Shipping vehicle to Thailand

[craigm 0]

Hi all,

We are going to be moving to Thailand in the not too distant future from Australia, and i was wondering if it is more cost effective to ship our car over instead of buying one there?

Does anyone have experience of this, i am guessing there is all sorts of costs involved, eg the actual shipping, duty, and of course tea money.

The car is not a sports or collectors car, just a run of the mill family car.

 

Cheers

CM

Edited August 9, 2009 by craigm

[jacko 8,814]

Hi all,

We are going to be moving to Thailand in the not too distant future from Australia, and i was wondering if it is more cost effective to ship our car over instead of buying one there?

Does anyone have experience of this, i am guessing there is all sorts of costs involved, eg the actual shipping, duty, and of course tea money.

The car is not a sports or collectors car, just a run of the mill family car.

 

Cheers

CM

It's not worth the aggravation and cost mate.

Many suitable cars on sale here to replace your current motor.

[joekicker 53]

It's not worth the aggravation and cost mate.

Many suitable cars on sale here to replace your current motor.

 

Absolutely right!!! If you are doing it yourself, HELL NO, NO WAY!! Even if your company is doing it and removing 90 per cent of the agro, you are way, WAY better having a Thai car.

 

Thailand exports cars to Australia, not vice versa. There's really not a single advantage to having your regular, Ozzie car in Thailand.

 

.

[craigm 0]

Thanks for the feedback guys, i pretty much thought it was a no go anyway, but it never hurts to ask.

 

cheers

 

CM

[Mr.Dream Transport 0]

If you have a rare collectible, or a high end pasta rocket or the sort, yeah it would be worthwhile. If you just drive your average cars or trucks, you can find something close to what you have at home here cheaper, then what it would cost you to get in a car from home, as well as the aggravation, payoffs, and if you were lucky, 90 day wait before you actually got your car released to you.

[ingo67 8]

I heard the import duty on motor vehicles is something like 80/90% of the original purchase price. Sell your car back home and buy a Toyota or a Honda in Thailand.

[Mr.Dream Transport 0]

For a 2009 Honda CRV for example, cost here is right around 1.2 million baht. So thats a bit over 30,000 USD. In the states you can buy these brand new for 20,000 to 25,000 USD. So for shipping into the country, you would be at 30,000-32,500. Not counting shipping fees. On a used car however, for say a 2000 Jeep Cherokee, cost in Thailand 400-450,000baht. Cost in the USA, around 175,000baht. Not sure if they calculate the vehicles worth on the Thai scale though, or what you payed back home, otherwise everyone would write a bill of sale to themselves, or something along those lines, saying that they payed 175,000baht for a 1million baht car, same as most people write 2 bills of sale to get the registration cheaper.

[jacko 8,814]

But you can pick up a new, pretty well kitted out truck (Vigos, Ranger, Triton, Colorado) for well under a million.

A years full insurance included.

An Optra 1.6 AT Sport...820,000 ($US24,000)

The Honda example above, well Honda seem expensive.

Try Chevrolet....

[Tel 0]

I heard it was 100% inport duty. When I saw a new Merc. E saloon in a mall it was twice UK price. I asked the salesman if that was correct. He then told me about the 100% duty.

 

You can get a 7 seater 4x4 Toyota Fortuner Auto for about 1.25 Million Baht. Nice car - diesel 3 litre. The 2.7 Litre petrol is less, but slower then the diesel.

[Mr.Dream Transport 0]

But you can pick up a new, pretty well kitted out truck (Vigos, Ranger, Triton, Colorado) for well under a million.

A years full insurance included.

An Optra 1.6 AT Sport...820,000 ($US24,000)

The Honda example above, well Honda seem expensive.

Try Chevrolet....

 

 

Oh yeah, the trucks are much cheaper than the cars here, which is almost opposite of the states. A decent truck here will start a bit over 550k up to 900k for a pretty tricked out truck. And they have a new van that is becoming really popular because of the price, its the cheapest brand new vehicle I have seen at 385k over here. Hondas are on the more expensive side here, especially for used. A 15 year old CRV will still sell for almost half the price of a brand new one.

 

The only thing I've noticed here, is that the dealerships, new or used, won't really work with you on the prices. There is almost no negotiation room, you either want the car and pay what they ask for a new one, or you don't buy it. Especially with the current market, you would think more than that. Although they do have some interesting offers, like Isuzu or Nissan giving away 2baht gold with the purchase and down-payment on a new car a few months back lol.

 

Toyota is the dominant make on the road here though, as I recall someone saying they manufacture them here or something along those lines.

Edited August 12, 2009 by Mr.Dream Transport

[Paul1970 0]

The import duty is way to high to consider importing a car into Thailand whether second hand or new. With a second hand car you will still have to pay 100% duty on the new price of the car and not what the car is worth now.