Rampant Rental Car Thefts In Phuket

[Lite Beer]

Rampant rental car thefts in Phuket

Phuket Gazette –

Rental car thefts: Mazda 2.

Sarun Thongularn and two of his Phuket business partners have fallen victim to rental car thieves this year.

PHUKET: Seven hire cars remain missing from a Phuket rental firm. Two suspects are in custody but three more are evading capture having failed to return the vehicles. The rental company owner suspects they may have been fraudulently sold or have been used to get finance from a pawn-broker.

In the middle of October last year, Sarun Thongularn, 37 and two friends got together and started up a car rental business. However, by the end of the year, seven of their vehicle fleet were missing with the renters either arrested or in hiding from the police.

"We have lost seven cars, including five new cars with red registered plates. However, we have just recovered the eighth car," Mr Sarun said.

"One of my business partners has lost five of his new cars. Models such as a Toyota Fortuner, an Isuzu Mu 7 and a Mazda 2. My other friend lost one new car and I have lost a Toyota Vios, which cost 500,000 baht. All together the cars cost about 6 million baht," he said.

"We do not have any commercial insurance for the cars as we just bought them. We were supposed to sort out GPS and get the insurance later," he added.

The eight cars were hired by six different people. Sirirat Engchuan, 24; Detrit Homhuan, 40; Janthip Sae-iad, 28; Teerawat Bunraksa, 45; Wassana Jaroenrit, 49, who was accompanied by Thalerngsri Promrat, 50.

Mr Detrit, who had already hired out four cars for a month, asked Mr Sarun on November 10 to rent a fifth vehicle for five days. Detrit’s wife, Ms Janthip, collected the car leaving her motorbike and driving license with Mr Sarun.

"When they were three days late returning the car we called them. They said they would transfer the money as they were not in Phuket. We got the money for the five day extension," Mr Sarun explained.

However, months later the cars still haven’t been returned, Mr Sarun told the Gazette.

"I kept calling them; sometimes their phones were off and sometimes they picked up, but said they were busy," he said.

"We didn’t know that the missing cars were connected until Sirirat was arrested and confessed to Phuket City Police that Detrit had asked her to rent the car," he said.

Ms Sirirat , who rented a car on November 12 was arrested at a Panthep apartment on Mae Luan road about a month ago. Mr Sarun explained that they knew where Sirirat lived, because he had picked her up at her apartment when she had rented the car.

Wassana, was caught by the police on December 25 near the Bangkok Hospital Phuket. Mr Sarun explained that he and his friend "tricked" her into meeting with them, allowing police to catch her. Mr Sarun said police had told him Wassana had previously been involved in similar incidents.

Thalerngsri Promrat, who was caught with Wassana, was released after police investigated her claim that she had been tricked by Wassana and didn’t know anything about the stolen cars.

The car that Wassana had rented, however, had already been pawned in Ao Luk, Krabi. It reportedly cost Mr Sarun’s friend 100,000 baht to get back.

"Theerawat, who said he was a land surveyor for a private company, rented a car in October 31 and disappeared. We’re not sure if he is part of the same gang as Detrit, but his behavior was the same," Mr Sarun said.

"We have to pay by installments for nothing now. It costs me more than ten thousand baht a month. Meanwhile, my friend has to pay for five cars," Mr Sarun said.

Mr Sarun is now only renting cars to foreigners and asks that they leave their passports with him.

An arrest warrant relating to a charge of assault was issued for Detrit on August 17 by Phuket Provincial Court, though police suspect that he is now in Surat Thani. Meanwhile Sirirat and Wassana remain in jail attempting to raise the bail money.

Phuket City Duty Officer Taweesak Yongkae told the Gazette that the case is currently under investigation

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/archives/articles/2012/article12020.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2012-01-16

[TAWP]

They can claim the cars back from pawn brokers for no payment due to accepting them without proper papers.

[Zpete]

They can claim the cars back from pawn brokers for no payment due to accepting them without proper papers.

Stolen property should be returned to rightful owners without charges,

Wot's up with the police?

Guess cops want tea money.

[PoorSucker]

Stolen property should be returned to rightful owners without charges,

Wot's up with the police?

Guess cops want tea money.

Cops also needs new cars.

[Briggsy]

The whole story has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. It is very hard to know what parts contain some form of the truth.

[LivinginKata]

The whole story has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. It is very hard to know what parts contain some form of the truth.

That's what I thought ...

[virtualtraveller]

One rental company in Phuket opens and immediately has a theft problem, that other never did. He opened and started renting without fully insuring first, or offering it to clients. Seems odd all of the renters are Thai except one. half the cars were rented to just two people. This is definitely a 'job'.

[Valentine]

The whole story has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. It is very hard to know what parts contain some form of the truth.

That's what I thought ...

Me too. Could be they are paying minimal deposit for new cars which are then "stolen" although seems odd to me that finance company will let a new car out the door without 1st class insurance. Maybe the scam is quite deep.

[katabeachbum]

The whole story has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. It is very hard to know what parts contain some form of the truth.

That's what I thought ...

Me too. Could be they are paying minimal deposit for new cars which are then "stolen" although seems odd to me that finance company will let a new car out the door without 1st class insurance. Maybe the scam is quite deep.

1st class doesnt cover organised rentals, takes an extra rentalinsurance, which very few of these backyard renters take out. Customers be aware, your rental car is likely to not be insured

No one rents 7 cars to Thai nationals without credit card, oh sorry, except these guys

There is something good and sturdy about the major players like AVIS, Budget, Thai rent a car. CC needed and proper Insurance and GPS

[madmitch]

Seems everyone reading this is of the same opinion.

[thaiIand]

How do you rent redplate cars? Your not even supose to leave the province/drive at night with them. If someone's renting a car hes not gonna stay at home every night.

[katabeachbum]

How do you rent redplate cars? Your not even supose to leave the province/drive at night with them. If someone's renting a car hes not gonna stay at home every night.

legally redplated cars can go anywhere in TH anytime, as long as trip is logged in redplate reg book, by driver with a pen. For max 30 days/3.000km

[thaiIand]

ya who the f does that, i certaintely didnt log anything during my 5months with redplates and havent heard of anyone doing so.

Car renters have even higher chances of saying

[katabeachbum]

ya who the f does that, i certaintely didnt log anything during my 5months with redplates and havent heard of anyone doing so.

well out of province I do, well at least I write Phuket-Nong Kai r/t and change the date if pulled over, thus never had a redplateproblem during my +480.000km in TH

so do everyone else not happy donating teamoney paying fines for illegal redplate use

and if they had your drive around on redplates for 5 months, they screwed you big time

[thaiIand]

i didnt even get a log book

redplates look cool anyways, i didnt mind. Im in thailand so laws dont apply right?

Edited January 17, 2012 by thaiIand

[stevenl]

How do you rent redplate cars? Your not even supose to leave the province/drive at night with them. If someone's renting a car hes not gonna stay at home every night.

legally redplated cars can go anywhere in TH anytime, as long as trip is logged in redplate reg book, by driver with a pen. For max 30 days/3.000km

I think this is one of the things where there is a big differenc ebetween theory/law and real life.

[katabeachbum]

How do you rent redplate cars? Your not even supose to leave the province/drive at night with them. If someone's renting a car hes not gonna stay at home every night.

legally redplated cars can go anywhere in TH anytime, as long as trip is logged in redplate reg book, by driver with a pen. For max 30 days/3.000km

I think this is one of the things where there is a big differenc ebetween theory/law and real life.

driving through 5-15 provinces you are guaranteed to be pulled over to check redplates docs. A rentalcar, usually only rentalagreement is checked

driving around in Phuket with fake redplates like thailand did works fine for a while, I do it presently as most new car buyers

however i have stressed dealer I want my whiteplates this month, as going out of Province next month

[Valentine]

I never understood why white plates take so long. So much easier if the dealers kept a stock of them & issue straight away. It would save a lot of paperwork & the necessity of paying a deposit for a red plate.

[katabeachbum]

I never understood why white plates take so long. So much easier if the dealers kept a stock of them & issue straight away. It would save a lot of paperwork & the necessity of paying a deposit for a red plate.

I do not pay a deposit for fake redplates, thats redplates without reg/log book

car can be registered day after purchase, if dealer had paid it to supplier and thus had the ownershipdocuments. However dealers have several months interestfree credit, up to six months, so some delay payment to supplier until credit expire, and thus do not have ownership docs to register until then. Until then supplier owns car, even if you have paid it

[geriatrickid]

The whole story has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. It is very hard to know what parts contain some form of the truth.

That's what I thought ...

Me too. Who puts out that kind of money and doesn't insure the cars?

Anyway, how could they finance the cars without insurance? I thought the financing company always demanded proof of insurance.

Never personally ever leased or financed a car, so maybe I am wrong.

[sanuk21]

I never understood why white plates take so long. So much easier if the dealers kept a stock of them & issue straight away. It would save a lot of paperwork & the necessity of paying a deposit for a red plate.

I do not pay a deposit for fake redplates, thats redplates without reg/log book

car can be registered day after purchase, if dealer had paid it to supplier and thus had the ownershipdocuments. However dealers have several months interestfree credit, up to six months, so some delay payment to supplier until credit expire, and thus do not have ownership docs to register until then. Until then supplier owns car, even if you have paid it

Yes I agree that it is the dealer who is the fly-in-the-ointment here.

Actually both my last two cars were registered within 1-2 weeks of purchase.

Yet, it was another 2-3 months before the dealer decided to contact me to change the red plates.

Obviously once the dealer has your cash there is no gain in any after sales service.

sanuk

Edited January 18, 2012 by sanuk21

[sanuk21]

The whole story has more holes in it than a Swiss cheese. It is very hard to know what parts contain some form of the truth.

That's what I thought ...

Me too. Who puts out that kind of money and doesn't insure the cars?

Anyway, how could they finance the cars without insurance? I thought the financing company always demanded proof of insurance.

Never personally ever leased or financed a car, so maybe I am wrong.

as KBB previously said "1st class doesnt cover organised rentals"

Most dealers will supply a Class 1 insurance policy free in the purchase deal.

This will usually satisfy a finance company's requirements for personal use.

But for commercial use (ie car rental) an additional endorsement or another policy is required.

sanuk

[Sharp]

karma rip off bas...ds

[stevenl]

karma rip off bas...ds

Sorry, can somebody translate please?