Buying Car From Thai Owner

[thaikoh]

Hello, I need advice!

I plan to buy a user car from thai owner.

Which documents I have to check before I buy?

How to check blue book?

How to check tax is up to date?

What else?

[soi41]

If the seller is from the same province, the easiest way is to go to the DLT (motor) office together. DLT will do all the checking, and after confirming that everything is in order and the book is transferred into your name, you pay the seller.

If the seller is from another province, you will need to check that the chassis# and ther engine# are corresponding with the numbers in the blue book. Can be quite confusing the first time, so if you have a friend, who reads Thai, it will be a great help.

As for the tax, check the sticker on the windscreen, should say 2555 or 2556, but again the month is in Thai, so your friend will be handy here as well. Good luck.

[JeffreyMcCollum]

Thais tend to not maintain their cars as well to save money. And when something breaks they usually do just the minimum to fix it and get it going agian. They say things like the A/C only needs to be charged or serviced when in fact a new system needs to be installed.

Some shops like B Quick will inspect a car for you

Tax paid will be at the back of the book and check name and things in the book. Yes good to have Thai wife or friend, but htat does not stop problems. I, after being burned more than once, insist they go to government with me to change name to mine. If all is good they will do tthat for you. If htey find an excuse not to, RUN

[jvs]

Yes it is not as hard as it looks,i just bought a car from a Thai owner yesterday.

You may come across another little problem and that is how to really know the mileage of the vehicle.

If it is nearly new it should not be a problem and can be checked in the service book but an older car can be a problem.The pick-up i have seems to have very little km for its age so i just dont believe it but it seems to be in pretty good shape and i hope for the best.Does anyone know if it is possible to find out if the odometer has been reset or not?I mean a vehicle nine years old and under 90000km seems a little bit unreal to me but i did buy the truck because it is the kind i was looking for and it drives very good.

[stevenl]

Thais tend to not maintain their cars as well to save money. And when something breaks they usually do just the minimum to fix it and get it going agian.

In my experience they are tending to their cars every free moment.

[SuneeTH]

Don't buy a used car from a Thai owner.

They will try to ripe you off on a lemon.

I have a farang friend with a Renault R19.

He bought it from a Chinese taxi company in Bangkok.

Good condition, recently repainted.

A little high on mileage, but starts well after the battery was replaced.

[Kwasaki]

Yes it is not as hard as it looks,i just bought a car from a Thai owner yesterday.

You may come across another little problem and that is how to really know the mileage of the vehicle.

If it is nearly new it should not be a problem and can be checked in the service book but an older car can be a problem.The pick-up i have seems to have very little km for its age so i just dont believe it but it seems to be in pretty good shape and i hope for the best.Does anyone know if it is possible to find out if the odometer has been reset or not?I mean a vehicle nine years old and under 90000km seems a little bit unreal to me but i did buy the truck because it is the kind i was looking for and it drives very good.

Well Thai or not seems like you have a good buy it's not that difficult to have the car checked properly if you really like the look of it, and it's not imposible for a car/truck 9 years old to have 90k on it, my truck only had 47k after just over 5 years.

And OP I find Thai's take care more of their car/truck if it's been for private use.

[yankee99]

all the thai cars in my village look very well taken care of. The yearly tax is in the book. you will see the amount paid yearly decreasing with the year and month [month in thai]. you need a residency certificate from immigration. go to the transport office and pay when the book is in your name not before. Also after 7 years the car need a annual inspection for 200baht.

[thaikoh]

Thank you guys for answers.

So, a I understood I need to check the car, blue book (numbers - frame and engine) and tax with stickers. Must we go together with previous owner to transport department to put my name in blue book or I can do it by myself? We have to sign buy-sell contract with the owner?

[Jobo]

If anybody thinks Thais really know how to look after their cars just take a walk around any supermarket car park and look at how many Thais are sitting in their cars with the engine running and air con on.

Extremely bad for the engines. The cooling system is designed to cool the engines with air flowing through the radiators when the car is moving.

Having seen this so often every day I never have and never will buy a 2nd hand car from Khon Thai I'm afraid.

[NoshowJones]

Yankee99. How exactly do they check the car? Do they make sure it's safe? My Corona is about twenty years old and when I took it to renew the tax they checked the brakes and that was it. I wonder if that was the annual test after seven years you mentioned.

[anon210]

If anybody thinks Thais really know how to look after their cars just take a walk around any supermarket car park and look at how many Thais are sitting in their cars with the engine running and air con on.

Extremely bad for the engines. The cooling system is designed to cool the engines with air flowing through the radiators when the car is moving.

Having seen this so often every day I never have and never will buy a 2nd hand car from Khon Thai I'm afraid.

Silly comment maybe, but then, you should not buy either a used car in BKK.

Considering the chronic congestion the capital suffers, I guess a LOT of cars sit in traffic jams with aircon on and engine running. So, farang buy is not a guarantee of quality either.

[stevenl]

If anybody thinks Thais really know how to look after their cars just take a walk around any supermarket car park and look at how many Thais are sitting in their cars with the engine running and air con on.

Extremely bad for the engines. The cooling system is designed to cool the engines with air flowing through the radiators when the car is moving.

Having seen this so often every day I never have and never will buy a 2nd hand car from Khon Thai I'm afraid.

That's why there is a fan on the radiotor, when necessary it will kick in, and iof the cooling system can't handle it anymore the meter will creep up so you can see the engine is getting too hot.

So sorry, I don't agree with your statement here.

[yankee99]

Yankee99. How exactly do they check the car? Do they make sure it's safe? My Corona is about twenty years old and when I took it to renew the tax they checked the brakes and that was it. I wonder if that was the annual test after seven years you mentioned.

this was a auxillary inspection station. They checked the emissions, front n rear brakes and lights. This is in no way a check to determine the safety of the vehicle. It is a thai requirement that would be good if done properly. My truck had low tire psi and 2 tires were dry rot. They did not see this they only saw a fog light that was out....

[yankee99]

If anybody thinks Thais really know how to look after their cars just take a walk around any supermarket car park and look at how many Thais are sitting in their cars with the engine running and air con on.

Extremely bad for the engines. The cooling system is designed to cool the engines with air flowing through the radiators when the car is moving.

Having seen this so often every day I never have and never will buy a 2nd hand car from Khon Thai I'm afraid.

I wouldnt buy too many cars from americans either. Running at idle for ac or heat is standard part of driving. Maybe a air cooled vw will overheat but i wouldnt worry about a toyota or honda.....

[anon210]

If anybody thinks Thais really know how to look after their cars just take a walk around any supermarket car park and look at how many Thais are sitting in their cars with the engine running and air con on.

Extremely bad for the engines. The cooling system is designed to cool the engines with air flowing through the radiators when the car is moving.

Having seen this so often every day I never have and never will buy a 2nd hand car from Khon Thai I'm afraid.

I wouldnt buy too many cars from americans either. Running at idle for ac or heat is standard part of driving. Maybe a air cooled vw will overheat but i wouldnt worry about a toyota or honda.....

My driving school teacher used to tell me that European cars used to break down easily because of heat. Until they found an local and empiric remedy: affixing a third fan to cool down further the motor.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Thaivisa Connect App

[Jobo]

If anybody thinks Thais really know how to look after their cars just take a walk around any supermarket car park and look at how many Thais are sitting in their cars with the engine running and air con on.

Extremely bad for the engines. The cooling system is designed to cool the engines with air flowing through the radiators when the car is moving.

Having seen this so often every day I never have and never will buy a 2nd hand car from Khon Thai I'm afraid.

That's why there is a fan on the radiotor, when necessary it will kick in, and iof the cooling system can't handle it anymore the meter will creep up so you can see the engine is getting too hot.

So sorry, I don't agree with your statement here.

You are welcome to buy such cars, I would not. The fan alone is not sufficient and I doubt they would be looking at the gauges anyway. And you would think they are all so wealthy they can afford to be wasting the fuel!

[stevenl]

If anybody thinks Thais really know how to look after their cars just take a walk around any supermarket car park and look at how many Thais are sitting in their cars with the engine running and air con on.

Extremely bad for the engines. The cooling system is designed to cool the engines with air flowing through the radiators when the car is moving.

Having seen this so often every day I never have and never will buy a 2nd hand car from Khon Thai I'm afraid.

That's why there is a fan on the radiotor, when necessary it will kick in, and iof the cooling system can't handle it anymore the meter will creep up so you can see the engine is getting too hot.

So sorry, I don't agree with your statement here.

You are welcome to buy such cars, I would not. The fan alone is not sufficient and I doubt they would be looking at the gauges anyway. And you would think they are all so wealthy they can afford to be wasting the fuel!

I buy new here, much better value for money.

But your statement that it is very bad for the engine to be running stationary with A/C on is simply nonsense.

[Plucky]

How did this thread get derailed about som chai being stationary with the engine and air con on.

I would only buy a vehicle off my hi so Thai Chinese friends who pay for everything and love and respect me in equal measure.

[WebBangkok]

Most Thai's I know take car of there car very well, usually the rev heads, same with farangs.

To not buy a car because of what nationality the owner is, is pretty stupid. You get the car checked out before buying, take it for a test drive and if you don;t know much about cars, bring a few rev head friends with you to check it out with you.