Checklist/FAQ of buying a car in Thailand?

[JouniF]

I will be buying an used car in Thailand (Chiang Mai) in the very near future. Is there any FAQ or a checklist what to do to avoid any common pitfalls?

For example:

1) Is the price for the car that the sellers display the final price, or will some fees or taxes usually be added?

2) If you buy a few year old used car by paying a deposit and paying monthly, how big of an interest you are usually paying (compared to paying in full instead of monthly)?

3) If you do buy by paying monthly, what kind of terms these contracts usually have? As in, would I be free to sell the car before the term ends and so on?

4) About how much one should expect to pay for a first class car insurance? Any other must-have expenses one should take into account?

5) If you go to a well known used car dealer, are you still in a high risk of being scammed? For example, by being sold a car with mechanical problems known by the dealer but not being informed about when buying.

6) If we are talking about a car in the 600-500k baht price range, how much room for negation one can expect there to be in the price, for example if paying everything upfront (instead of monthly)?

[Robert24]

1) there are some smaller fees to be added when transferring car ownership at the government office. Depends on age of car etc, expect an additional few thousand baht for that. You can agree with the seller who will cover those fees.

4) First class insurance depends on car but expect about 15-20k per year depending on the insurance policy. Aside from this you need to pay road tax per year. Again this depends on the type of car and can vary from 700 baht per year for a small car to 7-8k per year for a big SUV.

5) Prices at car dealers for 2nd hand cars are very high in Thailand. My recommendation would be to either buy a new car or buy a used car at the government auction for repossessed cars. You get a much better deal at those auctions than from a car dealer. Btw car dealers buy some of their cars from auctions as well. If you are not an expert about cars, you can hire a car mechanic for half a day to check the car and the engine in the morning of the auction day. (morning you can check the car, afternoon is the auction).

6) My experience is actually that car dealers prefer when you need financing as they get some commission arranging a deal with the financing company. However my recommendation would be to pay everything upfront in cash and avoid getting a car loan.

Can't help you for 2) and 3) but hope the other points help.