A cautionary tale about 5 year driving license renewal at Cha am DLT

[Bilbo52]

Went to the Cha am Transport office (near Santorini pleasure park) last week to renew my 5 yr driving licenses for car and scooter.

Here is my story:

I spoke to a member of staff at the Transport office who informed me that I would need to go to the Immigration Office and get 2 certificates of residence and to a clinic to get 2 medical certs, (one each for bike and car), plus photocopy of passport photo and visa pages and then return.

Importantly, I was also told to present myself at the Advance driving school on the Klong soi behind the Santorini pleasure park in order to watch the safety video and where they would check my documents and thence I should return to the Transport office to receive my new driving licenses.

I phoned the school to be informed to turn up at 10am on Wednesday 2nd June to watch the safety video. Upon arrival at about 09.50am I was informed that the video had started at 0900 and I should return on another day. My documents were checked and I was charged 1000 baht, which I believed would be the cost of the 2 new licenses and a small admin fee for the school.

On Friday 04th June I turned up at the school at about 0840, watched 3 safety videos (1 in Thai and 2 in English about 1 hour all in), waited a further hour twiddling my thumbs, had my index finger print taken several times and was then given back my documents that I had submitted on Wednesday and told to go to the Transport office to get my licenses. At the Transport Office I was charged 505 baht for the car license and 255 baht for the scooter license. When I questioned what I had been charged 1000 baht for at the driving school they were a little evasive and said I should take it up with the school.

So I went back to the school and tried to understand what the 1000 baht covered. The very pleasant ladies who I had dealt with previously said that it was for watching the video in English and did not cover the cost of the licenses as I had assumed.

So have I had my leg pulled and paid Farang tax or is this the correct, albeit expensive, price for watching the safety video?

I attach the receipt that I received for my 1000 baht and the sign on the wall which the staff at the school pointed me to wrt the cost of watching the video(s). They referred me to the line that says 500bt (x 2 one each for bike and car = 1000bt). I cannot read Thai so was none the wiser, though I would be interested to hear from anyone on this forum who can read Thai or can speak to their Thai spouse to understand what these say.

Any thoughts my learned friends? Failing that, this may dissuade others from using what appears to be a very expensive service.

Thanks

[Big Boy]

Your story made me smile - sorry.

I've used my crap translator on that menu. and it says theory test training - 500฿. In my opinion, theory test and watching the videos are 2 separate entities, and charging you twice to watch the same video - TIT

[buksida]

The junta is going to be hurting for money going forward so there are likely to be a lot more of these 'orchestrated scams' cropping up all over the place.

[squire]

Thanks for this heads-up. So by attending the Driving School to watch the safety video you weren't required to also pass the usual physical tests such as reaction/braking/peripheral vision etc.?

[Bilbo52]

I did not do any tests.

[Henry 14th]

I’m currently facing up to the attempt to renew my license and obtain my first 5 year.

I went today armed with immigration letter, passport and medical certificate. I was told to download the ‘DLT Smart Q’ app to get a date for my application. I was also told to visit the DLT website to ‘do test’

https://www.dlt-elearning.com/Home

The DLT Smart Q app doesn’t work for those trying to input a passport number. A google search on the Android and iPhone app confirms this. In fact the app will only work for Thai’s entering their ID Card number. No surprise there. In fact reading tue app reviews from falangs complaining about this it seems that a Thai representative has responded to the complaints saying that the app is currently unsupportive of falang applications.

The test from the DLT website is typical of Thai. 60 minutes in total, split into two sections of around 30mins of Thai comedy and 30mins screen play between two falangs. There is no way to avoid this 60 minute video. At the end of it I was presented with 3 basic driving test questions. Successful answers congratulated me with a certificate of pass that I was prompted to screenshot and use within 6 months.

I will again go to the Cha-am office tomorrow and see if my certificate of pass will help me to get a new license as my current one expires in May this year.


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[Bilbo52]

Henry 14th, how did you get on when you went to the Cha am Transport office?

[Henry 14th]

Henry 14th, how did you get on when you went to the Cha am Transport office?

Seems that I was more welcome on my second visit and after the eye color test and a bit of waiting around I was granted a 5 year license.

Seems that the online video you must watch (or at least allow the video to play until the end) and subsequent questions are required to obtain the ‘pass certificate’ as without me showing a screenshot of that I think I’d have been declined again. It must be a distancing measure to replace the compulsory in house video others report watching in years gone by.


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