Bangkok Post: Two Related Auto Stories

[lomatopo]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Perspective/04Dec2005_pers11.php

RULES OF IMPORT

If you love your car enough to bring it with you to Thailand, be prepared to pay the price, writes SUPRADIT KANWANICH

Regulations in Thailand allow for the import of used cars for Thai citizens who have resided outside the country continuously at least one and one half years before returning to Thailand for permanent resettlement. In addition, the importer must have owned the car for that same period of time and must hold a valid driver's license.

Foreign citizens may also bring used cars into Thailand if they have stayed in Thailand not less than a year with a residential visa from the Office of the Royal Thai Police and a work permit from the Ministry of Labour, or if they are the spouse of a Thai citizen.

If these criteria are met, the importers must show evidence of permanent resettlement as well as the original ownership and registration documents for the car. Spouses must also show marriage certificates. Also necessary are the bill of lading or airway bill, customs clearance papers, insurance papers, etc., and last but not least the import permit from the Ministry of Commerce.

Upon the arrival of the car in Thailand, you or your shipping agent must present all documents to the Importing Section of the Customs Department at the Bangkok Harbour or other Customs checkpoint offices. The officials there will check to see if all documents are in order, and if so, assess the tax.

After you or your agent pays the tax at the accounting and tax section, the officers issue a clearance paper and tax receipt, to be presented to the officers at the inspection section to get the car out from the protected section area.

The import fee for used cars is quite high ( see main story). And then there is still a value added tax (VAT) of 7 per cent, a revenue tax of 80 per cent, an excise tax of 35 per cent and possibly other taxes levied by the Interior Ministry.

For more information, contact the Import Section, Bangkok Port Customs Bureau, the Customs Office at Dong Muang Airport, or any Customs office during opening hours.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Perspective/04Dec2005_pers10.php

SMUGGLERS BEWARE

Customs officials believe they are starting to win the cat and mouse game at international ports and border crossings, and the government has made nearly two billion baht in recent years from the auction of impounded cars, writes SUPRADIT KANWANICH

Two Ferraris, both with a starting price at over 9 million baht, were among the 204 cars put on the auction block by the Customs Department in its first auction of the 2006 fiscal year. There were also two Jaguars, a Maserati and more than 50 Mercedes Benz. Hundreds of car fans and second-hand dealers crowded onto the small lot behind the department's headquarters on Sunthon Kosa Road on the morning of October 26, looking for a four-wheeled bargain. Nearly all of the cars offered were high end, only a handful were less than two years old.

At the end of the bidding, which was done verbally, 189 cars were driven off at a cost to the buyers of 251 million baht. The rest will be offered again later. Yuttana Yimgarund, director of the Land Enforcement Division (LED) of the Customs Department, told Sunday Perspective that the cars had been brought into the country illegally, or else confiscated at the border. In fiscal year 2005 police confiscated 382 cars, while Customs officers took possession of 72 cars. In 2004, police nabbed 527 cars nationwide and Customs officers 103 cars.

Thailand has strict regulations regarding the import of used cars (see sidebar), and imposes very high import taxes on used cars that are allowed into the country. The import fee for cars with engines less than 2000 cubic centimetres is 137 percent of the car's value, as assessed by Customs officials judging from the factory price, depreciation and actual condition of the cars. The fee rises to 200 percent of the value for cars between 2-3000 cc, and more than 200 percent for cars with engines over 3000 cc.

During the 2005 fiscal year, 771 impounded cars were sold at a price of 767 million baht in six public auctions. In 2004, five auctions were made for 801 cars, bringing in 470 million baht. During the 2003-fiscal year, six auctions brought in a total of 380 million baht for 376 cars. Smuggled cars normally range from six months to 10 years old, but include older collectors' items which are highly desired by the gangs' clientele.

TIDE IS TURNING

Yuttana said most of the smuggled cars enter Thailand from the south, or through Cambodia on the eastern border. He added that there are 4-5 smuggling gangs taking stolen cars from Malaysia into Thailand, using counterfeit Malaysian registration documents to enter the country as tourists. He said the gangs would either deliver the cars to buyers in Thailand or drive them up to northern provinces, cross another border, and sell them in a neighbouring country.

"But now there is more cooperation between Thailand and Malaysia to check the authenticity of the papers, and many stolen cars have been recovered and returned to Malaysia," said the LED director.

The policy of Thai authorities is of course to return stolen vehicles to their rightful owners in foreign countries. However, in some cases the gangs have legal ownership of the smuggled vehicles, and when the cars are stolen they have often been "laundered", which makes identification all but impossible.

The gangs are on the lookout to buy cars damaged beyond repair just to get their genuine registration papers or cut out the chassis numbers and refit them onto cars to be smuggled in.

However, Yuttana said that Thai authorities have gotten much better at spotting the smuggled vehicles, either at ocean ports, border checkpoints or on the road.

"Now it's not so easy for the car smuggling gangs. Concerned agencies are cooperating together much more, while our document and car inspection systems are increasingly effective," said Mr Yuttana.

He said the gangs used to smuggle the cars into Thailand in containers which were packed with other cheaper goods, but now the Customs officials at several big ports use mobile x-ray machines to scan the containers. Officials at over 40 customs checkpoints along the border nationwide have been given special training to intercept illegal vehicles. Law enforcement officials are gaining information to help track the smuggling routes and shut down the gangs.

As there are over 20 million cars on the roads in Thailand, it's quite hard to detect the illegal cars once they have been brought into the country. Police are confident they can spot them in routine registration checks.

Another way the vehicles are spotted is by officers who are specially trained to look for minor differences in the body parts of the automobiles. This is because the smugglers often dissasemble the vehicles and declare them as parts, and then reassemble them inside the country.Yuttana said that quite often not all of the parts make it to the reassembly point, so that it is necessary to mix and match a bit. He said it was essential to form up teams of officers specially trained to detect small anomalies in such cars.

Suntara Thaitavorn, director of Bangkok Port Customs Bureau, also told Sunday Perspective that used cars were disassembled and declared at the port as used engine and other spare parts. He said his officers must carefully check all imported items. In the past the shipping agents called the officers to check the imported items here and there in the compound of the Bangkok Port, and some disassembled autos slipped through. Now all shipments of auto parts are carefully screened in a special fenced in area. The checking of every piece is recorded by video camera to check whether it fits with the items declared in the import entry documents, and the indicated excise duty and value added tax has been paid.

Recently, officials found four disassembled cars from Japan worth about five million baht which had been declared as used automobile parts. As all the parts were found together, it was reasoned that the shippers were hoping to evade taxes and the strict import regulations on used cars. The cars were believed to be intended for racing, as the engines were high powered and only slightly used.

Suntara said there were now about 10 containers a day which contain auto parts to be checked at the Bangkok Port, but that most car smuggling these days is done overland using fake documents.

This is the second in a series on car theft and smuggling. The first part was published on Sunday, November 13.

[corkscrew]

Yes...I read that article....and it amazes me that a tax can be so...well...'confiscatorily high'. But. I guess rich people in Thailand adjust to the pain without complaint...or, maybe they have found some way around it. Not me..I had to pay the tax on my car purchase. Granted, mine is a smaller car.

[Butterfly]

Yes...I read that article....and it amazes me that a tax can be so...well...'confiscatorily high'. But. I guess rich people in Thailand adjust to the pain without complaint...or, maybe they have found some way around it. Not me..I had to pay the tax on my car purchase. Granted, mine is a smaller car.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Still sounds expensive. How much for that baby ? 4mil ?

[terdsak_12]

You love any excuse to show off your motor don't you Corky!!!