Where is a good place to buy a new car not too far from Pattaya ? The local shops don't seem to offer great customer service

Also which brand is good, I'm looking at Toyota Vigo or Chevrolet Traiblazer manual transmission diesel engine

Edited March 2, 201313 yr by yoslim

The Motoring forum is pretty good for these kinds of questions, even Pattaya oriented ones.

I would say just go anywhere other than Pattaya. Dealers here are 100% useless. No stock, no flexibility, no product knowledge, no sense of service, no brains, no nothing.

Personally I would go straight to Bangkok for my next car as the dealers there know what "negotiation" means, and in my experience they are helpful to buyers and keen to secure a sale.

I would say just go anywhere other than Pattaya. Dealers here are 100% useless. No stock, no flexibility, no product knowledge, no sense of service, no brains, no nothing.

Personally I would go straight to Bangkok for my next car as the dealers there know what "negotiation" means, and in my experience they are helpful to buyers and keen to secure a sale.

+1

I bought a Nissan Almera in Bangkok. The suck dealer here wouldn't give ANY discounts, options, anything.. I sent e-mails to all the dealers between Pattaya and Bangkok stating exactly what options I wanted and had two reply back that they could comply with what I wanted. Went to see them, ordered the car, put down a deposit and received the car in about 4 weeks.... NO BULLSHIT... NO GAMES...

I would strongly suggest the Almera as a potential purchase for you. It is without a doubt the BEST car for the money you can get. We got the Top of the Line model for 600K and it came with EVERYTHING... buttons on the steering wheel for the radio/cd - automatic transmission etc.. With other brands like Toyota and Honda, 600K doesn't even get you the base model... Add on to that the dealer throwing in ALL the accessories like windo tinting, lighted kick plate, trunk liner, rain gutter over the windows, exhaust finisher etc etc etc It is a GREAT VALUE.

I went with Rimmer to Rayong a few weeks ago to look at trucks. The dealers were very friendly and offered freebies right up front.

I bought my Honda here in Pattaya. Got a lot of freebies...but no discount. There's a very nice new Honda dealer near the Ambassador. Very nice dealership. Owned by the same person who owns the one on Suk in Pattaya also.

I went to Nissan on Bangna trad 500 yards down from the shopping mall. Great service, extras thrown in, free Insurance, went out of their way to get English translation for built in GPS/sat nav, also has reverse camera, multi info display, push start ignition, rear electric sunshade, sun roof etc etc, delivered to my house 1 week later in the colour I wanted and at the time the wife said was correct 9mins past 9am (according to the monk) the lad who helped us spoke good English and was named Panya. nothing but praise after dealing with the morons in Pattaya at both Honda and Toyota.

As Craig says, Rayong is not too bad, and easy to get to from Pattaya.

After the farce that is Toyota dealers in Pattaya, we have now had 2 new Altis from Bangkok and never a problem........... Avoid Pattaya Car dealers

As Craig says, Rayong is not too bad, and easy to get to from Pattaya.

Rayong dealers are indeed quite decent. The big advantage of Bangkok though is that for the common brands there are many dealers to choose from/negotiate with.

Just a question - when you buy a car from a dealer in Bangkok or Rayong, it comes with a red temporary number plate. When the permanent plate is issued, will it be a Bangkok or Rayong number plate, or can you arrange for it to be a Chonburi one? Does it matter, driving around Pattaya all the time with a plate from a different province? I've only bought second-hand with Chonburi plates in the past, so I have no idea about this.

Just a question - when you buy a car from a dealer in Bangkok or Rayong, it comes with a red temporary number plate. When the permanent plate is issued, will it be a Bangkok or Rayong number plate, or can you arrange for it to be a Chonburi one? Does it matter, driving around Pattaya all the time with a plate from a different province? I've only bought second-hand with Chonburi plates in the past, so I have no idea about this.

I bought in BKK, have BKK plates and the car resides in Pattaya - no problems. I think you can change it but why would you want to? (and presume cost and delay etc).

Just a question - when you buy a car from a dealer in Bangkok or Rayong, it comes with a red temporary number plate. When the permanent plate is issued, will it be a Bangkok or Rayong number plate, or can you arrange for it to be a Chonburi one? Does it matter, driving around Pattaya all the time with a plate from a different province? I've only bought second-hand with Chonburi plates in the past, so I have no idea about this.

I bought in BKK, have BKK plates and the car resides in Pattaya - no problems. I think you can change it but why would you want to? (and presume cost and delay etc).

OK, thanks. So the dealers in other provinces are also happy to accept a residence certificate from Chonburi (Pattaya) Immigration when you buy a car?

Have had two BKK plated cars from new now with no issues. There is an urban myth that secondhand BKK cars fetch more than Chonburi plated cars.