I Bought A Car, But Now They Tell Me I Can'T Own It Without A Work Permit?

[thcr]

Long story short, I'm new here ...hello!

I live in Thailand on my retirement visa (on my 3rd year now) and I just recently bought a small car (Mazda 2). It's all cash paid and I received it last month. Now I received a call from the car dealership, saying that they're unable to apply for a normal white number (I currently have a red number, as all new cars do), because I don't have a work permit and without a work permit, I'm not allowed to own a car. They did, however, sell it to me! And they're basically telling me that I need to get a work permit to drive around with my car.

Obviously, I'd like to keep my car. And I can't get a work permit, because I'm retired and if I did then I would lose my pension.

What do I do now?

And is this story the dealership is telling me really true?

I have a Thai drivers license, but I can't own a car? What if I was a billionaire (which I'm not, but as an example), without the need to ever work again, I couldn't even own a car? What kind of stupid laws are these?

[harrry]

You can registedr the car

You need a Non O visa

A certificate of residence which you can get at Immigration or a letter from your embassy or a work permit. One or the other.

A copy of your passport.

[elliss]

You can registedr the car

You need a Non O visa

A certificate of residence which you can get at Immigration or a letter from your embassy or a work permit. One or the other.

A copy of your passport.

spot on ,

i bought my car with the above documents ,

and the assistance of my solicitor in udon.

worth paying her , for peace of mind .

easy pips. :jap:

[richard_smith237]

The dealership have simply turned an 'I don't Know how to' into a 'Cannot' because they are lazy...

I have owned cars on Tourist Visas. All I have needed is a certificate of Residence (from my Embassy, but as I understand it they can also be obtained from Immigration).

[Crossy]

Yup ^^^ no problem here either, had no WP at the time just the residence letter for the embassy.

You probably need to get someone 'official' to tell the dealership that the embassy letter equates to a WP.

[Tywais]

The dealership have simply turned an 'I don't Know how to' into a 'Cannot' because they are lazy...

More like they don't have a clue but pretty accurate.

[timekeeper]

its BS, i owned a motorbike years ago on 30 day on entry...

just get a residence certificate

[PattayaParent]

As others have posted complete BS.

I previously owned a car without a work permit and my wife currently owns one without a work permit.

[Lumumba]

Tell the dealership you are fine with the red plate.

[sarahsbloke]

The dealership have simply turned an 'I don't Know how to' into a 'Cannot' because they are lazy...

I have owned cars on Tourist Visas. All I have needed is a certificate of Residence (from my Embassy, but as I understand it they can also be obtained from Immigration).

What Richard said .....

All you need is Certificate of Residence (from Thai immigration or your embassy)

For all Thai official documents you need 2 forms of ID

1) proof or Identity ....... Thai ID card or foreigner passport

2) proof of address ...... Tabien Ban book or foreigner certificate of residence/wp

The rules are the same for everyone in Thailand.

Edited November 18, 2010 by sarahsbloke

[katabeachbum]

If the dealer is unable to register the car for you, simply pick up all docs from dealer and claim refund on reg fee, and ad your docs

1. Certificate of residence which can be issued by Immigration or your embassy

2. Passport with valid permit to stay

Bring it all to your local Department of Landtransport, and you will be done in an hour, white plate, tax sticker and reg book. Check reg book page 5 is in your name and passportnumber. Fees are less than you payed dealer.

[SantiSuk]

Best to deal only with dealers who confidently answer the question "Have you sold to falangs before and can I be the legal owner of this car?". I bought mine in Bangkok partly because some Ubon dealers seemed a bit hesitant.

[guzzi850m2]

Tell the dealership you are fine with the red plate.

LOL

Yes as other posters said, residence of prof from immi will do and you are in business. Don't really matter which visa you have. I am talking Pattaya here, maybe easier because of amount of expats.

[a269652]

Rather than start a new thread, perhaps I could hijack this one.

I stay in Thailand on a marriage visa (issued in Chon Buri), I have a yellow Tabian Baan and want to buy a car.

My dealership just want to see a letter of residence (either issued by my embassy or the immigration office) & my passport with visa stamp.

At this point in time my visa is up for renewal, i.e the new visa application is under consideration & will take a few weeksto be confirmed (yes I know this is a long time but that's the way my immigration office work). There is a stamp in my passport to the effect that the new visa is under consideration.

Question: Will that be sufficient for the dealership/ Thai vehicle registration office or will I have to wait until I obtain the proper visa stamp?

Thanks.

[Digitalbanana]

Question: Will that be sufficient for the dealership/ Thai vehicle registration office or will I have to wait until I obtain the proper visa stamp?

Depends on dealership as the op has found out. As for government veh reg office, you are still on a valid permit to stay in Thailand so take all documents as alluded to above and should not be an issue.

[katabeachbum]

Rather than start a new thread, perhaps I could hijack this one.

I stay in Thailand on a marriage visa (issued in Chon Buri), I have a yellow Tabian Baan and want to buy a car.

My dealership just want to see a letter of residence (either issued by my embassy or the immigration office) & my passport with visa stamp.

At this point in time my visa is up for renewal, i.e the new visa application is under consideration & will take a few weeksto be confirmed (yes I know this is a long time but that's the way my immigration office work). There is a stamp in my passport to the effect that the new visa is under consideration.

Question: Will that be sufficient for the dealership/ Thai vehicle registration office or will I have to wait until I obtain the proper visa stamp?

Thanks.

as long as you have a valid permit to stay, even only one day, thats sufficient to register vehicle in your name. if permit to stay expires after purchase but before registration is completed, you simply provide a new permit to stay. done it +20 times

yellow book replaces document from Immigration or embassy stating adress. The ladys on DLT loves the yellow book cause adress is in thai, not in english as embassy docs

Edited November 20, 2010 by katabeachbum

[sarahsbloke]

There is no requirement of any permission to stay to buy and register a car in Thailand.

Requirement is for ID and proof of address.

[katabeachbum]

There is no requirement of any permission to stay to buy and register a car in Thailand.

Requirement is for ID and proof of address.

I can only speak for DLT in Phuket, Precthuap Kiri Khan and BKK where I have done reg, and they all require reg to be done within valid permit to stay, they even sircle the date on the copies

Immigrations proof of adress will only be valid as long as your permit to stay is

[Sheryl]

OP, I run into this problem a lot. every time I buy a car (which I just recently did), have dealings with (god forbid) Fedex re customs clearances, etc etc.

It happens when you are dealing with people that have limited experience with farangs living in Thailand and have only ever dealt with ones who were here for work. they are simply unaware of the other types of non-imm O visa.

You probably live somewhere that doesn't have many farang, as I do. AFAIK I am the only farang in my province on a retirement visa.

The info given by other posters is correct. But depending on where you live, don't be surprised if even the land transport office staff are unfamiliar with the regs. I know mine were the first time I registered a car with them.

You just have to be firm and persistent. And, doing the registration yourself is a good idea. I'm still seething over the overcharge and undue hassle the dealer I just bought a car from put me through.... twice the price in exchange for which I had the 'expediter" calling me day and night asking for unnecessary documents, harping on the work permit issue etc etc. and it took twice as long as it needed to.

You need nothing but photocopies of your passport (face page, visa page and most recent entry stamp) and a certificate of residence. And of course the sales papers.

[sillyman99]

You need nothing but photocopies of your passport (face page, visa page and most recent entry stamp) and a certificate of residence. And of course the sales papers.

When I bought my car they copied every page of my passport for some reason, 3 times !!! LOL.

Then when I went to get it registered I had photocopied my valid visa page, valid entry page and ID page and she insisted that I had to copy more, when i told her what did she want and why, she pointed to a page where I had a 2 year old Visa for Cambodia,

" You want a copy of this page, A copy of a Cambodian Visa sticker that was used 2 years ago " ?

" Yes "

" Why would you possibly wan't a copy of a visa for another country that is 2 years old " ?

" Yes this page "

" OK ".

Gotta laugh really.

[chiang mai]

I bought my car from a dealer whilst on a retirement visa and there was no problem registering it - in Chiang Mai five years ago!

[TechnikaIII]

After only a short time here, I have come to realise that there are vast numbers of useless beaurocrats who can only justify their employment if they constantly invent the need for forms to be signed, and stamped, and unnecessary Visas to be paid for.

The system is in place to screw the farang. It is our constant task, as farangs, to minimised the depth of penetration.

And just be careful when you drive that car. If involved or in any way implicated in an accident, it is entirely your fault, regardless of the circumstances, because you are farang.

[katabeachbum]

And just be careful when you drive that car. If involved or in any way implicated in an accident, it is entirely your fault, regardless of the circumstances, because you are farang.

Totally disagree, 8 years/+400k km here, several small accidents, most police are fair and insurance is usually on your side simply cause they dont want to pay unless they have to

[jdinasia]

And just be careful when you drive that car. If involved or in any way implicated in an accident, it is entirely your fault, regardless of the circumstances, because you are farang.

Totally disagree, 8 years/+400k km here, several small accidents, most police are fair and insurance is usually on your side simply cause they dont want to pay unless they have to

Agreed.

Insurance is your friend and mostly the police are interested in dealing with things quickly and efficiently (not that it is quick and efficient -- but they want it to be

[richard_smith237]

After only a short time here, I have come to realise that there are vast numbers of useless beaurocrats who can only justify their employment if they constantly invent the need for forms to be signed, and stamped, and unnecessary Visas to be paid for.

The system is in place to screw the farang. It is our constant task, as farangs, to minimised the depth of penetration.

And just be careful when you drive that car. If involved or in any way implicated in an accident, it is entirely your fault, regardless of the circumstances, because you are farang.

Poppycock... Bar stool paranoia does not help the Op.

[chiang mai]

And just be careful when you drive that car. If involved or in any way implicated in an accident, it is entirely your fault, regardless of the circumstances, because you are farang.

Totally disagree, 8 years/+400k km here, several small accidents, most police are fair and insurance is usually on your side simply cause they dont want to pay unless they have to

And my experiences over seven years are very similar although my mileage is only around 100k, police have been fair and I've been paid twice by other motorists where they were in the wrong and caused the accident/damage.

[edwinchester]

And just be careful when you drive that car. If involved or in any way implicated in an accident, it is entirely your fault, regardless of the circumstances, because you are farang.

Totally disagree, 8 years/+400k km here, several small accidents, most police are fair and insurance is usually on your side simply cause they dont want to pay unless they have to

Agreed.

Insurance is your friend and mostly the police are interested in dealing with things quickly and efficiently (not that it is quick and efficient -- but they want it to be

In my 9 years of driving here in Thailand I have never had an accident so can't comment from my own experience but here is what happened to a friend recently.

Whilst driving in BKK he pulled up in a line of traffic and was rear ended by an uninsured driver of an old Merc.

They went to the police station to complete an insurance report where the police said that it was my friends fault for stopping too quickly!

My friend is convinced that the Merc driver paid the ranking policeman some money to write the report in his favour.

[katabeachbum]

And just be careful when you drive that car. If involved or in any way implicated in an accident, it is entirely your fault, regardless of the circumstances, because you are farang.

Totally disagree, 8 years/+400k km here, several small accidents, most police are fair and insurance is usually on your side simply cause they dont want to pay unless they have to

Agreed.

Insurance is your friend and mostly the police are interested in dealing with things quickly and efficiently (not that it is quick and efficient -- but they want it to be

In my 9 years of driving here in Thailand I have never had an accident so can't comment from my own experience but here is what happened to a friend recently.

Whilst driving in BKK he pulled up in a line of traffic and was rear ended by an uninsured driver of an old Merc.

They went to the police station to complete an insurance report where the police said that it was my friends fault for stopping too quickly!

My friend is convinced that the Merc driver paid the ranking policeman some money to write the report in his favour.

where was your friends insurance company? I am sure they didnt accept to pay for your friend to stop to quickly

[jdinasia]

Hmmmm

I would actually take that last one as more of an Urban Legend. If the story had not included an uninsured motorist I might have believed it. I would simply have called my insurance company and waited for them.

[edwinchester]

Hmmmm

I would actually take that last one as more of an Urban Legend. If the story had not included an uninsured motorist I might have believed it. I would simply have called my insurance company and waited for them.

Not an urban legend at all and happened only a couple of weeks ago.

My friends insurance agent was present when the cop wrote up the report. He believes that the agent was intimidated by the Officers high rank.