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Am I ruining my car in Phuket?


backstairs

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I have a lovely car bought new after a year or renting. It has been faithful. I service it every 6 months. New battery and tyres after 4 years.

Then I moved from a big villa with big car space to a small apartment with tight parking space.

I have scraped by bumpers 3 times. A tile has fallen from the roof and left bullet-like marks on the bonnet. A motorcycle cut me on the inside and left a 10 cm scratch/dent on pax door. And today I scraped the bumper/fender again, revealing white lines of plastic on my black car. Last week I backed into a pole in the dark. Not good. But the plastic popped out without a mark Most of these mishaps take place when I am near stationery.

Fortunately, my long suffering dealer grabs the touch-up paint when he sees me coming for another service.

I must sound like an idiot driver but I do drive safely around Phuket and treasure my car. My questions is two fold to you fine fellows.

a. How much minor damage am I doing to my car, and

b. How much will these scrapes and dents affect sell price next year? Thanx

Edited by backstairs
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Each centimeter of scratch will devalue a new car by 30000 baht, but that number doubles for each year the car is old. Multiple that number by each year old the car is, and also subtract an additional 15% off your original cost of the car.

For instance, if your car is 3 years old with 500 centimeter of scratches and the original cost was 1M Baht the car would have depreciated to around 614000 Baht based on age alone. Subtract 600000 for the total length and age of scratches and you have a 14000 Baht car. If you have smoked in the car, you own money.

Hope that helps.

Edited by Shot
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Each centimeter of scratch will devalue a new car by 30000 baht, but that number doubles for each year the car is old. Multiple that number by each year old the car is, and also subtract an additional 15% off your original cost of the car.

For instance, if your car is 3 years old with 500 centimeter of scratches and the original cost was 1M Baht the car would have depreciated to around 614000 Baht based on age alone. Subtract 600000 for the total length and age of scratches and you have a 14000 Baht car. If you have smoked in the car, you own money.

Hope that helps.

Plus there is an extra 10% of devaluation due to its proximity to the sea..........sea air contains more salt than the countryside wink.png

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You're not ruining your car in Phuket , it gets ruined all over Thailand. People here have absolutely no respect for other peoples property. The mai pen rai - attitude rules here. You park your car in a public place and it will be damaged.

This is not Thai bashing . Park your car in a heavy tourist area ( like Pattaya) , and watch from a distance how foreigners touch your car , they care even less , in a couple of days or weeks , they'll be back on the plane home , while you sit there with scratches and dents on your news car.

Car body repair is cheap but they can do more damage than the minor scratch you want to have fixed.

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You're not ruining your car in Phuket , it gets ruined all over Thailand. People here have absolutely no respect for other peoples property. The mai pen rai - attitude rules here. You park your car in a public place and it will be damaged.

My beloved car has been bashed 3 times. Twice in parking lots while I wasn't even in it (of course, no notes left). And once, rear ended at a red light by a drunk.

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I did get it restored each time at a competent body shop recommended by my Honda dealer.

After all, that's what insurance is for.

And I will admit that while I was expecting a nightmare, they did an excellent job including paint matching.

I think Mr. Shots estimates may have a little humor attached. At least I hope so.

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Yes, it will affect your selling price; however, why worry? You get the best value for money out of a car by driving it into the ground.

As long as the scrapes don't affect the driveability of the car, I'd leave them be. You are then announcing to the world you own a car, the car doesn't own you. Plus the scrapes could encourage other drivers to give you a wider berth.

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Cosmetic scratches don't really effect value if the buyer can't tell that its been fix. Most buyers don't get insurance reports here compare to western countries. I wouldn't worry about the value dropping, would worry more that you can't sell it at the price you want.

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One of the solution is to choose premium insurance packages, I'm pretty sure most of them will cover the minor damages even if the scratches made by unknown reasons or even theft. The downside is it has to be made by the owner, so anyone who want to rent a car in future, maybe a good idea checking on that make sure they have full cover for these kind of things...

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Each centimeter of scratch will devalue a new car by 30000 baht, but that number doubles for each year the car is old. Multiple that number by each year old the car is, and also subtract an additional 15% off your original cost of the car.

For instance, if your car is 3 years old with 500 centimeter of scratches and the original cost was 1M Baht the car would have depreciated to around 614000 Baht based on age alone. Subtract 600000 for the total length and age of scratches and you have a 14000 Baht car. If you have smoked in the car, you own money.

Hope that helps.

Does that scale work with motorbikes too?
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Each centimeter of scratch will devalue a new car by 30000 baht, but that number doubles for each year the car is old. Multiple that number by each year old the car is, and also subtract an additional 15% off your original cost of the car.

For instance, if your car is 3 years old with 500 centimeter of scratches and the original cost was 1M Baht the car would have depreciated to around 614000 Baht based on age alone. Subtract 600000 for the total length and age of scratches and you have a 14000 Baht car. If you have smoked in the car, you own money.

Hope that helps.

LOL... What planet are your from mate... Hey your good for a laugh but clown

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Hi I think it is great you look after your car which in return provides safe, reliable, enjoyable driving.

There are numerous problems to keep a car in good condition in Phuket:

1. Driving standard is low, so easy to have an accident.

2. Many uninsured motorbikes.

3. Thais do not generally maintain their owned items.

4. Resale value is mainly based in age and kms not condition, you most likely need a foreign buyer to appreciate that and pay more.

5. Road quality is low therefore easy to slip into a ditch/pothole during or after rain.

6. Drunks on the road.

7. Tourists who don't care and are often drunk.

Try checking with your insurance company to see if you can get the work completed without a huge excess or increase in premium.

It is good to maintain a car, look at Singapore their cars are mainly very clean and well maintained. The above comments about a cm scratch devaluing a car is not accurate so ignore it.

Edited by Terrific Thailand
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