Tighter control for tourists to bring in their cars during their stay in Thailand

[Tomtomtom69]

Make things more difficult and expect more tourism. Yeah...in your dreams.

In today's world getting some permit 10 days in advance to drive your car to some other country sounds like bureaucracy fifty years ago. If no insurance when entering, provide one at the border with a cost. Easy.

But this is about money. It is not for the luxurious tuk-tuks and scam volunteers called taxi drivers.

I'd be looking elsewhere. Just my five cents.

Yes in a sense you are right. But look at what China has been doing to foreign drivers (including Thais) for years - 3 months advance permission (3 months? how incompenent or lazy must Chinese officials handling these things be if they need 3 months to organize permits which take an hour to process?) a deposit at the border, temporary driving licence, Chinese guide in the car etc. etc. At least the Thais only need 10 days! Shows you who is more efficient, it's certainly not the communists up in Beijing.

So it's only fair the Thais reciprocate. How dare the Chinese exploit a loophole effectively for free while the Thais have to pay through the nose for the "privilege" of driving to China? Seems like an unfair double standard and I'm glad it's being rectified.

Since I don't expect China to change it's laws anytime soon, this is the only way Thailand can regulate things. Thousands of Chinese vehicles driving in Thailand could soon have turned into tens of thousands if they didn't put these new measures in place. Meanwhile how many Thai vehicles go to China? Maybe one every 3 years? Or perhaps one caravan tour every other year? Even an electric tuk tuk needs a guide to travel through China, how absurd! Meanwhile I don't think Thailand would become as ridiculous as that, this ruling is reasonable.

[Tomtomtom69]

So its gotten a lot cheaper. I remember a friend coming from Holiday on his bike from Sweden (world tour) and had to pay 200% of the moto's value to enter thailand. Reimbursed when leaving... This clearly is the cheaper option.

That's unusual because I thought Thailand doesn't use the carnet system.

I saw two European registered campervans/motorhomes the other day. The first one I saw on Feb 29, driving along route 1175, Ban Tak-Mae Ramad, in the direction of Mae Ramad. This was the last place in Thailand I'd expect to see a foreign registered vehicle driving. There's numerous checkpoints and the one about halfway through usually is quite strict. There is no reason not to let someone pass, but the official there probably would have had his head spinning seeing a LHD vehicle with European plates on this most local of local roads that most Thais don't even use let alone know about! At first my Thai business partner thought it was an NGO car I said LOL first of all, why would an NGO car have European plates (unless fake) and be a motorhome!

I then saw what appeared to be the same vehicle parked at the Robinson Mae Sot; it had a yellow licence plate but I didn't get close enough to see, I think that must have been a Dutch plate?

Later that same day, around 4pm near Doi Musoe, a Spanish registered tank-like motorhome was heading towards Mae Sot. I presume the two vehicle drivers know each other as it would be too much of a coincidence to see two motorhomes registered in Europe in the same general area in Thailand on the same day. I have never on my dozens of trips to Mae Sot ever seen any European or other foreign registrations drive that road, especially not motorhomes, though I did see two Russian vehicles on two separate occasions, in November 2014 and last November at the Friendship Bridge driving to/from Myanmar so they must have used the Mae Sot-Tak road too.

I presume these motorhomes were also headed to Myanmar.

However, until this new law goes into effect I don't think any carnet would be required of them to enter Thailand. Since Chinese vehicles don't need one and even under the new rules only advance permission, submission of itineraries/insurance/driver's licences and a temporary driver's licence will be required, I don't see why EU vehicles entering Thailand would be treated differently.

This new law, although aimed primarily at Chinese vehicles will likely effect ALL foreign registered vehicles EXCEPT ASEAN registrations with which Thailand has existing agreements of some sort (Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Myanmar).

[Tomtomtom69]

I saw a large blue plate left hand vehicle driving down Sukhumvit road yesterday. My wife said it was Chinese, so they are coming down further than the North.

They might not be for much longer (in large numbers anyway) after these new rules are implemented. So many articles but no indication of when they will be going into effect?

Yeah and why are the Chinese still here? I thought CNY finished a long time ago. So many Chinese seem to have endless holidays. When do they ever work?

Thais get very short holidays. Even the small number that would be interested in driving to China wouldn't have any time to drive much beyond Jinghong or maybe Kunming for 1-2 nights as 1 week would be about the max. time they can get off. Meanwhile Chinese seem to spend weeks driving down to Chiang Mai, even Bangkok from Beijing etc.

[Tomtomtom69]

I wonder if this is also linked to the Chinese now coming into Thailand using camper-style RV's. I guess the TAT of Thailand is not happy that they are losing out on the tourist money spent on hotels.

Yes it is part of the issue.

I think the new regulations more or less prohibit foreign registered RV's although there will probably be some way around it, but it will cost $$

I think continuing to point out the hypocrisy that the Chinese require all sorts of paperwork to bring in a Thai car/campervan it should come as no surprise that the Thais have had enough and said look, "we need to start charging these drivers because we are not getting any income out of them."

I am disappointed by the approach by say the White Temple to start charging foreigners later this year, but this approach to regulate foreign vehicles is different, because unlike Thai vehicles they pay no road tax. Also 1000 Baht (500 entry fee + 500 for the temporary licence) is a drop in the ocean compared to the 6800 I paid for my yearly road tax.

The main deterrent won't be the measly 1000 Baht but rather the advance permission requirement, which could also cost some money, if they have to register through travel agencies based in Thailand.

[Tomtomtom69]

This is sooo 19th century...

It would help a lot if general traffic rules and traffic signs in Thailand were harmonised with the rest of the world. One can always dream...

Thai traffic rules and signs are still light years ahead of Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam for example. So in that sense, Thailand is closer to harmonising it's standards with the rest of the world than any of these countries, which are still 30-40 years behind Thailand in all aspects regarding road infrastructure and signage, all of which is non-standard and in many cases, non-existant.

[Tomtomtom69]

Thailand was listed as #2 in the world for road causalities just a few days ago, and instead of dealing with that in any real manner, they focus on Chinese drivers and their cars. Can't say I'm surprised.

Well wouldn't you think not making the roads even MORE dangerous than they already are is a good thing?

China is just as dangerous as Thailand (if not more so) when it comes to road accidents and they also don't easily let foreign registered vehicles in. If China can do it, so can Thailand. No more double standards.

[Tomtomtom69]

But will they remember to drive on the left side of the road?

Where I live is on their favourite route from Chiang Mai through Chiang Rai to the border with Laos.

They love to drive in convoy, 4 way flashers blinking, eyes fixed on the GPS, one hand clutching a walkie talkie, usually down the middle of the road.

The locals dive for cover when they see those blue number plates coming!

Hopefully soon that will change. It remains to be seen how much of a deterrent they will be though.

I would hope the next step will be a police escort and/or guide with every convoy of more than 3 vehicles. They really are a menace and shouldn't be here in the first place. After all, Thai vehicles can't go to China easily so why have Chinese vehicles been allowed into Thailand so easily? No more double standards....