Wanted: new or used car

[Arcan]

In the months to come we will buy a car, new or 2.nd hand. SUV or personal. Not to old.

[Spitfire]

Might have to give a little more info janp and tell people what you want more clearly, such as prefered manufacturer if you have one, milage/how many kilometers you want it to have done, max year in the past of manufacture, if a pickup then stipulate a 2 or 4 door vehicle, price range, service record, personal preferences etc etc etc etc.

Do you want a classic car, Benz, Vios/Jazz/Mazda 2 or 3 or a Dmax/Triton?

Sorry to sound negative but that post is a bit vague. If you narrow it down then even if a poster isn't selling something themselves then they may know somewhere/something that fits your bill.

[nanyang]

Ford Laser 1.6 bought new in October 2003.

Whilst the mileage is 160,000km it has only had one careful western owner.

Sensible offers welcomed.

[Takiap]

Ford Laser, 7 years old with 160,000 km. The best I can offer is 120,000 baht. Pm me if interested.

[Arcan]

You are probably right. I flexible, but have looked at a new Fortuner/Camry/Vios (Toyota). Other cars are of course og interest. Used cars must not be more than 3-4 years and run not more then 70 000 km. I would prefer high standard.

[Spitfire]

The problem here has just been highlighted by Takiap, westerners won't pay the silly prices that the Thais will for cars/pickups.

Nanyang, you'll get more from a Thai car dealer or a private sale to a Thai. Takiap is probably correct with his offer (2500 UK pounds) as to what it's really worth, might ebven be overpriced at that back in the UK, but second hand cars/pickups are farcically overpriced here.

It's a sellers market for some daft reason. My wife's uncle sold a 6 year old Ford Ranger 2 door pickup a year and a half ago and got 210,000 baht for it, from a dealer.

Janp, from your description of what you consider as an acceptable 2nd hand car then I'm afraid you're going to be spending a load of money, especially if you want a Camry etc, probably 75% of the brand new price.

This is a problem I thought about when buying my pickup, looked at 2nd hand cars/pickups a couple of years old and still under manufacturer's warrenty etc and just decided to buy a new one as the 2nd hand prices for the ones in the section you mentioned are not far off the same price.

Go have a look at the Toyota "Sure" garages that specialise in the type you stipulated you were interested in, not cheap at all.

Mate of mine is considering buying a Nissan Sunny, 6 years old, 80,000 km, good condition on the clock and they want 325,000 baht for it.

It loony tunes here about this. Only good thing about it all is that once you something then it loses value very slowly and eventually get a point where is pretty much doesn't get any lower for a long time, so long as everything on it is original.

Try buying a 12 year old Benz (230 or 280 etc) and they will still want almost a million baht for it, even a 15 year old 180 might cost 500-600 thousand baht if in good condition.

Very strange system indeed regarding this.

[Arcan]

Thank you very much, Spitfire! This helped med a lot. My wife suggest we should look for a new one. Could life be better!

[chopsticks]

Interested to know approximate starting price of basic new cars and pick-ups.
I guess something like a Ford standard no-frills 2 seater pick-up ?

[Takiap]

Secondhand cars cost a fortune in Thailand compared to back in the UK. In fact, it often works out cheaper to buy a new one, particularly if you're going to be paying it off. If you're paying cash then things are slightly different, but considering just how little you'll save, buying new is probably better.

When I was in the UK I bought a Suzuki jeep for 1300 GBP. It was about 8 or 9 years old at the time and in mint condition. When I left the UK a few years later, the most I could get was 300 GBP. My wife now has one over here. She paid 60,000 baht for it, and that was a really good deal even though the car is 23 years old. In the six months that she's had it, she's been offered as much as 120,000 baht for it from a number of Thais. Ship this car to the UK, and in the condition it is, and you wouldn't get more than 20 quid for it.

So, why did we spend 60,000 on the jeep we have now? Simply because you cannot find them for under 100,000 - that means we get to double our money - it's as simple as that. Our next car will be a new one though, probably a Honda City. Although I've tried to convince the wife, she's just not interested in buying a Tuk-Tuk