Driving license - Renew or re apply?

[Vogele123]

I had a car license here years ago, the one year license that was later upgraded to the 5 year license.

Unfortunately I let it expire about 5 years ago.

I still have the old 5 year license (for a car) and need to renew it. (Expired 5 years or more)

Anyone know if I have to start from scratch again or can I get another 5 year jobby? The other thing that is confusing me on the license application is which boxes to tick - obviously I need to tick EXPIRED, but since my last license I have also changed address, and this time I need the motorbike license as well.

Is it possible to get another 5 year license and change address for the car license and at the same time get a new motorbike license?

got all the papers required, passport copies, visa pages etc. (I expect that they will accept a Yellow Book as proof of residence rather than the letter from immigration???) Just been to the doctors for a blood pressure check and despite it being 180/110, he gave me the papers for the license, (visit to the Dr. and blood pressure check + the medical certificate = 20 Baht!!! ! I expected at least 500!

So what do you reckon? a new 5 year or start again with the 1 year jobby?

I do have the UK license, the new plastic photo piece of junk.

Edited February 14, 2015 by Vogele123

[gerry123]

I do have the UK license, the new plastic photo piece of junk.

thats good now you can swap it for a thai plastic photo piece of junk

you sound like you will qualify well with local driving standards

[cooked]

You will have to go through the process to get a m/c license anyway. Just relax and go along with it, it's easy.

[Rooo]

Moved to motoring.

[ferguston]

If your UK license is still valid apply for an IDP ( International Driving Permit ). You can apply by post to the AA in the UK. Google "IDP" for more information.

You can have the IDP posted back to LOS. Take it with the documents you already have to your local Transport Office. You will only have to do the colour, depth perception and reaction tests to get your license.

You will be asked if you want a motorbike license as well as a car license.

[Vogele123]

Thanks for the advice gents, I will give it a go with what I have at the moment and if it is too much hassle I will go for the IDP!

Cheers!

[Gonsalviz]

The IDP did no good for me when I applied. They took my expired 1 year Thai license. It expired in 1996. They issued me a 5 year license. Had to sit through everything.

Depends on where you go.

[Ace of Pop]

There was a new set of rules this year Re Ferangs renewing a 5 Year Car licence.Perhaps someone out there has had the Immigration hassle. Some info from Old Hands would be nice.

[TG911]

Thanks for the advice gents, I will give it a go with what I have at the moment and if it is too much hassle I will go for the IDP!

Cheers!

When I went last December in Pattaya, there was a UK lady with an expired 5 year Thai license also.

She had to sit through the 4 hour video session, the color tests and did the theoretical test in the computer room in the afternoon. No practical test required for her.

Edited February 20, 2015 by TG911

[kekalot]

Thanks for the advice gents, I will give it a go with what I have at the moment and if it is too much hassle I will go for the IDP!

Cheers!

When I went last December in Pattaya, there was a UK lady with an expired 5 year Thai license also.

She had to sit through the 4 hour video session, the color tests and did the theoretical test in the computer room in the afternoon. No practical test required for her.

ohh dang, I looked into this thread just hoping that no one would say that

my license expired last November only but I didn't renew it since I was leaving in like 2 months for a few months..

I sure hope that I will not be put through this damn video session again, it was dreadfull enough the first time!

[nithisa78]

Sabai and look after the BP. The license is small. You also have one from UK. Take care of yourself.

[sometimewoodworker]

ohh dang, I looked into this thread just hoping that no one would say that

my license expired last November only but I didn't renew it since I was leaving in like 2 months for a few months..

I sure hope that I will not be put through this damn video session again, it was dreadfull enough the first time!

you are OK as you are within 1 year

From DLT dot GOV

IN CASE OF FOREIGNER

RENEW THAI DRIVING LICENCE [bY YOURSELF]

FIVE-YEARS DRIVING LICENCE

HAVE TO PREPARE THE DOCUMENTS AS FOLLOW

1. ORIGINAL FIVE-YEARS THAI DRIVING LICENCE

2. PASSPORT WITH NON-IMMIGRANT VISA (ORIGINAL AND PHOTO COPY)

3. ORIGINAL PRESENT RESIDENT ADDRESS IN THAILAND CERTIFY FROM EMBASSY / IMMIGRATION BUREAU (VALID FOR 1 YEAR) OR WORK PERMIT WITH ORIGINAL AND PHOTO COPY

PROCEDURE

1) CHECK THE DOCUMENTS

2) PRINT THE APPLICATION FORM

3) TAKE ONLY A PHYSICAL TEST

-TAKE A TRAINING 1 HOURS

-TAKE A PHYSICAL TEST

-TAKE A THEORY TEST

-TAKE A PRACTICAL TEST

4) PAY THE FEE / TAKE A PHOTO AND PRINT DRIVING LICENCE

(FEE 505 BAHT AND PLASTIC SMART CARD 100 BAHT)

ADDITIONAL (CHANGE NAME OR ADDRESS CHARGE 50 BAHT)

REMARK :

1) IN CASE OF DRIVING LICENCE EXPIRED MORE THAN 1 YEAR

- TAKE A THEORY TEST

2) IN CASE OF DRIVING LICENCE EXPIRED MORE THAN 3 YEARS

- TAKE A THEORY TEST AND PRACTICAL TEST

[Ace of Pop]

Just done my 5 Year,renewal. 505 Bht. Peripheral Vision was a prob being tall, sat down and the machine was a foot to low for me, amused the Locals anyway.Reaction Brake test and Colour test easy,ignored my Doctors paper,50 Bht wasted, Video only 40 Mins. 1.5 Hrs total. Good Service for sure.

[Jip99]

Just done my 5 Year,renewal. 505 Bht. Peripheral Vision was a prob being tall, sat down and the machine was a foot to low for me, amused the Locals anyway.Reaction Brake test and Colour test easy,ignored my Doctors paper,50 Bht wasted, Video only 40 Mins. 1.5 Hrs total. Good Service for sure.

I also did mine today - car and motorcy. All standard charges, 960 Baht in all

Arrived 8.00 am finished 2.00 pm.

Not helped by the photographic equipment breaking down. Still too long - but painless.

% years ago a lady just pointed her stick at the coloured circles and that was it. All done less than an hour.

This time there was much waiting 1. Before we got underway with the electronic traffic light recognition 2. Before moving on to the brake reaction test - and peripheral vision test 3. 40 minute before watching the video (which I am sure was an hour - felt longer and 4. A long wait for the photo and card production (exacerbated by the equipment failure).

[Vogele123]

I tried to bluff my way through today - old Thai Car license, expired about 6 or 7 years ago, thought it would get me out of having to do the practical and the E test, instead it caused me more problems!

Even though the license was way past expiry, they did not treat it as a new application and they contacted the LTO in Chiang Mai City to try to update the details, even though I had to take all of the new tests. (instead of just letting me reapply they needed CM to enter all the new details from my current status onto my old DL! it took half a day!) - So if your license is expired (3 or more years - bin it- don't try to use it it will give you more hassle than starting fresh. As another poster pointed out, you home grown license carries no weight anymore, not worth taking, they are not interested.

This only buggered everything up as they had to wait 5 hours for CM to enter the new address, new passport and yellow book details into the system.

It would have been better to just trash the old license. (most of the people at the office were too young too even know what it was, they photocopied it and kept asking me when I got it and more to the point.....WHY YOU LET EXPIRE!!!!!

And just to note, I failed the multiple choice today, loads of crap questions about driving a tank on a public road.....real garbage, you now need 95% on 50 questions, a lot are repeated so it is good news or double jeapody, going back for another attemp5t Monday - I got 80% it was the tank question and a few more, they may have well asked if I should fly a kite out of the window of a moving vehicle travelling at 89.3 KMH, or is it legal to strap 150 helium balloons to a push bike when there is low pressure forecast....the test is shit, it has nothing to do with driving, it is the usual HiSo beaureaucrap just to make life difficult. If they had asked about passing on a blind bend or crest of a hill I could understand, but has driving a racing car or a tank on a public road got to do with safe driving?

Edited February 22, 2015 by seedy

[Vogele123]

Just done my 5 Year,renewal. 505 Bht. Peripheral Vision was a prob being tall, sat down and the machine was a foot to low for me, amused the Locals anyway.Reaction Brake test and Colour test easy,ignored my Doctors paper,50 Bht wasted, Video only 40 Mins. 1.5 Hrs total. Good Service for sure.

I also did mine today - car and motorcy. All standard charges, 960 Baht in all

Arrived 8.00 am finished 2.00 pm.

Not helped by the photographic equipment breaking down. Still too long - but painless.

% years ago a lady just pointed her stick at the coloured circles and that was it. All done less than an hour.

This time there was much waiting 1. Before we got underway with the electronic traffic light recognition 2. Before moving on to the brake reaction test - and peripheral vision test 3. 40 minute before watching the video (which I am sure was an hour - felt longer and 4. A long wait for the photo and card production (exacerbated by the equipment failure).

No brake reaction test or colour blindness here, you had to speak the random colours of the traffic lights, red, yellow, green, then try to align some piece of plastic on a motorized control for depth perception, then into the stupid bloody 50 questions which you need 95% to pass! The road signs are common sense but the Thai driving law is just complete useless nonsensical drivel....seriously, why would I need to know if it was legal to drive a bloody tank on a public road? These idiots would be better off asking "CAN YOU SEE?"

60% of the questions are road signs and if you know basic highway code you will get 100% of these correct, the problem you get is when they try to be clever with crap like 30-35mm parking from the kerb. I mean , half of the on the road here cannot even reverse a car!

"IS IT CLEVER TO OVERTAKE ON A BLIND BEND DOING 120 KMH?" As usual, commonsense plays no part, usual hoop jumping.

I did the test about 12 years ago with a UK license, colour blindness and reaction time was all that was asked. I didn't need to know about the legality of driving one of that idiots tanks on the road

I am going back Monday, if it still ends up like crap, stuff em, I will just drive without the license, only 400 Baht fine, (just the invalidity of the insurance that worries me)

Edited February 20, 2015 by Vogele123

[Liquorice]

@Vogele 123.

Mentioning your old expired Thai licence might cause problems.

Just take your UK Licence to avoid having to take the full test (IDP not required).

A Tabian Ban is better than a Certificate of Residence for proof of address.

Because you have a new address hopefully they won't link you to the old expired Thai Licence.

I don't know if your UK licence covered you for motorcycles. If not, bluff and tell them you have a 750CC Honda in the UK.

You should only have to do the basic tests as detailed by Jip99, Post #14.

[Jip99]

Just done my 5 Year,renewal. 505 Bht. Peripheral Vision was a prob being tall, sat down and the machine was a foot to low for me, amused the Locals anyway.Reaction Brake test and Colour test easy,ignored my Doctors paper,50 Bht wasted, Video only 40 Mins. 1.5 Hrs total. Good Service for sure.

I also did mine today - car and motorcy. All standard charges, 960 Baht in all

Arrived 8.00 am finished 2.00 pm.

Not helped by the photographic equipment breaking down. Still too long - but painless.

% years ago a lady just pointed her stick at the coloured circles and that was it. All done less than an hour.

This time there was much waiting 1. Before we got underway with the electronic traffic light recognition 2. Before moving on to the brake reaction test - and peripheral vision test 3. 40 minute before watching the video (which I am sure was an hour - felt longer and 4. A long wait for the photo and card production (exacerbated by the equipment failure).

A couple of bits I missed...... the previous day I called in to the LTO to ask if ONE Certificate of Residence + 1 copy would suffice. They said "yes" so that saved me 500 Baht.

I had heard that after the first licence renewal they do not require the health certificate - so I didn't bother with that and it was not asked for. I did show my UK ;licence.

I also had the depth perception test - pulling a piece of string to align two wooden sticks. Bl00dy odd, that one.

[JohnC]

The Pattaya Office will not accept a yellow house book, they insist on a residence letter from immigration who will issue one on the basis of your yellow book!

[fifa]

Got my 5yr Thai licence today - car & bike

(I have a full UK car & bike licence)

Started at 8.00am finish at 16.15pm

Originally had a 1yr Thai licence, expired in 2007. Firstly had to pass the practical test in the morning along with watching 2 videos for 2hrs on driving safely etc. They then stopped for lunch 12.00 to 1.00pm, one more video after lunch then into the exam room for a fifty multi question test - you have up to an hour to complete - you must get 75% of the fifty question correct to obtain a pass mark, finally back to have a photo taken/pay the fee and out pops your licence. I applied at the Bangkok office at 101 Sukhumvit Rd

[Ace of Pop]

Heres a tip for N,E Folks. Dont use the Main City test office,find a small center within that province.Ask a Local where they are,there are many.Much more Ferang Friendly and Happy to see You..Only 4 others there yesterday,

[cooked]

Thanks for the advice gents, I will give it a go with what I have at the moment and if it is too much hassle I will go for the IDP!

Cheers!

When I went last December in Pattaya, there was a UK lady with an expired 5 year Thai license also.

She had to sit through the 4 hour video session, the color tests and did the theoretical test in the computer room in the afternoon. No practical test required for her.

ohh dang, I looked into this thread just hoping that no one would say that

my license expired last November only but I didn't renew it since I was leaving in like 2 months for a few months..

I sure hope that I will not be put through this damn video session again, it was dreadfull enough the first time!

I was beckoned out of the room after 5 minutes. Maybe you can manage a discrete envelope and a mention of how many years you have been driving?

[thailand49]

You have to start all over again! If you do not plan on staying in Thailand continuous just get yourself a IDP, unless you have nothing to do and like to sit and wait around.

[seedy]

Written by pricks!

Let us try to keep the 6 letter word out of future posts, along with the four letter ones.

[Vogele123]

OK, here is the update as of today.

I read over a few of the sample E-tests online and seemed to get the hang of them, the E-test online from the Dept. of Transport is wrong on a couple of questions (The sample of 30) The main one is the Blue minimum speed, it thinks it is the maximum speed, and there is a debatable one on "Correct Parking".

Anyway, I was told to report back to the LTO today at 10 AM, I went in saw the guy I needed to see and was left sitting for 2.5 hours, he apologized and took me into the E-Exam room, I was the only one there.

Again, they gave me two electronic cards (I wrongly thought they were giving me 2 chances - they were NOT! One test is for the car license one is for motorbike - so you need to pass both tests at 90%, or 45 out of 50)

The first test I got 49 out of 50 and thought great that's it, in the bag - NO! I had to take it again for the bike. (They were pretty good people, really polite - the guy that spoke good English told me if I got 50 out of 50 on the 2nd test I had to go and sleep with Lin Ping the Panda at Chiang Mai zoo which was pretty funny.)

2nd test I got 47 out of the 50.

Now come back at 1.30pm for the driving test.

They scribbled some info of what I needed to do on a piece of A4, basically, it was drive in forward and park the car not less than 25CM from the kerb, straight, all four wheels and not less than 1 metre from the stop sign with no parts of the vehicle protruding over the line.

Next, was to drive out and pull forward of a second parking bay then reverse into it and get all four wheels within 25cm of the kerb. This needed to be done in less than 7 gear changes including the first reverse and final pull out, no turning your head, only mirrors.

This was a lot more difficult than I first thought due to the size of my truck, it was pretty tight, I did NOT get into the 25cm, but was off by about 5 cm.

Next was a forward drive into a row of poles either side, not a lot of clearance for my truck mirrors, maybe 10cm each side. Then reverse back out without turning my head and only using mirrors.

All was pretty much OK apart from being a bit out from the reverse parking.

Then he asked me to hire a bike from some woman across the parking lot - she had 1 bike, it looked like a 40 year old clapped out Vespa, no mirrors, no rear brake, no clutch, no gears and had a serious wobble, the front brake when applied caused it to skid. (I have never been on such a terrible bike in my life and had no idea even how to start it - you have to pull in a lever like a clutch then use an electric start, I revved up and nothing happened, I was looking for a gear lever. However, it seems like this bike needed about 7000 revs to pull away and the wheel bearings and small wheels were so crap it took all my concentration just to get the damn thing moving.

So, I had 30 metres of road to "Learn" the bike and it was onto the course.

You have to weave between about 6 cones (This was hell on earth on this bike but I got through JUST!) Then there was a kerb up onto a narrow ramp about 8 inches wide and 20 metres long, you have to keep the bike straight and on the elevated ramp, again, not as easy as it sounds and not with this bike from hell.

After that you turn right, around a U-turn and then a right turn, all within about 10 metres and then drive all the way back to the starting point in a straight line.

Thought I had nailed it but I was so busy trying to keep the bike upright that I completely missed a STOP sign which I never even saw.

So, the guy passed me on the car test, paid 730 Baht and they surprisingly gave me a 5 year license, which actually has a 2005 issue date from when I originally got my first 5 year license.

They failed me on the bike test but only for the stop sign, I passed everything else.

He told me he knew it was the bike that was the problem, but could not overlook the failure to stop, which to be honest is fair enough.

So now I have to take a "familiar" bike with me ("In your pick up" was suggested) on Thursday afternoon to finish the bike license.

See how it goes eh?

[Vogele123]

Got my 5yr Thai licence today - car & bike

(I have a full UK car & bike licence)

Started at 8.00am finish at 16.15pm

Originally had a 1yr Thai licence, expired in 2007. Firstly had to pass the practical test in the morning along with watching 2 videos for 2hrs on driving safely etc. They then stopped for lunch 12.00 to 1.00pm, one more video after lunch then into the exam room for a fifty multi question test - you have up to an hour to complete - you must get 75% of the fifty question correct to obtain a pass mark, finally back to have a photo taken/pay the fee and out pops your licence. I applied at the Bangkok office at 101 Sukhumvit Rd

You do NOT have to get 75%, you HAVE to get 90%, and if you do the bike and car test the same day, you have to answer 100 questions and get 45 right on each test! It is a bugger!

I believe the old test was 70% on 30 questions but the new test is 90% on 50. Not that simple unless you practice some of the answers.

Edited February 23, 2015 by Vogele123

[Vogele123]

Got my 5yr Thai licence today - car & bike

(I have a full UK car & bike licence)

Started at 8.00am finish at 16.15pm

Originally had a 1yr Thai licence, expired in 2007. Firstly had to pass the practical test in the morning along with watching 2 videos for 2hrs on driving safely etc. They then stopped for lunch 12.00 to 1.00pm, one more video after lunch then into the exam room for a fifty multi question test - you have up to an hour to complete - you must get 75% of the fifty question correct to obtain a pass mark, finally back to have a photo taken/pay the fee and out pops your licence. I applied at the Bangkok office at 101 Sukhumvit Rd

You do NOT have to get 75%, you HAVE to get 90%, and if you do the bike and car test the same day, you have to answer 100 questions and get 45 right on each test! It is a bugger!

I believe the old test was 70% on 30 questions but the new test is 90% on 50. Not that simple unless you practice some of the answers.

Friday got 40 out of 50 on the first test and it was a fail, 2nd 50 I got something like 37 out of 50 as I was in denial and panic mode.

[Vogele123]

Thanks for the advice gents, I will give it a go with what I have at the moment and if it is too much hassle I will go for the IDP!

Cheers!

When I went last December in Pattaya, there was a UK lady with an expired 5 year Thai license also.

She had to sit through the 4 hour video session, the color tests and did the theoretical test in the computer room in the afternoon. No practical test required for her.

ohh dang, I looked into this thread just hoping that no one would say that

my license expired last November only but I didn't renew it since I was leaving in like 2 months for a few months..

I sure hope that I will not be put through this damn video session again, it was dreadfull enough the first time!

You could probably just go to sleep, the place I was no one paid the slightest bit of interest.

The really strange thing was regarding the E-Exam, and I am not being condescending but about 35 out of the 40 or more applicants where I was were Karian, I mean real Hill Tribe, most of them were signing the license applications with a BLUE RIGHT THUMB PRINT!!!, so how on earth were they able to use the computer on the E-Test????

I did hear from a couple of people that you can pay 1500 for a basic license and 3000 for a truck license, I must admit I did not get that vibe from the guys working there, but I think maybe the "Big Boss" looked open to suggestions! Weird though, the guy that has tested me was great, and I wouldn't have insulted his integrity by offering any "Cash" What I will do is buy him a bottle of whisky later this week simply for him helping me by laying everything out in almost perfect English ( He was ex Singapore Airline crew) If it was just me and the Passa Muang brigade I would have been up shit creek!