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Driving in Thailand: No need to renew expired licenses until further notice

webfact

By webfact
in Thailand News

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ParkerN Gold Member

ParkerN

Posted
Posted
On 5/6/2020 at 11:47 AM, Justgrazing said:

License .? what license ..

Well, that looks after the 20% of Somchais who have a license, but not the 30% who bought a hooky licence at the local market for hooky Driver's Licences (current price 5000 THB), nor the 50% or Somchais who couldn't even be bothered to do that because they don't have the 5000THB, though they have no apparent problem borrowing the money for a semi-new Fortuner.

 

Still, Thais know best... - right?

 

 

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johng Ruby Member

johng

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, mtraveler said:

I have an international license

Just use your home country licence..the "international licence"  is just a translation of that licence and not even  translated into Thai.

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mtraveler Senior Member

mtraveler

Posted
Posted

Just use your home country licence..the "international licence"  is just a translation of that licence and not even  translated into Thai.

 

I'm not sure that's correct.  I know when I ride my motorcycle, showing a foreign driver's license is of no value (the first few times I was stopped at a checkpoint I gave my US license, and was told it was not what I needed to show).  But when I show my international driver's license, it is accepted.    

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Pattaya46 Gold Member

Pattaya46

Posted
Posted
On 5/7/2020 at 7:01 AM, ParkerN said:

Well, that looks after the 20% of Somchais who have a license, //

32 minutes ago, ubon farang said:

laughable considering 50% of Thai drivers dont have a license anyway. //

 

I suppose it's not even worth to ask you the sources of your fanciful data... :whistling:

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ubon farang Advanced Member

ubon farang

Posted
Posted
29 minutes ago, Pattaya46 said:

 

I suppose it's not even worth to ask you the sources of your fanciful data... :whistling:

No but i can tell you this where do kids on bikes as young as 13 get a license from?

Quote

 

 

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ChouDoufu Platinum Member

ChouDoufu

Posted
Posted

hurrah!  just checked.  expired january 04!

 

stuck outside thailand for the duration.  hope when i finally get back, maybe in 2021, they'll let me renew the expired license.  my texas license expired two years ago with no possibility to renew a second time outside the country, really don't want to go through the whole testing process.  getting the residence certificate with no 90-day report in years is enough headache.

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drbeach Silver Member

drbeach

Posted
Posted
On 5/6/2020 at 11:14 AM, KeeTua said:

"Insurance policies remain valid despite licences being out of date."

 

Be sure to print this article out to show to your insurance company in case you try to make a claim for an accident while driving on an expired (invalid) license. And good luck with that.

I'm sure the insurance companies have been notified and will pay out damages occurred for a license that has expired since January 2. Don't make ridiculous assumptions.

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drbeach Silver Member

drbeach

Posted
Posted

Good thing I decided to renew my license back in March. I had the feeling that the date I chose was possibly the last day offices would still be open. The following Monday a notice came that license renewals would be suspended until further notice but you could do certain things online, such as watching the safety video. My previous license expired in April and had I waited, I could have gotten another year of validity added to it...but looking back I don't regret it...we simply don't know when offices will re-open and that extra year they give you when you renew a recently expired license (which would be down to like 8-9 months by the time the offices re-open possibly next month) is not really worth waiting for.

 

Better to be in possession of a valid ID, even if the authorities have extended the validity of recently expired licenses. Saves a lot of hassle getting it done later. Now I have a new license with a little under 5 years remaining. Had I known all this would be coming our way, I would have renewed back in January. 

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JimMorris Explorer Member

JimMorris

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a 5 year car driving license expiring soon and was wondering what the latest status is on renewals and if all renewals are still suspended for the moment please?

 

Regardless of the current situation, my understanding is that there is normally a 1 year period where you can renew as normal after expiry and without any problem (as long as you aren’t planning to drive during that period). Then after 1 year, but before 3 years after expiry you can still renew, but have to retake the written test, and after 3 years from expiry you have to start all over again with everything (written test, road test, etc). Is this still the current law?

 

I was planning to just forget about it and not renew for a while anyway given that I am not driving at the moment, but someone mentioned to me yesterday that they thought the laws have changed and that if you don’t renew before expiry then you have to start over an do all the tests again. It is hard for me to believe that this is accurate information though.

 

Any up to date info on any or all of the above would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by JimMorris
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rgrdns Senior Member

rgrdns

Posted
Posted

Hi guys

I need to renew my 5 years DL (exp. January) anyone of you had already the change to renew his driving license in Bangkok or is the suspension still valid...any update pls? 

I read the link above...confusing!

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impulse Star Member

impulse

Posted
Posted
23 minutes ago, JCP108 said:

Per the WHO road death statistics: If the Dominican Republic and Niue would get their <deleted> together, Thailand would be the #1 most dangerous place to drive on the planet!

 

So, be careful when you do renew your license. 

 

https://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_safety_status/2013/data/table_a2.pdf

 

Maybe by the metric of deaths per capita, but that's because so many people in Thailand have access to a vehicle, and so many of them are of the hazardous scooter variety.  By deaths per vehicle, which is a much better indicator of the dangers of getting behind the wheel, Thailand is 50-100x safer than some countries.  And barely in the top 50% of dangerous roads, with 60 annual deaths per 100,000 vehicles.

 

Somalia tops the list at 6500 deaths per 100K vehicles.  Of course, they look great in the deaths per capita.  Because the vast majority there can only afford to walk.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

 

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impulse Star Member

impulse

Posted
Posted
On 5/7/2020 at 5:24 AM, mtraveler said:

Just use your home country licence..the "international licence"  is just a translation of that licence and not even  translated into Thai.

 

I'm not sure that's correct.  I know when I ride my motorcycle, showing a foreign driver's license is of no value (the first few times I was stopped at a checkpoint I gave my US license, and was told it was not what I needed to show).  But when I show my international driver's license, it is accepted.    

 

If you've been in Thailand over 90 days, your IDP isn't valid anyway.  If you've been in Thailand less than 90 days, your US based DL is valid by mutual treaty. 

 

Whether the cops accept it or not depends on how hungry they are that day.

 

Whether that 90 day treaty deadline is extended for tourists stuck in Thailand by Covid?  Who knows?

 

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rgrdns Senior Member

rgrdns

Posted
Posted
On 6/30/2020 at 10:02 PM, rgrdns said:

Hi guys

I need to renew my 5 years DL (exp. January) anyone of you had already the change to renew his driving license in Bangkok or is the suspension still valid...any update pls? 

I read the link above...confusing!

Anyone knows more presently??

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