International drivers license joy and woe

[Dannyboy666]

^^^ An International Driver's PERMIT (not license) is only valid for 1 (one) year in pretty much every jurisdiction in the world.

Yes, 1 year and cost about $20 UD.

. $15.00 and a Passport Photo at AAA USA

[Dannyboy666]

Is there ANY chance you might have a Google-searchable address? I want to pick up an IDP, too.

If this is for me I bought one couple of years ago from those shops that do photo copies/stationary for the licencing department,close by the school its across the slip road

. The Coppers are onto the Fake IDP's from Khoason Rd, they will Nail you for Fraud, I read this somewhere, Thaivisa or some site, Beware

[hawksway]

Could you not have obtained an ASEAN Drivers license instead? My Thai Wife simply went to the Driving Centre in Krabi and exchanged her normal Thai Licenses for ASEAN and this is valid in all member States.

[carlyai]

Should have walked to the row of shops opposite

Yes, but the trouble with those international licences is that if you have an accident, you don't really have a licence and insurance is invalid.

I wouldn't like to have an accident where I killed a Thai national and had a shop house international licence.

It's like the degrees you could get around the back packer areas in Bangkok. Real stamps, look good, but not real and bad consequences. Sometimes.

Also there seems to be a bit of misunderstanding about driving in Thailand without an international permit or a Thai drivers' licence.

Can you drive a car/bike in Australia with a Thai driver's licence? No.

Can you drive a car/bike in Thailand with an Australian drivers' licence? No.

You can rent a bike or car or 747 in Thailand with your countries driving licence, but when the police stop you, if you don't have an international permit you get fined.

So you rent a bike 50 m from the Pattaya police station and the lovely police standing outside the Police station stop you and fine you for not having an international permit.

I've been driving around Thailand for 28 years with an international permit that I get from Aus. or my Thai licence and never had to pay for not having a licence.

When I do get stopped for some traffic violation, I show my permit first in case they want to keep it.

[Jonmarleesco]

A scary thought when the licence is in the hands of a Thai; worse, when countries such as the UK don't even require them to have the international version.

[tsigane]

Glad to hear that you eventually managed to get it. I did not even after two 140km trips to Chonburi.

I went to the same office in Chonburi with my 5 yr license. The reception lady quickly pointed out with utterly sour face

that I needed residence certificate from the immigration (I didn't need it 2 years earlier, but they might have changed rules).

So I also rode back, got the letter and went to Chonburi again the following day. This time, the same lady, had to look

a bit harder to find a problem - my visa was not one year, so no go. She was triuphant but her face still as sour as

the first day.

After that I rode to Rayong office of transp dept. Lady there said no problem with visa duration, but needed letter from the

immigration in Rayong. She was nice enough and demonstrated that the receptionist in Chonburi simply wanted to make

my life hell.

After this I realized that getting an IDP by mail from my home country and avoiding dealing with nasty receptionists was the

way to go.

There is no need to say bad things about Thailand, but this was just another reminder of who I am in Thailand.

[Naam]

IDP? what for? i used Thai 5-year DL in the U.S, Germany, Switzerland and Austria to rent a car. no problem!

[ThaiBob]

Just curious why the OP felt the need to obtain an IDP. The Thai drivers license has been in English for many years now, Thai names are also transliterated to English, and I can rent a car and drive legally when I visit California.

[sandyf]

Thailand has not signed the 1968 convention so this, 3 year license, is not legally valid here. Thailand has only signed the 1949 convention, valid 1 year. What a car rental place requires and what the law requires are two different things. I have rented vehicles in many places without having to show a licence.

Anyway, Chonburi is a big town. Do you have GPS coordinates for the place to apply or a good description on how to find the place?

You can come up to Chonburi either on the No 3 or the No 7, The No 7 is far easier. Leave the motorway at the first exit signposted for Chonburi. This will take you on to the Chonburi bypass and follow that. You will cross over the 344 junction and then the 315 junction, about another 5 kms you will come to the junction of the bypass and Sukhumvit. here you need to turn left towards Chonburi, Land Transport office is about 2 kms along on the left hand side. There is a car park on the left as you go in and the office is just past there on the left.

If you do come up the other way then turn left on the bypass at Central Plaza, much easier than trying to go through the middle.

[sandyf]

To the OP.

I live on the outskirts of Chonburi and believe it or not, it is quicker to drive the 45 kms to Pattaya than the 12 kms into Chonburi. I first went to Pattaya but they refused to accept my medical certificate because it was from Chonburi, told me to go into Pattaya get a new one and come back in the afternoon.

We just got back in the car and drove up to the Chonburi office, it really is frustrating.