Buying car

[Sutty]

Hi thought I would share my experience yesterday in buying a car in Khon Kaen.

Lovely pick up great seller no problems there. Go to transport office queue to get engine and chassis numbers checked gave them blue book would not do it!!!!. Parked up went inside talked to a real nice friendly lady upstairs who informed us that the car is registered in Karat so we have to go there to change name in blue book or change plates to Khon Kaen then we can change name to new owner ((me)).OK will do that good says lady come back next friday!!!!! Give credit where due she was good filled in all forms gave her my photo copies and proof of residency all OK seller did same but whoops all change seller has to have proof of residency now (seems this was changed two weeks ago). Off he trots to Imigration got back with 5 mins to spare all paperwork done now wait a week go back get new plates and change name. What a long winded palavour for buying a car But hey this is Thailand

[lj cm]

Thank you for the information.

I am planning to buy a (used) car in Bangkok, but thought I could do all the paperwork here in Chiang Mai.

I assume; if you get the Blue book, there are no loans in the car!?.

[Munsterman]

Just a related word of warning when buying a car ... AVOID BUYING A CAR THAT IS "OWNED" BY A FINANCE COMPANY WHENEVER POSSIBLE - unless you are in no hurry to get ownership.

I recently bought a car from an older Thai woman. She seemed legitimate - lived in Switzerland, married to an American, spoke good English. She had finance on the car, and so I went with her to the large and reputable finance office to pay off her debt and then (I thought) get the Blue Book to enable me to transfer ownership to my name. However, the finance company revealed - only after they had my money - that they don't have the Blue Book, it is somewhere in Bangkok (?) and they will get it for me in "2 or 3 days". It is now a week, and the finance company still doesn't know when the Blue Book will get here. It is, they say "lost in the post". In the meantime, the car has no current tax (another thing to check when buying), and I cannot renew the tax without the Blue Book. Meanwhile, I have to rent a car if I want to drive and avoid potential legal calamities. So the car is costing me much more than the price I paid, aside from wasted time.

Caveat Emptor, especially here in LoS.

My conclusions - buy only a car that has a Blue Book with it. And like the poster above, check that it is registered in your province to save unwanted trips around Thailand. Also check that the tax is up to date. If it isn't insist that the owner fixes it before you pick up and pay for the car. This will iron out any other little problems, such as your discovering you cannot renew the tax until the fines the car has collected before you bought it are paid.

[Sutty]

lj cm if you buy a car registered elsewhere than Chiang Mai then if they are the same as khon kaen and I assume they are you will not be able to change name in blue book there unless you change the plates as well.

[lj cm]

lj cm if you buy a car registered elsewhere than Chiang Mai then if they are the same as khon kaen and I assume they are you will not be able to change name in blue book there unless you change the plates as well.

That is OK; as long as it can all be done in Chiang Mai, so I don't have to go to the office in Bangkok.

I would also prefer to have CM plates.