Flying In, Buying A Bike And Touring Thailand / Laos

[MeMock]

In November 2012, a friend of mine plus a friend of his want to fly into Thailand and purchase two Phantom Fire Edition, 4 stroke, 200cc motorbikes.

They would like to purchase the bikes and start their tour in Ubon Ratchathani.

At some stage they want to cross over into Laos for a few weeks of touring there also.

A few concerns I have with this is:

Can a tourist purchase a motorbike without a third party (Thai or local based expat) present?

If so, can they do it on a 30 day visa on arrival or will they need something else to arrive in Thailand on?

Once purchased (with cash) what else is needed to be able to cross the border into Laos.

At the end of their tour they would like to ship the bikes back to Australia.

Any information on the laws regarding visas and buying a bike or advice on shipping back to Australia would be greatly appreciated.

[rmacdon61]

A tourist can purchase a bike. You will not be able to get regist/plates for the bike in 30 days so will only have a bill of sale in Thai. Given the flood and the lack of available bikes (north) maybe BKK has some? Most dealers will take a credit card (3% more on purchase) but Visa/Master card offer insurance on purchase above the insurance (gov) given with the bike on purchase. Crossing into Laos with a bill of sale I have no knowledge of. Would seem a rental would be easier and more practical.

[naboo]

Regarding the above post, the Phantom is no longer available new. Honda may bring it back, as they have the Dream, but whether or not they do and whether it would be within the next year is anybody's guess. If not, bikes would be 2nd hand so registration not an issue.

Purchasing bikes on a 30 day visa waiver has apparently been done. I was told at the DLT in Chiang Mai I needed a non-imm visa.

So first two posts contradict each other.

[katabeachbum]

any visa or entrystamp usually works at DLT.

However you need white plates and reg book to leave the country, and this takes weeks for a new bike. In addition Phantom is presently not sold new, as it didnt manage extremely strict TH emission any more. It may resurface with cbr 250 engine, but no timeframe given as Honda currently cant manufactor enough pcx and cbr250 to meet demand, and I would expect price in the 130k baht range

Lifan 250 cruiser would be an alternative, its a yammy copy at 78k baht

secondhand transfer of ownership at DLT can be done in hours, and off you go

[mrclough]

As well as having a plate & greenbook the bike has to yours. Rentals cannot be taken over the border.

[MeMock]

Thank you everyone for some interesting information.

The main bit so far is that they do not make those bikes anymore! The second bit that I had forgotten about was the wait for rego books and plates when buying new.

I have read elsewhere that rentals can be taken over the border as long as the owner signs the correct forms. I guess you need to find a trusting rental shop owner for this.

I guess at this stage perhaps a 2nd hand purchase might be the go but where to find two bikes like that in Ubon could be easier said then done. They other perhaps is to rent one if forms can be signed to get the bike over the border.

If there anything else that I might be missing?