Importing a car to Thailand

[cozza]

Im considering moving to Thailand for good and instead of buying a brand new car have been thinking of importing my own car from Australia which I am more familiar with and know its history...and second hand cars here are very expensive. Thailand also does sell the same car although it has a smaller engine and costs almost twice as much.

My question is if anyone has actually imported a car from overseas and have they faced any issues with parts or insurance or whatever considering a possible different engine and on the other hand are there any benefits?

[Khundon1975]

Cozza
http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connec ... nalvehicle+


Parts may be a problem, depending on make, model etc. Also getting them serviced correctly. I doubt that most garages in HH will have the correct service books on hand to do the work correctly.

The above link will tell you what you need to know regarding customs imports rules etc for second hand cars.

[HHCanuck]

What you propose is an absolute nightmare going by information from various forums over the years. Thai customs is allegedly the most corrupt government service and will charge you whatever they want in taxes even if you follow the process word for word. They will ask a ridiculous amount that you can bargain for with proceeds sent to a private bank account.

If you try and import anything flashy they will give you a tax bill so high you abandon the vehicle. It will then be auctioned with a predetermined winner.

This is why car imports tend to be done by companies with connections who already have agreements in place for special taxes (fat brown envelopes).

[HHTel]

I looked at importing my Jaguar when I moved here. Import licence was no problem and the shipping at the time was only around 600 pounds. The problem was that Customs at this end would charge 240% of the value they put on it!!! No brainer.

A friend of mine did ship his Mercedes but when he went to collect it, the money was so absurd that it was cheaper to ship it back to the UK, sell it and buy a car here.

That was over 10 years ago so things may have changed. For the worse maybe?????

[Dannie Boy]

From my limited knowledge and as has been mentioned above, the import duty will almost certainly make it non-viable from an economic point of view. Much better to sell your car in Oz and buy a locally produced car here - what sort of car are you thinking about?

[a10ams]

I was recently quoted 2.6 million baht door to door from the UK to Hua Hin for a 2001 Porsche 911 Carrera 4.

[Nereus]

I imported my Range Rover from Australia, albeit many years ago. DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

[BOZ]

Do you have a Thai wife?? If so she has rights to bring home "her" personal effects either free of duty or much reduced. We are going through this right now with our BMW motorcycle, she is going to the government customs office to sort it out before we ship it. That way we will know the duty/tax we are looking at... She had to be out of the country living here for a set period of time, I am not sure of that number... But we do qualify... And own the motorcycle for more than 2 years to get the reduced duty... If you don't have a Thai wife you are at their mercy!!!!!

[HHTel]

My wife was Thai which made the import licence simple. It didn't have much effect on monies to be paid though. As I've already said, that was over 10 years ago so may have changed. Not sure if the rules are the same for a motorcycle.

[Dannie Boy]

Do you have a Thai wife?? If so she has rights to bring home "her" personal effects either free of duty or much reduced. We are going through this right now with our BMW motorcycle, she is going to the government customs office to sort it out before we ship it. That way we will know the duty/tax we are looking at... She had to be out of the country living here for a set period of time, I am not sure of that number... But we do qualify... And own the motorcycle for more than 2 years to get the reduced duty... If you don't have a Thai wife you are at their mercy!!!!!

I can't be absolutely sure, but before we retired to Thailand my wife was living with me in the UAE and so we were able to ship all of our possessions in her name and pay no tax, however I recollect that cars were excluded from this exemption (not sure about m/bikes)

[Nereus]

What Boz has posted was / is correct. I bought mine in under my Thai wifes name, but as she had neither lived in Australia, or owned the thing for 2 years, exemption was denied.
And to add insult to it they threathened to charge her with not having "permission" to take money out of Thailand to "buy" it! I got around that one by having a dealer mate in Australia send me a bogus invoice stating a very low value.

[Ginjaninja]

I recall a forum member who mentioned trying to import a Supra or something similar from Australia (?) and it was so much hassle and expense that he eventually gave up.....?
GN.

Edit:
the search function is helpful sometimes:....

You made the right decision Nereus, I lost my Toyota Supra at Laem Chabang after customs kept upping the import duty every time I agreed the previous price.

But that is a beauty and would shudder to think what price one like that would fetch in the uk.

Ttm

[BOZ]

What Boz has posted was / is correct. I bought mine in under my Thai wifes name, but as she had neither lived in Australia, or owned the thing for 2 years, exemption was denied.
And to add insult to it they threathened to charge her with not having "permission" to take money out of Thailand to "buy" it! I got around that one by having a dealer mate in Australia send me a bogus invoice stating a very low value.

I had a new invoice done and bike registered and Titled in joint names listing her as owner also.. Very common practice here in MA.... We are not exempt from duty just largely reduced with her being the one bring it in!!!! We will see what happens next month when she meets with he customs folks and discusses the situation with them... I won't even ship it until we get this sorted out...

[Ginjaninja]

good luck Boz, hope you can join us one Saturday soon.

GN.

[BOZ]

You and me both... Looking forward to the Saturday runs!!!!