FYI- The new car dealers are bona fide, registered sales reps for the manufacturers. Just go with the flow of the sales process, but work "only" with a sales rep, or dealer who speaks & understands English clearly ( a tremendous undertaking, even in Bangkok). You'll be spending a lot of money, so you'll want to avoid any language "cliches" or "misunderstandings. Its the "used" car dealers who tend to be a bit dodgy.

We bought a new Mitsubishi Mirage from a dealer in Chiang Mai. After we agreed on the price, I paid 10,000 baht as a deposit and told them it would be 7-10 days for funds to be transferred from the US to Thailand and I would then pick up the car (expect to do it on Saturday). The sales lady said the dealership wanted a 3000 baht deposit for the red plates which was to be refunded when the white plates arrived.

I will ensure we get the "book" or whatever it is to document travels when we have the red plates. Do you have to document every trip you take prior to getting the white plates or only those trips that go outside the province? Can I drive in Chiang Mai at night with red plates? If not, at what time does the car have to be off the road?

The car will not be in my name as I have a tourist visa and can't buy a car however I did buy a motorcycle last week and only had to supply a Certificate of Residence from Immigration. Why can a farang buy a motorcycle but not a car? Any clues?

Just saw the prior post from nongsangcity which answered one of my questions about how often you have to fill in the brown book. Thanks. Any idea about why I can buy a motorcycle but not a car on a tourist visa?

Something wrong here, I purchased a new car in 2012 and I only have a tourist visa, salesman told me I couldn't but wife brought me to a few places and I signed some papers etc. and got the car but I did have to supply an address. As for the plates, we went and got our own but found it hard to get the 3000 baht deposit returned.