New Car Buying

[Billy McGee]

Can any one give me some good advice on buying a new car?

Question 1: When looking at the "Sticker price", what is a realistic price? 10% below sticker? 20%? More?

Question 2: Can a person look around and then make reasonable offer for a car to a salesperson, or to the dealership via email or to at the local dealers website? Basically an honest: I will give you XXXXXX bht for this car. Will you sell it to me at that price or not?

This car will be paid for by myself, but is for my Thai wife and will be in her name. Because of this, should I send her out to decide on which car, then after I have decided, have her make the offer or work on the best price, without me being there and the dealer not knowing about me until the best deal has been made?

I am not trying to be cheap, just trying to get an honest, reasonable deal on a new car. Thanks!

[Dave]

You need to let your Thai wife do the talking. Most Thais charge non-Thai(especially whites) double the price. We bought our Car via web site. Go to an internet cafe, let your wife do the search in Thai. When you found the listings you like, have your wife call the sellers to make sure the price BEFORE you go with her to test drive the car. Most Thais do not have access to the internet and they do not buy thing from the web so you will be able to bargain. We bought our car this way and we bargained almost 20%. But you must know the going price from dealers first. If you have time like I did, you will be able to save a lot of money. Our car listing price on the web was 15% lower than dealers my wife checked and on top of that we bargained. Good luck.

[Martin Walker]

Your Thai wife has to be involved for several other reasons e.g. she will visit temple to ascertain from monks which car colour is auspicious for her (yes, it's true); after tentatively selecting a car she might return to monks to ask if the model/age/reg no. is auspicious and if it has bad karma (Thais don't like second hand cars because the former owners may have had bad luck which might be "stuck" to the car); also, there are certain days of the week when it is unlucky to buy a car. Good luck!

[Rooster]

HOW COULD YOU GET INVOLVED WITH THIS IGNORANT WOMAN? THIS MONK IS ALSO NOT FOLLOWING HIS PROPER CONDUCTS. IT IS OK AND BY TRADITION TO HAVE MONKS BLESS YOUR CAR AND HOUSE, BUT IT IS COMMON CHINESE PRACTICES TO SELECT COLORS AND NUMBERS. SHE MIGHT JUST PAINT YOUR HOUSE WITH RED COLOR WHEN SHE GETTING CLOSE TO MENOPAUSAL STAGE.

[colin howard]

seeing the daily carnage on roads up here in buriram going to see the monks is a waste of time ,there time would be far better served by importing the highway code from the uk and having it translated into thai ,cos in all my years as a driving instructor in the uk i have NEVER seen so many complete maniacs behind the wheel .

[Rooster]

IT IS NOT A MATTER OF DRIVING RULES OR CODES. IT IS A MATTER OF ENFORCEMENT AND TICKETINGS. IT IS A MATTER OF REQUIRING EVERYONE TO HAVE PROPER DRIVER EDUCATION. IT IS A MATTER OF GIVING RIGID WRITTING AND DRIVING EXAMS. HOW MANY PEOPLE DO YOU THINK HAVING PROPER AND LEGAL DRIVER LICENSES, ESPECIALLY, THOSE OPERATING MOTORCYCLES?

[colin howard]

rooster ,you are almost right on your musings ,but the big problem here in thailand is that the police haven,t got a clue on the basics of safe driving so how can they enforce the law ,to be candid the driving test here is an absolute joke ,it is all theory and no practise ,as far as the motorcycle riders you are bang on ,these complete idiots don,t even know how to make a right hand turn ,i,ve seen more accidents here in buri ram in 3 years than i saw in 40 back in england ,also one see,s 10 year olds 4 up on a honda going past the police on the way to school with completete immunity ,is it any wonder why there,s so much carnage on the roads here in thailand .

[colin howard]

rooster, to enforce the so called rules here in thailand you would have to have a cop every 200 yds or so ,and the cops would have to be imported from elsewhere cos these here just haven,t a clue about safe driving practices, the driving test is an absolute joke ,and i am informed that many licences are bought under the table ,and looking at the way they drive here i,m inclined to believe it .

[Rooster]

The Police Ministry in Bangkok needs to have some kind of plan for educating future drivers at the middle and senior high school levels. They also need to set up a new driver eduction, licensing, and traffic enforcement division. Every drivers with old driver licenses and who violated traffic laws will have to pay to go through new driver education before obtaining new licenses that would include those without proper driver licenses. Those who operated without licenses will have to pay both penalties and new educational costs. After everyone have the new driver licenses, they will be require to pay both monetary penalty and re-education if they receiving three consecutive traffic tickets. Those who are operating vehicles without licenses, their vehicles will be impounded or pay the 1/4 to 1/2 the value of their vehicle for the return of their vehicles or returned without vehicle tag/plate.

[Jessica Simpson]

Martin Walker! You are such a Naughty boy!!!!!