Any idea what a small used car would cost?

[Old Fool]

I am toying at the idea of one day buying my girlfriend a car, but it would have to be reliable and not a million miles.  Any suggestions?

[MissAndry]

25k for a small Mira or old Honda

[geronimo]

100k would get you something tidy.

[impulse]

Craigslist or Kaidee.  

 

Or if they ever get the TVF classifieds working again.

[Old Fool]

ok so I'm looking for upwards of 3 G's in USD.  At least that's a picture to help decide.  GF was showing me a suzuki swift that her boss's daughter has.  Now she wants one because she crashed her scooter (not injured thank God).  I think I will help get the scooter back to 100% and then think about sinking that much dough into her...

[MissAndry]

Here's a suggestion,

Buy yourself a car and let her drive it. That way your car won't ever drive off with your former girlfriend.

Suzuki swift think 500-700kBht.

[Old Fool]

LOL, thanks, I am totally aware of that idea.  Unfortunately I live in US and can't manage ownership overseas.  GF is only a few months, that's why I'm sounding cheap.  Not that I don't like her a lot and want to think about buying it, I just want to make sure I don't lose too much cash if things don't end up working out.  And I mean me not her.  I truly believe that she cares for me.

[MissAndry]

Why can't you manage ownership overseas? presumably you will be here at least once.

Trip to your Embassy for CofR, trip to the Vehicle reg office to put your name on the ownership papers.

Job done. You never need to do anything here again.

[Old Fool]

LOL.  I like this place.  And MissAndry, thanks for that advice.  I will look into it.  BTW even if I forked out this cash, I would assure myself that if it was gone, I'd treat it like gambling money and only spend it if I could afford the loss.

[eggers]

About 12 mths ago, bought a Honda Jazz was 2005 model had only done 35k (proved to be genuine mileage). Was sceptical about mileage but could tell from cars condition (upolsthery, etc) had very little use . Bought thru Honda dealer had service books which verified mileage/regular servicing & dealer put 3 mth warranty on as they originally sold.

Paid 250k which was a reasonable price & not had any probs, just usual W &T, replace wiper blades, etc.

The Honda Jazz is a great vehicle for BKK traffic, very economical & a versatile interior. 

Would recommend buying thru brand dealer, may cost a bit more, but usually give warranty, unlike car yards. 

The only other thing that I'm not sure about is recall, Gov't have/had some plan about cars older than 7 years, was in media a few months back..... may be worth checking! 

[gdgbb]

4 hours ago, georgemandm said:

and about secondhand cars if you want one be very , very careful because if it is coming from a thai it will be no good , because Thais lots of them don't take care about they cars like they do with they bikes not care .

try and get a car from a expat if you can .

 

Old Fool, don't take any notice of that comment.  What percentage of cars on the Thai market have been owned by Thais...99%+?  And they're all "no good"?  Nonsense.

 

[gdgbb]

4 hours ago, georgemandm said:

and about secondhand cars if you want one be very , very careful because if it is coming from a thai it will be no good , because Thais lots of them don't take care about they cars like they do with they bikes not care .

try and get a car from a expat if you can .

 

 

He wants to spend around 100,000 baht, how many expats are selling anything at that kind of price that you think will be good?

[gdgbb]

6 hours ago, geronimo said:

100k would get you something tidy.

 

Really, such as what?  A 20 year old ex-taxi?

[clonetom]

If you are interested: We are selling our Nissan Tiida, because we're moving to China soon

 

PM me for more details

 

 

 

 

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

6 hours ago, Old Fool said:

ok so I'm looking for upwards of 3 G's in USD.  At least that's a picture to help decide.  GF was showing me a suzuki swift that her boss's daughter has.  Now she wants one because she crashed her scooter (not injured thank God).  I think I will help get the scooter back to 100% and then think about sinking that much dough into her...

 

http://www.one2car.com/suzuki/swift/

 

 

[akentryan]

Have a 2010 Nissan March with 25K on it. Insured value is 180K which is about its value if I were to sell.DELETED

[theguyfromanotherforum]

It's funny how losing hundreds of thousands of baht in Thailand is always gambling money, but council tax in UK is a ripoff.

 

Thailand made quite a lot thanks to gamblers like you. As they say the house always wins.

 

 

[dotpoom]

8 hours ago, Old Fool said:

ok so I'm looking for upwards of 3 G's in USD.  At least that's a picture to help decide.  GF was showing me a suzuki swift that her boss's daughter has.  Now she wants one because she crashed her scooter (not injured thank God).  I think I will help get the scooter back to 100% and then think about sinking that much dough into her...

 

Never understand why people living in Thailand quote foreign currency when we are dealing in Thai Baht?

[1FinickyOne]

8 hours ago, Old Fool said:

ok so I'm looking for upwards of 3 G's in USD.  At least that's a picture to help decide.  GF was showing me a suzuki swift that her boss's daughter has.  Now she wants one because she crashed her scooter (not injured thank God).  I think I will help get the scooter back to 100% and then think about sinking that much dough into her...

 

I think that it works better the other way around... my wife has driven a motorcycle now for several years and has not crashed it - she is very careful. So, this year I bought her a car. 

 

Since it is a gift, let her do the shopping - give her the budget you have in mind but if you have not known her long, and do not live here - it sounds too soon... or just give her the money. That might be all she really wants.  

[bazza40]

The OP will not get anything reliable for 100K baht, all of them will be plus 200,000 km and have the guts flogged out of them. That's assuming they've had regular servicing, which does not always happen.

The smaller cars such as the Nissan Micra or Honda Brio are very sensitive to servicing intervals because the engines are small, 1.2 litres.

There are some good buys to be made with the Toyota Vios, 1.5 litre bulletproof engine. Look for cars owned by a falang, they are mostly more conscientious about servicing. If you are lucky, 200K - 300K baht for an example with less than 80,000 km is possible.

Bear in mind locally produced cars may not have all the safety features of the exported models. Stuff like airbags and stability control.

 

Don't go anywhere near Korean or Chinese brands. Koreans because all their stocks of large spare parts are not held here, but sourced from Korea as a cost-saving measure. Chinese because they are simply death traps.

 

The OP has not said whether his girlfriend has a Thai car driving licence. That probably does not matter, because the standard of Thai driving instruction is abysmal. As she has already crashed her scooter, that should be a red flag on her driving skills.

[Rc2702]

5 hours ago, gdgbb said:

Old Fool, don't take any notice of that comment.  What percentage of cars on the Thai market have been owned by Thais...99%+?  And they're all "no good"?  Nonsense.

 

Very true some thais like anybody love their cars and give them TLC brought a VIOS 2008/9 in May 88k on clock immaculate car well worth 240k. (In thailand) Brought it for mrs it gets cleaned twice a week. It's not an easy task to find a very good used car where I am based, we visited 30 dealers to find that motor. Make sure your mrs watches the videos on YouTube about spotting water damage cars etc they are in thai language.

[seedy]

Off Topic posts Removed. OP asked about used cars, not relationship advice.

[JaseTheBass]

Very true some thais like anybody love their cars and give them TLC brought a VIOS 2008/9 in May 88k on clock immaculate car well worth 240k. (In thailand) Brought it for mrs it gets cleaned twice a week. It's not an easy task to find a very good used car where I am based, we visited 30 dealers to find that motor. Make sure your mrs watches the videos on YouTube about spotting water damage cars etc they are in thai language.

Agreed. A tiny fraction of Thai pre-owned cars are well looked after and are worth checking out.

[jacko45k]

12 hours ago, dotpoom said:

 

Never understand why people living in Thailand quote foreign currency when we are dealing in Thai Baht?

The guy already said he lives in the USA!

[NoshowJones]

23 hours ago, MissAndry said:

25k for a small Mira or old Honda

Reliable?????

[georgemandm]

16 hours ago, gdgbb said:

 

He wants to spend around 100,000 baht, how many expats are selling anything at that kind of price that you think will be good?

Read what I said ok if you want a good car try and get it from a expat , I don't quite the 1000 did I .

up to him what he wants to spend I was just saying try and get from a expat .

[ttthailand]

I would guess that if you didn't buy your girlfriend something nice she would be shy to drive it. Thai girls want something newer or a big SUV type to show their friends how rich they are, hahaha. There are some decent cars around that are cheap. If you want something newer you can pick up a 4 to 5 year old low mileage Proton Savvy for as little as 100 to 200k. Not a great name brand but can be a nice little car newer looking car for cheap. If you go with a SUV or something like a Toyota expect to pay 250k + for something 10 years old or older with high mileage.

[canthai55]

12 hours ago, Rc2702 said:

Very true some thais like anybody love their cars and give them TLC brought a VIOS 2008/9 in May 88k on clock immaculate car well worth 240k. (In thailand) Brought it for mrs it gets cleaned twice a week. It's not an easy task to find a very good used car where I am based, we visited 30 dealers to find that motor. Make sure your mrs watches the videos on YouTube about spotting water damage cars etc they are in thai language.

 

Agree 100% Some very good deals to be had. My first car in LOS was a Nissan NV. One lady owner, 220,000 km, not a scratch, dent, stain, Uses no oil, front end tight as a drum, converted to LPG since new. Bought tires and a battery since I purchased. Took a lot of looking, but they are out there. 150,000 Baht. Still have it as a town car due to its small size and ease to drive in traffic. Keep the Teana for road trips - also bought second hand.  

[DavisH]

It's much better to spend 250K on a newish eco car (or jazz/city/vios) than 100-150K on an old (1992-95) EG civic, which could need a lot of work done to it. 25-50K is scrap metal here and probably more dangerous than riding a new motorbike.