Second hand cars in Chiang Mai - Expat Auto: Service, Reliability, Integrity

Paperwork

What paperwork is required to buy or sell a vehicle?

Note: Every page of the copies need to be signed (in blue ink if possible)!

The buyer and seller must provide the following documents:

The vehicle. We must take the vehicle to the Transport Office (DLT – Department of Land Transport). You should plan on being without the vehicle for the whole day if possible. The paperwork takes 1-2 business day to process, so the updated title book and receipts for payment will need to be picked up later when scheduled (Note: If the vehicle is being transferred out of the province of registration, the registration needs to be changed over first, which also takes 3 business days. You do not need to take the vehicle for this, but will need the title book, owner’s documents and power of attorney if they will not be present)
The vehicle’s Blue Book (cars), or Green Book (motorcycles)
The following forms:
- 1) Ownership transfer Form signed by the seller and buyer, and
- 2) Power of attorney form for either party that will not be present at the Transport Office. (Note: we will provide these for you to sign when buying a car from us or using our ownership transfer service).
Signed copies of the owner AND buyer’s personal documents:

For Foreigners

1) Passport: copies of the photograph page, current visa stamp, tm-30, and departure card.
*Note: Due to a new regulation from the transport office, we will need the buyer’s original passport to transfer ownership. We will have you sign a paper noting it is in our possession, and another paper when it is returned to you. If you are not comfortable with this, you will need to go to the transport office with us (This could take most of the day as we will need the passport when we submit the paper work and when we pick it up).
2) AND one of following:
Certificate or Letter of Residence issued by the Thai Immigration. Gov. cost is 1000 THB, usually takes 2 days to process, and is only valid for 30 days. We have a service to do this for you. See the services page here for details).

Or an Affidavit of Residence from your consulate/embassy – For the US embassy, you need to make an appointment online (tues, thurs). The cost is 1500 THB (50 USD) – and is valid for up to 1 year (You should get the document in the same trip). Here is a link to what the US one looks like: Affidavit for Vehicle Issues (“Residence Verification”)

OR
House Title (yellow book) with your name in it. Same note about new regulations as above, We will need the original on the day of transfer.

Work Permit: (only if your home address is listed in addition to your work address. Newer work permits do not have this unfortunately). Copies of every page (with writing, and one blank page following, don’t forget to check for pages in the back) of your work permit. Same note about new regulations as above, we will also need the original on the day of the transfer.

For Thais

ID card (Baht Pracha Chon) – copy of front and back on one page.
House Registration Document (Tabien Baan) – top part is house info, second part/page is the individual’s name in the book (a book can have several pages of names in it)
Name changes/Divorce papers/Death Certificates/Will, etc if applicable

If Buying or Selling in a Company/Foundation name:
Note: Every copy needs to be signed by head chairman/ committee members and stamped with the company/ foundation stamp (including transfer form)

Company/ Foundation Registration Papers

Letter of intent to buy or sell said vehicle
Committee Member(s) individual documents (see required personal documents for Foreigners and Thais above)

All transfer, registration, and road tax costs are double if a car is registered in a company name.

Unless a Power of Attorney and Transfer of ownership forms are signed, both parties must go to the Land Transport Office to complete the transfer of ownership. The officers will check to make sure that engine and body numbers match the Title book, and check to make sure that it has undergone a road-worthiness test (for vehicles over seven years old, 5 for motorbikes). If you have not already done this, it can be carried out at inspection centers (Tor.Ror.Or.) around the city.

What ownership papers and registration papers are required?

Title Document (Lem Tabian):

The Blue registration book that comes with every used vehicle contains all the details about the vehicle as well as the previous owners, taxes paid, changes that have been made to the vehicle such as paint color or engine, etc. Financiers will hold onto the registration book until all money has been paid.

Tax and Government Insurance

All vehicles must display a road tax sticker which must be renewed annually. Costs vary from 600-10,000 THB. per year depending on engine size and vehicle type. Four door trucks and SUV’s will incur a luxury tax. In order to get this sticker you must also buy the government’s compulsory insurance called Por.Ror.Bo which covers the medical expenses of the other party involved in an accident (costs about 323-1300 THB.). We can help you renew this on an annual basis. See the services page for details.

Additional Insurance:

Our vehicles are up to date on the compulsory government insurance, but if you require more extensive coverage (recommended) we can arrange it for you. See our insurance page for details.

How to get a Thai driver's license

If you have a foreign license already, it is quite easy to obtain a Thai license. This is what you will need:

Work Permit (with home address) OR Certificate of residence from Thai Immigration (you can see the requirements for that in the section above. government cost is 1000 THB. We can arrange this paper for you. See the services page for details
5 diseases health certificate which you can get for about 50 THB at almost any clinic (must use within 30 days of issue)
A printed description of your license classifications from your Country/State’s DMV/DLT department website. (ie, M1, C, etc), as well as a copy of the front and back of your license
Signed copy of your passport (picture page, current visa page, TM-30, and departure card)
The cost for the car drivers license card is about 205 THB per card (car and motorcycle license cards are issued separately)

If you are going to do a motorcycle license too, you will need to make another copy of all your documents as well. You will get a 1 year “temporary”, then you will have to come back to renew with the same paperwork again and the fee will be 605 THB for 5 years. If you do not have a foreign license or it is expired, you need to be there at about 8:30 to sit through a 4 hour training course (in Thai so take a translator if you want), then take the written (English available) and driving tests (you need to provide your own vehicle). Be prepared for a full day event.

If you want some assistance, you may want to consider Thailand Buddy’s (Chiang Mai Buddy) service here.

Other helpful resources:

Sales

If I want to hold a car, what do you require?

We require a 20,000 THB non-refundable, non-transferable deposit that will hold the car for up to 7 days.

Do you offer financing?

Yes, we can arrange financing on most of our vehicles. See the financing services page for details.

Do you do trade-ins?

Yes, we can do trade-ins on most vehicles but we will need you to leave the car with us for 1/2 a day so that we can evaluate the condition to offer you a fair wholesale price. We also offer a consignment service to sell the car on your behalf. In most cases you may be able to get more for your car but it will take a bit more time. See our service page for details.

What advanced preparations should I make before I come to you to buy?

If you don’t have cash in the country, we suggest you open a Thai bank account and wire the money to yourself or a friend so you can bring us the cash or wire locally to our bank. It usually takes 3-5 days to do an international transfer. Alternatively some clients have mentioned using Transferwise website to do this.

What payment methods do you accept?

Bank transfer locally or internationally (the customer will be responsible to make up an differences in the amount that shows up in our account due to currency conversions or bank fees)
Cash (THB only)
Credit cards (extra 3% credit card processing fee.)
Wechat and Ali pay (extra 3% processing fee)

Is it possible to rent a sale car before I buy?

Sorry we cannot offer this service at this time as most of our vehicles do not have a current collision insurance policy until the buyer pays for a year policy after the sale.

If I buy a car from you, do you offer repair services after the warranty period?

Yes. We are your one-stop shop! If we can’t take care of we will find someone who can. Our shop is set up to prepare our vehicles for sale and assist our clients that have bought cars from us with their automotive needs. See servicing and repairs details here.

Selling Your Car/ Consignment Service

What if I decide not to consign my car after the initial inspection?

Our inspection service is included in the consignment service. If you should decide not to consign the car after this, we charge a 5,000 THB inspection fee.

What if I want to stop using the consignment service before my car has been sold?

We suggest that the car be left with us for a minimum of 45 days. If you decide to stop the consignment service, we only charge 5,000 THB for our initial inspection, detailing, pics, and storage.

After the car sells, how will you get the money to me?

We can deposit the money into a Thai bank account or we can also wire the money to an international account. The seller is responsible for transfer fees.

What is the expected time it will take to sell my car?

Selling your car can take anywhere from one week to several months depending on the type of vehicle, time of year, and price. The lower you are willing to start on price will help with this time-frame. Monthly price adjustments can also be arranged according to any agreements made.

What if I need to sell my car quick?

If you need to sell the vehicle quick (and it is not a car we want to buy from you), then we can also save you some time and money by contacting our dealer network to shop around and get you the highest wholesale price possible.

What if my vehicle sells through my own advertising efforts?

If you’re consigning the car with us and you bring a buyer to us from your own advertising efforts, we will take 5,000 THB off of our service fee.

Other

Can you do an inspection on an outside car I am thinking about buying?

We will only inspect a car from a private seller (no dealers cars) at a pre-scheduled time, as we have limited availability for this service. The car will need to be dropped off with us for 1 day. Please see our Inspection Menu for options and pricing. We will give you a list of recommended repairs within approximately 24-48 hrs (sorry we cannot give an estimate on repairs as we do not carry the parts on stock). This is not a guarantee that we will find every problem, but it will give you a baseline to know what you are looking at.