Buying a bike that hasn't been registered in years.

[papa al]

What are the ramifications?

(Has green-book; from Thai national)

[coxo]

You will have to pay all the road tax from the last payment until now, how ever many years that is.

[duanebigsby]

I think you need a photocopy of the last owner's driver's license and the bike signed over to you by the old owner.

I bought one, hadn't been registered for over ten years and my Thai buddy had to track the last owner down. She could've claimed the bike as her name was still in the book as owner and I bought the bike from a third party. Luckily she signed it over.

I didn't pay any back road taxes on it.

[ggt]

If the bike was originally register in a different province...you may be asked to go back to the last place it was registered to re-register the bike...the most wonderful alternative...this is Thailand...they just might be able to do it in your province...for a nominal fee...sound familiar?

[Beardog]

And if it is more than either 3 or 5 years unregistered I understand they void your greenbook now( as of a couple of years ago when they changed the reg rules) Not sure if the magic number is 3 or 5 years. last posts on it seemed pretty divided between the 3 year & 5 year. If they crush the green book you would have to re-emission it & all the other hoops they make you go through. I think Richard would have more complete knowledge of the ramifications. I personally always request the present owner to go down to the DLT with me & get it transferred in my name or will not buy the bike if they refuse no matter how good the deal looks. I have only one person that would not & one other person that was playing some kinda game saying he worked & could never get off work to go to the DLT. And to make it worse he only would show the bike after it was dark. I took a pass on that & glad I did. I know something wasn't kosher with the seller & didn't trust him at all after the lame excuses. Papa be careful on these type of deals there are a lot of gray areas & one would hate to buy & find out the bike is only good for parts.You know about the older bikes are getting harder to keep legal especially if it is a doctored green book as most of the older bikes are. If it is a track bike & trailer-ed. Not a worry but if it is a street bike may be a problem with the way the newest government is now who knows what changes(if any) are coming up. If the dude wants to sell get him to transfer it with you otherwise you are taking a risk.

[papa al]

The seller seems to be on the up & up.

He sometimes posts on this forum.

I first saw the bike in this post:

Edited October 22, 2014 by papa al

[tomyumchai]

and get anything written on the tax page of the greenbook translated as (with cars anyway) you can have the road tax suspended for a period of time, or have the vehicle stamped as ,never to go back on the road again'.

i found that out when looking to buy a VW camper that the owner had spent 500,000 on, had not bothered to transfer the vehicle from a government owner to their name and had it stamped so you could not re tax it.......ever. i would ask why anyone would do something as stupid as that but i already guessed the answer.......TIT.

[Lokie]

That looks Mint Papa, but as said and you know already - Buyer Beware

[submaniac]

Hey does anyone have any links to posts or actual law about losing the green book after 3/6 years. It's my TZM we're talking about here, and my legit registered and green booked FZR has not been registered or used. Thanks.

[Beardog]

Well if he is a poster on the forum he most likely won't mind going down to whatever DLT he has to go to with you. That would be the only way you would be assured of a smooth transaction. A couple of years ago registration would be an easy fix but companies like Honda are spending tons of money to get anything off the road that isn't new by invalidating green books & making them impossible or way to much money to make it worth an older purchase.I let 3 great deals slide this year alone. I got caught once in the U.S. on a bad title deal which was not even the owners fault & had the car crushed after removing the running gear since I could never drive it legally on the road. That only happened once. I learned & will not take a chance if I want to have a legal vehicle. Just ask him to go down to the DLT & transfer with you. I even did that with my Kawi that was only 1 year old. Take no chances! Good luck on the ride!

[submaniac]

This is my bike(s). I have no problem going to a DLT to ensure a smooth transaction, however I am not in Thailand.

Could you please post some link to your claims that valid greenbooks are revoked for non operation? I have just spent alot of time trying to substantiate the claims.

[Beardog]

Sorry Papa the site will not let me message anyone or download or upload. I am having problems with TV 's site right now. Richard has been online for years with TV & imports I think mainly Chinese bikes. Not sure what his handle is but he has been on every Chinese bike post & several of the registration topics. I think his name is followed by numbers in his avatar. The guys I ride with heard it is 3 years but others have posted 5 years. So it seems no one is sure. However the DLT would have that answer. I would say Yankee or Norman W would know ....but neither has or buys bikes in question on registration issues. The other factor is I would not doubt it at all if BKK or Chain Mai, Phuket & Pattaya may have different answers to that question. Seems to be a huge void so most in TV land the last couple years shy away from anything that may be a problem. But one thing for sure If the guy is present at the DLT with you, you would most likely be certain that it is all Kosher as the DLT would be the party signing off on the Title.

[andrewrooney]

I ran into this issue trying to register a second hand KSR about two years ago. I had the green book with a signed copy of the previous owner's ID card etc. I took it to my closest DLT and they told me they couldn't register it because the tax had lapsed for 5 years. I was told I needed to first go to the last DLT where it was registered (in this case Bang Kun Tien), pay all the back taxes, get a letter saying I had done so, THEN go to the main DLT at Jatujak to get a new green book and plates. I decided it wasn't worth the trouble as the bike was in pretty poor shape, I'd paid barely anything for it, and I figured it was easier just to make sure I had 200 baht on my person whenever riding it. It was never an issue, I think the police always saw the bike and assumed I had no money.

Anyway, that was my experience, of course things may be done differently at your local DLT, who knows.

[Cry0]

Does any one know if i have a nice old bike here how can i get green book for it? it was bought as lots of parts, got fully restored but now i want to make it street legal. Is it even possible?

[darkian]

Well it used to be possible - my SR400 came into the country in parts from Japan (like the rest of them) and the previous owner paid about 40,000 baht to have a book prepared. I'm still jumping through hoops having the registration changed into my name though in the province where it's registered...

I heard recently there was some rule about frames not being allowed to be imported anymore - does this also mean that there can be no more dodgy books? TBH I don't know what the process is for creating a green book - I'm guessing that some money changes hands and the police facilitate it somehow.