Has anybody ever shipped a Thai registered car to Europe?

[Nip]

Just wondering if shipping a car bought in Thailand to Europe was a viable option? I have just about had it here after 16 years and it seems it could kill 2 birds with the one stone ie personal goods could be shipped in the car also? Interested to see if others considered it or actually did it? And if so was it worth doing? Thank you in advance ...... I know a lot of Japanese cars in the past were shipped to Europe.

[brewsterbudgen]

I'd be interested in this as well. If you don't get an answer here, you could post it in the Motoring section on ThaiVisa.

[berybert]

If you ship the car you will have to declare the items shipped inside of it also. Once again why don't you consult a professional removal company. That is what they are there for.

[Nip]

If you ship the car you will have to declare the items shipped inside of it also. Once again why don't you consult a professional removal company. That is what they are there for.

Of course I would have to declare what was inside the car but the point is I would save the additional shipping charges. I will of course consult a shipping company just wondering if anybody else had taken this route and had any warnings of pitfalls to offer.

[The Big Mango]

The resale value here would be considerable more than back in Europe , maybe sell the car here and buy another one when you arrive back there ?

Would be a better $$ choice perhaps

Edited May 15, 2016 by The Big Mango

[tomwct]

The Tax on a Thai Car is 100%. Even in the EU cars are cheaper!

[berybert]

If you ship the car you will have to declare the items shipped inside of it also. Once again why don't you consult a professional removal company. That is what they are there for.

Of course I would have to declare what was inside the car but the point is I would save the additional shipping charges. I will of course consult a shipping company just wondering if anybody else had taken this route and had any warnings of pitfalls to offer.

How would you save on additional charges ? You will need a 20 foot container which will only have your items in it. You could use a 40 footer and share with other people. But then you might have to wait an extra 2 months or so before getting your gear.

[Koosdedooes]

Has said car got a heater ?...if not will cost you a lot of money getting one put in...unless you intend living in the warmer climes of Europe

[nisakiman]

I would have thought the sensible thing to do would be to sell the car and buy another (much cheaper than Thailand) in Europe. If you take a Thai car to EU, it will have to have certification that it meets all EU directives concerning vehicles, be re-registered etc etc. There may also be tax to pay, I'm not sure. Probably depends on which country you want to take it. In all, a lot of aggro to take a car from somewhere where cars are expensive to somewhere where cars are cheap.

[Apiwan2]

Interested to know what car it is that you wanna take it back.

You said you've had enough of here. Funny that quite a few falangs I've met recently saying the same .

[blackcab]

Unless it's really rare, sell it here as that is where the value is. As soon as that car leaves Thailand it stops being expensive and becomes just an average priced car.

[evadgib]

Has said car got a heater ?...if not will cost you a lot of money getting one put in...unless you intend living in the warmer climes of Europe

A heater and a new mph clock face were all a friend needed when he returned home a few years ago.

[evadgib]

Unless it's really rare, sell it here as that is where the value is. As soon as that car leaves Thailand it stops being expensive and becomes just an average priced car.

...and exhausts etc suddenly develope a shelf-life:)

[dbrenn]

You'd need to check too if it complies with all the EU rules on emissions, safety, etc, etc, and what the testing and licencing procedures are over there.

[Ronuk]

I used to Import cars for a living. You could never Import a car from Thailand in to the UK and get it registered. No idea if that rule has changed or if the rest of the EU implements the same rulings. You need to be certain before you ship it.
Not all countries can be imported from when it comes to vehicles. I would love to import my Dodge Ram Truck which I imported from the US in to the UK, back to Bangkok but the import duty in to Thailand would kill it.

[kartman]

Some time back somebody did post they imported a Mk1 Escort to the UK but i think it's age made things easier and 60's / 70's Escort's & Cortina's are worth more there than here.

[overherebc]

Checking through UK Gov' sites it has one part that mentions pre 1976 cars don't attract tax or import duties but must be original or very near.

Believe they used the term Historical Vehicle.

[turgid]

I once looked at shipping a Harley from the UK to Singapore. I only sent a one line email asking if it was possible and they sent a book of regulations about 300 pages long on the vehicle import requirements. You have to confirm all sorts of things like the material the brake lining is made of, the external light design and colour which make it prohibitively expensive to bring in a small quantities of vehicles. The large manufacturers are allowed to self certify that regs are met but I doubt you would be. Even the engine engagement software is tweaked across various markets for temperature and fuel type - or a least the manufacturers claim it is and we know they never lie about emissions.

I lived in Ireland for a while in the early nineties and there was a huge business in bringing in low mileage second hand cars from Japan and selling them but I think that loophole got closed by enforcing European regulations. If you could make a case for the car being rare or exceptional you might be able to do it otherwise i cant imagine it would ever be worth the money and effort.

[balo]

Why not just drive the car out of Thailand , get travel documents and hope for the best ? You should be able to get through Russia before the traffic cops will stop you.......then you need to make up a good story.

[Paul944]

Sending a 16 year old car to Europe? What kind of car? I assume with Europe you mean England because else having the steering wheel at the right side is a nuisance.

First the same brand and model should also be on the market in Europe, else you never get a European license plate.

The average price of a 16 year old car in Europe is under 1000 euro. Shipping and paperwork will be around 2000 euro. So it is not a very economical action unless the car is a collectors item.

[manarak]

Sending a 16 year old car to Europe? What kind of car? I assume with Europe you mean England because else having the steering wheel at the right side is a nuisance.

First the same brand and model should also be on the market in Europe, else you never get a European license plate.

The average price of a 16 year old car in Europe is under 1000 euro. Shipping and paperwork will be around 2000 euro. So it is not a very economical action unless the car is a collectors item.

It's the recently-become-famous monk's vintage Benz.

[laolover88]

There is certainly a market for "unusual cars here. If you were able to ship it I doubt you could get it registered because of all the regulations. If it is 16 years old you would have to MOT it. The only second hand cars that seem to be importable to the UK are Japanese MX3s. If it was made in Thailand I doubt it begins to meet even the manufacturing specification of the UK that was in place even those years ago. I have Mercedes 190s in the UK. Built like tanks. Cost between 500 and 1000GBP. Here 200,000 Baht.

[tifino]

depending upon where the vehicle was actually made, will make a huge difference...

if it's a BMW, then most likely it was made in Thailand

if it's a Merc it comes from India for the Thai market

...and it's not just the Brand, but also what specific Model you have.

For example I had a BMW 528 from the 80s, but couldn't take back with me to Australia because that particular model, of Thai build, was not supported for maintenance parts in OZ.

(Well, I could have taken it, but I had learnt early enough about the support problem)

Being built without the heater for example can make it difficult to retrofit one, when the dash mounting doesn't cater the internal space for one.

...and what about other things like the rear demister?

[jay1980]

I have a mate who shipped some old VW vans and beatles to the UK from Thailand, and got them registered in the UK so it can be done but I don't know the procedure.

There are also company's that do grey imports from Japan to the UK and Ireland, mostly of performance Japanese cars like Nissan Skylines and Honda Integra's so maybe contact one of those company's to help register a grey import from Asia into the UK

one of these companies has a basic guide here:

http://torque-gt.co.uk/auctions/import-process/

hope that helps

Edited May 17, 2016 by jay1980

[kartman]

Sending a 16 year old car to Europe? What kind of car? I assume with Europe you mean England because else having the steering wheel at the right side is a nuisance.

First the same brand and model should also be on the market in Europe, else you never get a European license plate.

The average price of a 16 year old car in Europe is under 1000 euro. Shipping and paperwork will be around 2000 euro. So it is not a very economical action unless the car is a collectors item.

I read it as the OP is DELETED off after 16 years here, not the age of the vehicle.

Edited May 18, 2016 by seedy
language

[stingray]

You can drive it out of TH, if the car is in your name and ship it from Singapore to Europe. Just get the international Carnet & No plates. No problems at all.

But it doesn't really make sense, as in Eu the cars are much cheaper than in TH and the steering is on the left side (exept GB).

But i'll maybe take my (Thai registered) American car to Switzerland, when i moving back.

Edited May 17, 2016 by stingray

[Nip]

Thanks indeed for the comments and alerting me to some issues I did not consider in shipping a car to Europe. I have requested a few quotes from shippers and will post here in due course. The cost will determine whether it is a runner or not. That said the EEC regulations will have to be checked as well. I appreciate your input ... Thank you.

Wanting to abandon Thailand is an emotive issue but the present situation is worrying. I fear the country is imploding and am aware that the boys in brown are about to be wacked in the gut over issues in the news at the moment. There are some quite astounding issues being bubbling under and may well boil over. Years ago when somebody voiced disproval of living in Thailand in forums the usual answer was if you don't like it naff off now its generally ... Don't blame you. Anyway thanks again everyone for input much appreciated.

[Nip]

You can drive it out of TH, if the car is in your name and ship it from Singapore to Europe. Just get the international Carnet & No plates. No problems at all.

But it doesn't really make sense, as in Eu the cars are much cheaper than in TH and the steering is on the left side (exept GB).

But i'll maybe take my (Thai registered) American car to Switzerland, when i moving back.

Good points .... Thank you ..... Thing is the car has less than 24,000 Km's on the clock and bought and paid for long ago so owes me nothing other than the shipping and clearance charges which I hope to find out soon. I can also pack it with personal items that I would have to ship separately. Thanks again ....

[overherebc]

Sending a 16 year old car to Europe? What kind of car? I assume with Europe you mean England because else having the steering wheel at the right side is a nuisance.

First the same brand and model should also be on the market in Europe, else you never get a European license plate.

The average price of a 16 year old car in Europe is under 1000 euro. Shipping and paperwork will be around 2000 euro. So it is not a very economical action unless the car is a collectors item.

It's actually UK, consists of more than just england last time I was there.