Driving from thailand to a neighboring country.

[watcharacters]

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I've been to Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia and wonder about the possibility of driving my car there next time I go to one of them.

The driving I've seen in each country doesn't seem to vary much from what i've encountered in TH.

I don't know about the insurance aspect of each country but I do know my Missus called our insurance company here and was told the insurance we have excludes any part of the planet outside of Th. Based on that alone, that makes it pretty expensive insurance but I suppose there is insurance available at each neighboring countries border crossing.

Have you traveled in your personal car to a neighboring country and if so was it an OK experience?

[samuijimmy]

I can only speak for Malaysia....

Before leaving get your license plate translated to "English" at your local motor vehicle dept... (in your province... This will save time).

They will give you a piece of paper to give to the Malaysian guys who will put stickies of the license plate on your vehicle ..... This is done just after crossing the border....

You pay for three months worth of insurance their too.(if memory serves ..... at Sadoe) this is located just after you cross the Malaysian border. I cannot remember what I paid, but it was for motorbike... but process is same for car/truck.

Make sure to have all Thai paperwork for return trip, just in case.... they ask for it... although I have never had a problem...

You also need small change, Ringit for tolls on the highway..... there are a lot of them especially near KL.... (free for motorbikes)

Hope that helps!

Edited June 18, 2014 by samuijimmy

[samran]

Malaysia - have your registration translated at the local land transport agency. Just drive aross the border and there will be registration formalities (taking the letter to the Malaysian road transport office) where you'll get a temporary rego and a broker will be there to sell you third party insurance. Easy peasy

Laos - you need a car passport, also from the local land transport dept. It litterally gets stamped in and out with passport stamps. At the Thai border you'll need to fill in a temporary export form, pay some fees and get everything stamped out. On the Laos side, you'll need to fill in a temporary import form, pay some fees and get third party insurance there. A bit more complex than Malaysia, but not too hard, just a bit chaotic on both sides.

So they are the two I've done.

Cambodia - google anything by 'phuketrichard' on this site. You can't take your car across at all checkpoints. Insurance doesn't seem to be available, but it is still worth emailing some of the larger insurance agencies in PP to see what is available. The second it is, I'm taking my car there, but not before, unless I buy a bomb.

Further afield, last month hired a LHD car from Avis in Vientiane and bought it across to Thailand for a quick run to Udon Thani. They can organise the paperwork for taking the car into TH, Cambodia, Vietnam and China (this last one I'm only 50% on). So there are adventures to be had there too.

[phuketrichard]

IN addition to the above;

Laos is easy, make sure you get the cars passport ( its a small purple book 50 baht )

Malaysia is easier, ( but make sure your window tint is less than 50%) you can get the number plates, you need two; one for front one for the back, at the border for 200 baht, same place you buy the insurance.

both you apply for and get Insurance at the border. costs me 800 baht ( but going to Malaysia and crossing at Satun they charged me 1,000 baht) ;-( for 1 month in Malaysia, Laos was 3 weeks for 500 baht

CAMBODIA;

now thats a different story.

you can currently only cross at Koh Kong now, before the coup you could cross at Osmach as well ( south of surin) but according to various other people that is closed to Thai cars.

NO INSURANCE available an they don't care but god forbid if your in a accident

Do a search for driving car into Cambodia here an you will see my wrote ups I have been in an out more than 6 times and love having my car there.

Have had two tickets, one in Phnom Penh $5, one in shv which costs me $20 ( cause there were 4 cops to split it with)

Body repair and any kind of mechanical repairs are 40% less than Thailand!!

YOU can legally take your thai car in and buy insurance but it takes about 2 months of mailing papers back and forth to the Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh

I to am waiting for China to give the ok for thai cars as i have been up to the border between Laos and China and would love to drive to Kumming!

Edited June 18, 2014 by phuketrichard

[Thailand J]

Before you take your car to a neigboring country, you might want to know:

Thailand, Malaysia are left-hand traffic .

Cambodia, Laos, Myammar are right-hand traffic.

[happynthailand]

you can't take a left-hand drive car or truck into Vietnam,only right-hand drive

tryed to take my truck into Vietnam was turned back ai the Cambodia/Vietnam crossing

Edited June 19, 2014 by happynthailand

[stoli]

IN addition to the above;

Laos is easy, make sure you get the cars passport ( its a small purple book 50 baht )

Malaysia is easier, ( but make sure your window tint is less than 50%) you can get the number plates, you need two; one for front one for the back, at the border for 200 baht, same place you buy the insurance.

both you apply for and get Insurance at the border. costs me 800 baht ( but going to Malaysia and crossing at Satun they charged me 1,000 baht) ;-( for 1 month in Malaysia, Laos was 3 weeks for 500 baht

CAMBODIA;

now thats a different story.

you can currently only cross at Koh Kong now, before the coup you could cross at Osmach as well ( south of surin) but according to various other people that is closed to Thai cars.

NO INSURANCE available an they don't care but god forbid if your in a accident

Do a search for driving car into Cambodia here an you will see my wrote ups I have been in an out more than 6 times and love having my car there.

Have had two tickets, one in Phnom Penh $5, one in shv which costs me $20 ( cause there were 4 cops to split it with)

Body repair and any kind of mechanical repairs are 40% less than Thailand!!

YOU can legally take your thai car in and buy insurance but it takes about 2 months of mailing papers back and forth to the Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh

I to am waiting for China to give the ok for thai cars as i have been up to the border between Laos and China and would love to drive to Kumming!

I would love to drive China, but I have been told that both the written and verbal driving tests are only given in Chinese. Is this true?

[phuketrichard]

been told at the border that people with Laos cars and licenses and visa in advance can go in as far as Kumming.

[dinger]

If you do go to Laos and I would imagine other countries as well get everything stamped out when leaving. When you cross the border your passport gets stamped into the country, your vehicle does also. On departing like usual you get stamped out, but make sure you also get your car stamped out and keep a copy of the paperwork.

Happened to me, they didn't enter the departure of my car when I left. On my next visit all sorts of problems. They said that my vehicle was already in Laos and I was trying to import another vehicle using fraudulent docs. Had to get the big guy there to do an actual inspection to verify the docs matched the vehicle I was driving

Not a real big issue if you have the correct paperwork

[hgma]

DO NOT DRIVE AFTER DARK 18.00 hr PM IN LAOS!

Cattle on the road, not to mention the intoxicated 'drivers' without any form of lights on.

Be prepared to take the blame in many accidents, even if your in the clear legally.

Insurer can do wonders, so get insurance @the border

Stay safe and enjoy this beautiful country

[dinger]

DO NOT DRIVE AFTER DARK 18.00 hr PM IN LAOS!

Cattle on the road, not to mention the intoxicated 'drivers' without any form of lights on.

Be prepared to take the blame in many accidents, even if your in the clear legally.

Insurer can do wonders, so get insurance @the border

Stay safe and enjoy this beautiful country

Are you sure you didn't mean Issan?

[phuketrichard]

Insurance is REQUIRED in Laos and Malaysia