driving license. If you have license from your home country AND an International Driving Permit from your home country the procedure is easy. Scroll down the topics and you'll find the rules.

[Digger]

My own experience is somewhat different to other posters on the merits of owning cars here. Buying a new car is easy enough but selling a secondhand car is not always so easy and certainly not at a decent price unless you stick just to Toyota and Honda for cars and Toyota and Issuze for pickups. Any other brand really plumets in price which makes for some very good buys sometimes on the secondhand market if your interested in say a European or other non Japanese model.

Traders are awfull to deal with in terms of the prices they will offer, however in comparison with many of the clowns that come looking to buy your car, they suddenly become saints. So many times, deals have fallen through as the average Thai buyer has ideas way above their financial resources and they suddenly find they cannot raise anything like the deposit let alone full asking price for a car. All this of course happens while the finance company is checking on the credit worthiness of the buyer and you have taken the car of the market thinking you have a sale. The funniest thing is when one clown offered me a 2000 baht deposit towards a 1,400,000 baht car he wanted to buy and he really could not understand why I told him that was unacceptable. "but thats all I have got" he said - so how are you paying for the other 1,398,000 baht I ask - only to be told he was going to talk to his uncle to lend him 300,000 baht and then go to finance company for the rest. So whats your monthly salary I ask him - Oh I not got job, I am a student he says !!!!!

If you want one of the mainstream cars, I would seriously considering just doing a long term rent on it and handing back the keys in 2 years - I know Budget will go out and buy a brand new car if you agree to take it for this amount of time, assuming its a model they think they can use or sell afterwards. Many others will do the same and probably at a lower price. However this really only works on mainstream models as against the imports etc.

[paulfr]

Andy ...... yes that 510KB price is for a new Vios but it is bottom of the line. No auto windows, no nice wheels, low end tires, no CD player, etc. But it is brand spanking new. Add some of your essentials and you may be happy.

Digger ... good points made. But disagree on the long term rent. If you say shell out 25KB/mo for a car, you spend 600KB over two years and have nothing to show for it. But payments of the same amount and you'll have an asset worth 400-600KB after two years (assuming some down payment, of course). All depends on one's situation. Cash in the bank earning 1% might be better used in the car you are driving.

[Digger]

Andy ...... yes that 510KB price is for a new Vios but it is bottom of the line. No auto windows, no nice wheels, low end tires, no CD player, etc. But it is brand spanking new. Add some of your essentials and you may be happy.

Digger ... good points made. But disagree on the long term rent. If you say shell out 25KB/mo for a car, you spend 600KB over two years and have nothing to show for it. But payments of the same amount and you'll have an asset worth 400-600KB after two years (assuming some down payment, of course). All depends on one's situation. Cash in the bank earning 1% might be better used in the car you are driving.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

surely 25K month would be for something worth 1,000,000 + on 2 yr rental. By the way, something you think is worth 400-600k might be very different to the buyer and if your forced to sell quickly at a lower price, you could lose any benefit. I am not saying it cannot be done, but just pointing out, resale values are not always what you see - bit like houses - as there is no definative guide to values, people assume its worth XXX whereas a buyer may assume YYY is more than enough and walk away. Your stuck with an assett that you cannot sell and end up perhaps trading it for 50% of its retail worth, the day before you leave Thailand after your time is up. End result could easily be that the maintenance and insurance as well as the finance costs + cost of down payment = cost of monthly rental and then handing back the keys. Certainly happened to me on more than one occasion. Lots of people are suspicious of 2 yr old cars being sold as they assume something serious is wrong with it given that Thai's generally keep cars for 5 yrs +. This has happened to me on more than one occasion as I prefer to sell a car after 2-3 years and the first question I always get is why are you selling it so quickly.

Just something else to consider but overall it depends on how much rent costs are against what cost to finance.

[paulfr]

Digger

I defer to your experience.

Points all make sense. Noted for future reference.

Thanks

[Andy B]

bBsed on the good points made, could I deduce that buying a 2nd hand well liked brand name car that is say 4 years old, say something like an auto toyota soluna, would retain most of its value selling it off in 2-3 years time at forced sale or quick sale , you know like Digger mentioned leaving Bangkok quickly at the end of work contract. Taking any offer that comes quickly. Would that make more economic sense than buying a totally new car in terms of the car depreciation?

I am assuming maintaing this toyota car is not going to break the bank.

[Braccobaldo]

...price for a new Toyota Vios is just 467.000 bath...pay cash and you can have a new car registered in your name even same day...just wait about one and half hours for the formalities and you'll driving your own car..

Believe me...what you get is really good value...electric windows, "lamina" free, radio/cassette....go check from your nearest toyota...you will like it...

[Bikkel]

Maybe it has been answered before on this forum, but bear with me:

I am about to buy a car. I read on the expat motors site that you need a notarized residency verification from your embassy to get the car on your name. It is supposed to confirm your address in Thailand.

That is the catch; I have a multiple entry "O" visum and I live with my girlfriend in Thailand as she lives with me in Europe.

Will the embassy people give me the document without hassle? I don't mind to pay for the fee, but the embassy staff are real screwballs . You don't want to know how much hassle I went through to get a residential visum for my GF.

[terdsak_12]

You can get this document from your embassy, Brit Embassy is easy as long as you pay, immigration offer a similar document, as can your local cop shop if they're feeling friendly.

Any visa is good for car registration these days.