# Buying a New Car versus a Used Car



## AnyGivenDay

I for one do not like to purchase a new car because they lose equity once purchased, yet I have been told by a few expats living in Thailand (Phuket) that cars hold their value.

Is this true? Of course, if I find that a motorcycle is better I may do that. Hopefully, I would not be the only grandmotherly expat riding a motorcycle.


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## joseph44

Cars hold their value; that's true. 
Depends of course on brand and model. 
Best buys are: Toyota and Isuzu. 
Ford, Mitsubishi and Nissan are not as good (value wise).

Beware for bargains from Bangkok 2nd hand cars over the next few months; they may have been flooded.


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## hydroman

joseph44 said:


> Cars hold their value; that's true.
> Depends of course on brand and model.
> Best buys are: Toyota and Isuzu.
> Ford, Mitsubishi and Nissan are not as good (value wise).
> 
> Beware for bargains from Bangkok 2nd hand cars over the next few months; they may have been flooded.


I agree cars from Bangkok area will be a bargian, luckely for me I sold mine last feb. The reply to the thread cars hold there price and even some old cars that we call bangers and need to be scraped are still expensive. Buy new its safe and free insurance for 1 year.


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## dragen_owner

*low interest rate*

I normally prefer used cars as well, but I ended up buying a new Nissan car because the dealer was offering interest rate promotion of just 1.7%. So, with rates so low, I felt it was a pretty good deal, despite losing value when you drive off the lot.


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## wildfk

Cars in Thailand do hold their value astoundingly well - I won't go into the reasons here.
If you buy a car here and then sell and take your money home you may even find that owning the car for a few years has cost you next to nothing.

E.g. - 440k in 2004 at 78 baht to £1 (£5600), sell 7 years later 260k at 48 baht to £1. (£5400) - Depreciation p.a over 7 years £200!!

Many people will tell you that buying 2nd hand is a no-no, well I'd disagree, especialy if you know what to look for ............
There is little or no customer comeback in Thailand but the percentage of sharks in the motor trade is no different from any other country.

Essential a second hand car dealer wants to buy the best cars he can and sell them on with the least amount of hassle.....if you aren't sure about it - get a mate who knows bit.........
The advice about flood damage is a good one...there will be a lot of vehicles "floating" about - however it is also a good time to get a bargain.....in Oz I used to like buying cars after a hailstorm......

one thing - if you DO need a repair - engine rebuild etc the cost of labour here is SO cheap that work that in other countries that would result in an insurance write-off is pleasantly affordable here!


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## Bobr

Don't even think about buying a used car here, unless it's a very old and very cheap one and you know enough about cars to keep it running for local use. 3 year old cars here are priced at a ridiculous 75-80% of the price of a new one and many if not most have been wrecked, flooded or neglected. 
Visit any body shop and you will see cars crashed badly enough that would be scrapped without a doubt at home, but in Thailand because of the cheap cost of labor and high taxes on new cars, these pieces of junk will be made to look decent (not really repaired) and put back on the road. They will never work properly again.

The only exception might be buying a car from a trusted expat who is leaving the country and needs to sell it. The Thais have a distorted view of th value of used things.


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## Bobr

I forgot to add, that many Thais also take out 2nd mortgages on their cars much the same as Americans used to take 2nd mortgages on their homes. You can easily end up with a car that has been pledges as collateral for a hard money loan. In one case in Pattaya, the loan company of a failed dealer was trying to claw back cars and money from people who had already paid for their cars claiming they had a security interest in the vehicles. Too may perils in used anything here.


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## Song_Si

^ yes that can be a problem, seems difficult to find out if a vehicle has been used as security against a loan; my partner's brother had a tractor repossessed early this year - he had owned it for over two years and bought it when it was less than a year old. 
Turns out the original purchaser had bought it on a 5-year finance plan, and had been making the payments till he ran out of income late last year. 
There was no negotiating with the repo men they arrived with a flatbed truck and a policeman and it took him a couple of weeks to get it back - expensive when he is a farming contractor.


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## wildfk

Song_Si said:


> ^ yes that can be a problem, seems difficult to find out if a vehicle has been used as security against a loan; my partner's brother had a tractor repossessed early this year - he had owned it for over two years and bought it when it was less than a year old.
> Turns out the original purchaser had bought it on a 5-year finance plan, and had been making the payments till he ran out of income late last year.
> There was no negotiating with the repo men they arrived with a flatbed truck and a policeman and it took him a couple of weeks to get it back - expensive when he is a farming contractor.


so when you buy a second-hand car you get a blue registration book. This would be held by any people who have lent money on it and you would therefore not be able to register the car when you purchased it. - so how did your partners brother mange to buy a car without the blue book?


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## Song_Si

^ Unsure - it was for farm use only not registered/no plates, maybe as with non-road legal motocross bikes that cannot be registered - they do not come with a Green Book, just a purchase receipt; maybe that's where the 'system' fell down. Or a second book in existence.

. . . 

The ownership books are no guarantee. A friend here has recently resolved an issue over a new Honda motorcycle he'd bought that was stolen - he spotted it months later and still had a key so 're-stole' it and rode it to the police station. 
Turns out a declaration had been made that he was deceased and that the book had been lost (he kept a photocopy under the seat so they had his details); ownership and new Green Book issued to the new 'owner'. 
Has taken him months to get it sorted, proving he was not deceased, a paper war and stressful for a 76 year old, all the while bike sat in the police compound, and the final annoyance was a fee of 3000 baht to have he paperwork sorted (wonder how much of that was official?) a new Green Book issued in his name, despite him still having the original one it was now void.
and before you ask, apparently there was no police interest in following up on the false declaration, theft etc. 

When I bought my bike I accompanied the owner to the govt agency for the change of ownership process.


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## wildfk

When you buy a car - new or second hand - you get your blue book issued by the LTA. 

If there is a loan on the car with the car as surety the lender will have the blue book - so the LTA will not be able to issue it.

If you look at the blue book you will often see the the first registered owner is a finance company....the vehicle has been bought on finance - they are unlikely to relinquish ownership before they have been paid.

If you then go ahead and pay for the car you are asking for trouble.

If you don't have the blue book you have no claim on the car.


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## UKBound2012

I'm an expat living in Chonburi and will be relocating to the UK. I am selling my Honda Civic Auto, just over two years old and less that 20,000 kms on the clock. Full service history available and selling with 11 months car tax and 1st class insurance for Baht 775,000. Sill has just under a year of Manufacturers warranty remaining..car is in very good codition.

PM me if interested!


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## Chiang Mai

good advice about looking for Finance Co. I had not thought of that


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## wildfk

it would be interesting to hear from others who have DIRECT personal experience here - (not a friend or friend of friend). I would like to know if they had the blue book when they "lost" their vehicle.


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## AnyGivenDay

*New car it will likely be then!*



dragen_owner said:


> I normally prefer used cars as well, but I ended up buying a new Nissan car because the dealer was offering interest rate promotion of just 1.7%. So, with rates so low, I felt it was a pretty good deal, despite losing value when you drive off the lot.


Everyone has provided fantastic info. Thank you! It sounds as if a new car is what I will purchase, better safe than sorry and new is always great.


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## wildfk

I think the warnings on buying secondhand on this thread are largely without foundation and to be taken with a pinch of salt. They don't seem to be from direct experience.
Many people buy secondhand cars in Thailand and they hold their value extremely well.
The low cost of labour means that repairs and maintenance is delightfully low.

I also believe that so long as you have the blue book in your name, in Thailand this is proof of ownership and the car cannot be repossessed.

However if someone can show me this is wrong I'd be very interested.


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## Dazza_uae

Just reserecting an old thread here.

I'm looking at buying a 2nd hand car this year but its a 2010 model.

I was told that if I finance it through the bank after putting a 20% deposit down that due to the age of the car I can finance 1 year and have to pay the total outstanding the next year.

I know they have age limits on cars they allow finance for but surely if you purchase a 2010 model and finance it you can have the choice to finance over 4 or 5 years.


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## axehead

*Car value*



joseph44 said:


> Cars hold their value; that's true.
> Depends of course on brand and model.
> Best buys are: Toyota and Isuzu.
> Ford, Mitsubishi and Nissan are not as good (value wise).
> 
> Beware for bargains from Bangkok 2nd hand cars over the next few months; they may have been flooded.


As a guide a 3 year old Japanese car will be worth about 30% of the new price.
Example Mitsu Lancer. New cost 1,000,000 baht. 3 years and 15,000 miles later, in as new condition I would struggle to sell it for 350,000 baht.


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## tod-daniels

FWIW; When I first moved here I bought a Honda Jazz with every option known to man-kind and then had a custom leather interior done on it too.. All in I think I was at 570K baht.

When I bought it I also had a 3 year free maintenance plan given to me by the dealership.. Now that was a near disaster; because the dealership didn't want to change the oil filter when they changed the oil and didn't want to put in a new air filter, just blow the old one out with compressed air. First time I caught them on this I let them know in no uncertain terms that I'd be standing there watching them do the scheduled maintenance from then on. They tried to tell me to go away, but I'm a tenacious sort of guy and compelled them to do it, much to their chagrin..

I drove the be-dickens outta that car all over this country for almost 4 years. I kept it covered, had all the maintenance records and had a NO smoking and NO open thai food in the car policy.

After 4 years I sold the car to the first person who came and looked at it for 450K baht cash!

Unfortunately I gotta disagree with "wildfk"; thaiz almost to a person suck (as in totally s**k) at the routine maintenance of any machinery! They'll make every excuse in the book NOT to do maintenance on stuff. I've looked at TONZ of second hand vehicles own by thaiz with foreigners interested in buying them and few if any had good solid maintenance recordz. One maintenance log I looked at was written in the same color with the same pen for 3 YEARS worth of entries. Now either that guy was really good at keepin' track of penz or he fudged it totally. 

I'd say you could buy a good used car IF you do due diligence on it. Certainly those bank auctions where they sell off vehicles which are repossessed are a good place to look. I've gone to a few and there are always some really decent vehicles which go for a reasonable price...

IF you finance a car you don't get the blue book (the title) in your name instead it's in the finance companies name or the banks name.. Once you pay it off they give it to you. 

Just so you know; there're thai companies which do a VIN number search to see if there's a clear title to vehicles.


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## modeeper

I wouldn't buy ANY car that has seen a Thai mechanic. They're butchers! Sure, there are some good one but they don't work, they mostly sit in the back room and drink, doling out the jobs to their young helpers. 

Here's some tips tho: Stick your finger up the exhaust pipe. If the residue left on your finger is black it's a minor adjustment. If it's black and oily .. run! The color should be brown and dry. Look under the hood and examine the nuts and bolts. Are the edges worn down? Like when you use pliers in place of a proper wrench (spanner). Logical isn't it? If he doesn't even have the right wrench how could he possibility be a mechanic?

Don't bother asking the owner to let you take it to a mechanic .. there aren't any  Same in Mexico .. there aren't any. Just because the guy has a sign hanging up doesn't mean squat. It's not like they're trained and certified, it's the Third World.


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## zeeshanmurad

*Used Cars vs New Cars*

News cars can be beautiful, good looking and other benefits. but, used cars have many advantages as compared to new cars. 
Here is how used cars are better than new cars:

zulfiqar.co.jp/news.php?news_id=522


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## Thai Bigfoot

*New or used car?*



AnyGivenDay said:


> I for one do not like to purchase a new car because they lose equity once purchased, yet I have been told by a few expats living in Thailand (Phuket) that cars hold their value.
> 
> Is this true? Of course, if I find that a motorcycle is better I may do that. Hopefully, I would not be the only grandmotherly expat riding a motorcycle.


I was in the car business for 30 years in the U.S.

A new car only loses it's value if you get rid of it in the first 2 or 3 years. Is that your plan? If sp, then buy used.

In Thailand, there seems to be little regard as to its age. I'm always amazed at how much 5-10 year old cars are sold for. I think it's because most Thais simply can't afford new.

If you can afford new, and plan on keeping it for many years, buy new. You'll get a long warranty and not have to worry about the service history. Most vehicles are poorly maintained.


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