Observations of a Tourist in Pattaya

[Gaybutton]

I'm surprised resident board participants aren't driving something more like this

"Who else but an idiot would want to?"
- Sam Wanamaker (Fillipenko), 'Taras Bulba'

[2lz2p]

So, I live in the Chonburi province, but my car has Bangkok plates. If you're considering asking me why it works this way, don't bother. I don't have clue and as long as everything worked out favorably, I didn't care and didn't ask questions.

Likewise, when I bought my Mitsubishi Triton from the dealer here in Pattaya, they didn't have one here. The one they located equipped and painted as I wanted was in Rayong. We went there with the salesperson to pick it up. When the plates arrived some 8 weeks later, they were from Rayong Province. We did look into changing it to Chonburi, but it was a rather involved process that also included additional fees. Since we could pay the road tax at the Banglamung DLT office, we decided not to bother with changing it.

[Gaybutton]

Since we could pay the road tax at the Banglamung DLT office, we decided not to bother with changing it.

Thank you 2lz2p. That is a very good point that I did not think to mention. No matter what provincial plates are on your vehicle, you can pay the road tax locally. As anyone who drives a car in Thailand knows, the annual road tax sticker must be prominently displayed on the windshield.

Also, you don't have to personally go to the DLT office to pay. The local vehicle inspection stations will do it for you. That's what I do. The fee for that service is 1200 baht plus the tax amount (the inspection station will know how much that is or they'll tell you when you return to pick up the sticker) where I go and I imagine that's standard at any inspection station. For me, it's well worth the fee. You give the inspection station the old sticker and by the next day they'll have your new one.

If you want to do it yourself, that's trekking out to the DLT office, waiting forever, likely being told there is some sort of paper that needs to be copied or some sort of paper you didn't bring with you, and plenty of additional inconveniences. I'm much happier parting with the 1200 baht and let them be the ones who go through the hassle.

As for going through hassles:

"I'm getting too old for this shit."
- multiple actors, multiple movies, and multiple TV shows

[Jun]

Also, you don't have to personally go to the DLT office to pay. The local vehicle inspection stations will do it for you. That's what I do. The fee for that service is 1200 baht plus the tax amount

Another example of using an agency for what ought to be a painless task?

Back in the UK, I can tax my vehicle online in under 5 minutes.

I notice some comments in the Bangkok Post where the Thai PM is asking government agencies not to employ too many people, due to the cost. He might get better results by moving processes online and totally closing some unproductive offices.
In a country with alleged labour shortages, that has to be far better than employing people to slow down the service.

[Gaybutton]

Back in the UK, I can tax my vehicle online in under 5 minutes.

That is another good point. Now that you mention it, I don't see any reason why the road tax can't be paid online and a receipt gets placed on the windshield, similar to how the 90-day address report can be done. The only complication I can see about it is vehicles have to undergo annual inspection once they are 7 years old. But how hard can it be to require the inspection report to be uploaded along with whatever else?

Nearly everything else can be paid online in Thailand these days - water bill, electric bill, online purchases, food orders, telephone top-up, etc. What would be so difficult about paying the road tax that way?

There certainly is a good number of things that ought to be upgraded to the 21st century. Paying the road tax online would one of those things - and there are plenty more.

The fact that they don't do these things that way - a good candidate for addition to my "I Don't Get It" list . . .

[Jun]

In the UK, the tax website checks my car has an MOT and checks the car is insured.
There is no need to display a tax disc, since any traffic cameras can check the database and anyone can enter my car registration on the website to check a car is taxed.
There is also no incentive to steal or forge tax discs.

Nearly everything else can be paid online in Thailand these days - water bill, electric bill, online purchases, food orders, telephone top-up, etc. What would be so difficult about paying the road tax that way?

There certainly is a good number of things that ought to be upgraded to the 21st century. Paying the road tax online would one of those things - and there are plenty more.

The fact that they don't do these things that way - a good candidate for addition to my "I Don't Get It" list . .

1 Tax is run by the state, unlike some of the other transactions you mention. The Thai private sector seems superior to the state in most respects.
2 We haven't established how your 1200 baht "agency fee" is divvied up. If some of that ends up as tea money for the tax office, they would have an incentive to provide a slow service to non-agency customers.

[Jun]

Well, spot what's changed on Pattaya Tai today?

[Gaybutton]

Well, spot what's changed on Pattaya Tai today?

It looks about the same as usual to me - and demonstrates why I won't drive on Pattaya Tai unless I must.

What am I missing?

[gerefan]

Motor cycle helmets? People started wearing them ?!

[Jun]

They cut down the forest of cables for the internet.

Some were particularly low hanging by the Kasikorn bank, but admittedly I only noticed because I saw them being removed.