Evening, I have a quick question if anyone can help.

 

Does anybody know the average running costs to keep a car. I am based in Phuket and aware of petrol prices and obviously that cost will be based on usage. I have had a couple of accidents on scooter and time to move to a car. Im not after the cost of the car more the running costs like insurance, tax and anything else i have forgotton. I am a 38 year old male.

 

For me (aside from fuel cost) the biggest part is the complementary insurance.

Costs for that vary much on what class of insurance you choose (1, 2+, 2,... as they are classified by Muang Thai).

Compulsory insurance and tax make a fraction of that.

To give a rough idea: my annual cost for complementary insurance (2+), compulsory insurance and tax come out around 10000 Baht a year for 1.5 liter Mazda 2 (a compact car).

I still do regular service at Mazda every 10000 km.

That's in the 2k to 3k range (they pushed me to the most expensive motor oil).

Within 5 years I had no technical problems/breakdowns or the like.

But generally workshop cost  is much lower than in the west.

I had ruined my tires quickly in the beginning.

And that was not cheap.

Brand name tires have similar cost than in the west.

 

Could you give an idea of what kind/category of car you are looking at?

Depends on your budget obviously the smallest cars are the cheapest and buy cash s/h about 4 - 5 year old.

Besides fuel, tax, and insurance. My best investment is the socket wrench, a square plastic container, some gloves. Finish in less than an hour, 4 liters of engine oil maybe around 1000 baht, one oil filter 300ish.

Budget on 30,000 Bht a year + your fuel cost for small car

I have included rego, insurance, 2 x services & some towards tyre wear

The older the car the higher the repair and maintenance costs.

 

Figure on a five year old vehicle costing 450k:

 

one service x 5k, twice a year = 10k

 

decent insurance = 12k

 

road tax per year = 5k

 

one repair incident per year = 10k

 

tires every 30k miles 4x4k = 16 or 5.3 per year

 

say about 40k per year, plus fuel costs.

Edited January 21, 20179 yr by chiang mai

my friend in Phuket used to have to pay much much more in repairs for the same item than I did up country... 

I have a four year old Isuzu DMax 4x4 purchased new.  First class insurance , liability, and taxes come out to be about 21000 baht a year.  Maintenance is done every 10000km.  The cost ranges from 1500-7000 baht.  Never had a problem with the truck outside of some scratches and minor dents.  Everything was covered by the insurance.  

2 hours ago, JacChang said:

Besides fuel, tax, and insurance. My best investment is the socket wrench, a square plastic container, some gloves. Finish in less than an hour, 4 liters of engine oil maybe around 1000 baht, one oil filter 300ish.

 

How do you dispose of the old oil?  Do service stations here accept such "donations"?

45 minutes ago, wpcoe said:

 

How do you dispose of the old oil?  Do service stations here accept such "donations"?

 

at least up country someone will always be happy with that: for a farm tuktuk, for a piston water pump, for the cement casters as separating oil etc.

I bought a two yr old car still under factory warranty car cost 342000 first class ins with a deductible 9600 per yr rd tax 1700 it uses 85 gasohol 20 baht per litet

Only cost any one can give us there costs it depends on age of car. Mine 2009 izuzu pick up 2.5d I so all the main tanned which is a lot cheaper only thing it goes in for is aircon recharge every year 300 bht at local shop. Oil 800 to 1000bht I change it every six months or if I've done high millage over a few months I change it then as well. Insurance (not a brilliant company this time will change again this year) 1 200Bht  class 1 which included compulsory insurance. 250 bht yearly for the car compliance form (mot joke) as it's over 7 years old. And 3900 from now on per year for tax (gets cheaper every year for I belive 5 years then fixed.

Then running cost which depends on engine size ect ect.

Changed tyres this year old set had on for 2 years. 3000 for 4 maxim tyres fully fitted.

Ford Ranger 1 year old now just renewed the insurance, 18,600 odd baht for 650,000 baht cover, car cost 800,000 a year ago with 3 year warranty or 100,000km which ever comes 1st. 2 services so far 3,500 baht and 4,500 baht, like others have said, depending on the age and make of the car it will vary, probably around 30 to 40k baht per year plus petrol

Lots of good advice there poster I read them all. The part I think that was left out is the road gladiators you will face on a daily basis. Your age should help you overcome that fear but at my age it scares be bee geesus out of me. Good luck happy motoring. 

3 hours ago, chiang mai said:

The older the car the higher the repair and maintenance costs.

 

Figure on a five year old vehicle costing 450k:

 

one service x 5k, twice a year = 10k

 

decent insurance = 12k

 

road tax per year = 5k

 

one repair incident per year = 10k

 

tires every 30k miles 4x4k = 16 or 5.3 per year

 

say about 40k per year, plus fuel costs.

I would think that your service costs are high, more about 2-3000,

insurance a little high as well around 9,000

road tax for a car 1,600 to 2,000 don't forget after 5 years it reduces 10% a year, arriving at a final figure of 50% of original, so a 11 year old  Honda city costs 800 baht a year.

yearly car repair, either a bad driver or very unlucky, save up a few years worth and claim on the 9,000 baht class 1 insurance.

my Honda city at 120,000 kilos is on the 3rd set including the originals, so a set every 3 years.

 

these are car prices

thank you for all the feedback. I am looking at a compact car, Yaris, Jazz that kind of thing, im confused on the insurance types though as it seems to be level 1 2a 2 etc. Is One all singing all dancing and then goes down from there.

Also There does not seem to be much difference between new prices and cars that are 2/3 year old. In the UK the car drops dramatic in value once driven off the forecourt new but that does not seem to be the case here, i would of thought due to basic high numbers of nearly new cars that it would drive the price down

thank you for all the feedback. I am looking at a compact car, Yaris, Jazz that kind of thing, im confused on the insurance types though as it seems to be level 1 2a 2 etc. Is One all singing all dancing and then goes down from there.

Also There does not seem to be much difference between new prices and cars that are 2/3 year old. In the UK the car drops dramatic in value once driven off the forecourt new but that does not seem to be the case here, i would of thought due to basic high numbers of nearly new cars that it would drive the price down

I was torn between the Yaris and Jazz too. Went for the Jazz due to engine size (1.5) and has a real good boot ( trunk) size when seats folded.

Only had it since mid Nov but racked up 7500 km's but am more than satisfied.

Plus they had a good deal on at the time, got leather seats, window film, 1 years insurance and a bunch of freebies ( car cover, tow rope, jump leads etc) thrown in.

I looked at buying used but the high prices didn't warrant buying, made sense to me to buy new and in 2 or 3 years could sell for a good deal .

Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

Rent	months	Rate	Total B	US$	Rate
	3	22,000	66,000	$1,660	35
Buy	Initial		350,000
	Depreciation		45,500	$1,300
	New value		304,500
	Insurance		12,000	$343
	Mtce		6,000	$171
	Investment loss @ 7%		24,500	$700
	Total			$2,514	88000

 

I quickly put this together on whether to buy again after selling my truck 2 years ago and us not being here.  Investment loss is often called opportunity cost.

Re the insurance I would just go for 1st class on a small car (personaly I would go for 1st class for any car or pick up covers everything including  any of your own damage you may do).

My Three year old Toyota Vigo double cab costs

 

3 service x 5k, twice a year = 15k

 

First-class insurance = 14k

 

Road tax per year = 5k

 

Tires every 60k miles 4x4k = 16 or 2.6 per year

 

20K km per year @2thb per km = 20k

 

Total of 56,000 thb per year or 2.83 per km

 

Incidentally the tires are still original and have about another 20k before need to replace.

4 minutes ago, roiethome said:

My Three year old Toyota Vigo double cab costs

 

3 service x 5k, twice a year = 15k

 

First-class insurance = 14k

 

Road tax per year = 5k

 

Tires every 60k miles 4x4k = 16 or 2.6 per year

 

20K km per year @2thb per km = 20k

 

Total of 56,000 thb per year or 2.83 per km

 

Incidentally the tires are still original and have about another 20k before need to replace.

 

We both based on our numbers on our experience of the same vehicle it seems.

13 hours ago, steve187 said:

I would think that your service costs are high, more about 2-3000,

insurance a little high as well around 9,000

road tax for a car 1,600 to 2,000 don't forget after 5 years it reduces 10% a year, arriving at a final figure of 50% of original, so a 11 year old  Honda city costs 800 baht a year.

yearly car repair, either a bad driver or very unlucky, save up a few years worth and claim on the 9,000 baht class 1 insurance.

my Honda city at 120,000 kilos is on the 3rd set including the originals, so a set every 3 years.

 

these are car prices

 

Your numbers are for a Honda City, mine are for a Vigo.

9Lots of replies re servicing 

19 minutes ago, roiethome said:

My Three year old Toyota Vigo double cab costs

 

3 service x 5k, twice a year = 15k

 

First-class insurance = 14k

 

Road tax per year = 5k

 

Tires every 60k miles 4x4k = 16 or 2.6 per year

 

20K km per year @2thb per km = 20k

 

Total of 56,000 thb per year or 2.83 per km

 

Incidentally the tires are still original and have about another 20k before need to replace.

3 services at 5k twice a year = 30k not 15k which is a vast amount of money to be spending out for an oil change and a fluid top up.

If you can do it yourself it would cut that down to a maximum of 1500Bht per service. If you don't like doing it yourself find a reliable garage or a one man operation he will do the same service at a fraction of the 5k you said.

 

 

16 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

9Lots of replies re servicing 

3 services at 5k twice a year = 30k not 15k which is a vast amount of money to be spending out for an oil change and a fluid top up.

If you can do it yourself it would cut that down to a maximum of 1500Bht per service. If you don't like doing it yourself find a reliable garage or a one man operation he will do the same service at a fraction of the 5k you said.

 

 

 

Yes you can do that, but I kinda like the idea of keeping all my service history with the manufacturer and the dealership does do a thorough job and alerts me to things that need watching. 5K per service, twice a year, gives me peace of mind.

Just had oil and filter changed at B-Quik, 6 litres of Mobil  Semi syn oil, filter and labour cost 1,200bht, they even blacked the tyres whilst it was up in the air and checked tyre pressures..

 

 

33 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

9Lots of replies re servicing 

3 services at 5k twice a year = 30k not 15k which is a vast amount of money to be spending out for an oil change and a fluid top up.

If you can do it yourself it would cut that down to a maximum of 1500Bht per service. If you don't like doing it yourself find a reliable garage or a one man operation he will do the same service at a fraction of the 5k you said.

 

 

Typo error (late night this morning!)

should be services once per year

Total is still correct.

Could do oils and servicing myself, always did in UK because of high costs; just got lazy here because it is so cheap, not worth getting dirty hands.

2 hours ago, transam said:

Just had oil and filter changed at B-Quik, 6 litres of Mobil  Semi syn oil, filter and labour cost 1,200bht, they even blacked the tyres whilst it was up in the air and checked tyre pressures..

 

 

If they checked the tyre pressures you better re check them. They did mine last time I went for a car wash roped them up to 40psi mine are 29psi

7 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

If they checked the tyre pressures you better re check them. They did mine last time I went for a car wash roped them up to 40psi mine are 29psi

I always check them again first thing the morning when cold, l always now look at their wall mounted gauge to be sure of my psi instructions..

4 hours ago, chiang mai said:

 

Yes you can do that, but I kinda like the idea of keeping all my service history with the manufacturer and the dealership does do a thorough job and alerts me to things that need watching. 5K per service, twice a year, gives me peace of mind.

I'm sure the dealer is happy.

11 minutes ago, louse1953 said:

I'm sure the dealer is happy.

 

I'm sure. But one other benefit of all of that is the dealer offered me a far higher trade in value on a very competitively priced new model and he did that on the spot rather than having to find a buyer etc. Each to their own however.