Moving to Thailand from U.S.

[psychedaboutcars]

Hi everyone,
We are planning to move to Thailand next year (fall '09) from the U.S. Does anyone have experience with shipping a car to Asia from the U.S.? Is it even feasible? I would love to take my car with us if possible... then bring it back whenever we decide to move back...

Thanks in advance,
Jack

[sam]

I've only heard of it working out with military people - in cases where they did not have to pay. Otherwise it is generally considered prohibitively expensive. So unless you have a ship with some extra cargo room, I'd say buy a fit over there!

There can also be problems with getting parts in a timely manner etc. Since it sounds like the family car, that could be more of a problem than an extra car.

Sorry to not have first hand experience on costs etc. Hope whatever you do works out well - let us all know.

[eTiMaGo]

Yikes, I think it's more trouble than it's worth. Yes, in theory you can get the car shipped by sea, but to get it past the customs will be expensive (expect to pay about 240% tax), plus I you'd need to get it registered which I am not even sure is possible for a LHD car (unless you pay under the table).

The irony of this would be, in my opinion, that our local Jazz's are manufactured right here!

I'd say, if you plan to return to the US regularly, keep your car in storage there, or leave it in the care of a trustworthy friend, and just buy a new one when you get here. Not to mention you'd get a brand new '09 Jazz!

I've been up in Bangkok for about 5 years now. And only once have I seen a recent car imported from the US on the road, a 350Z...

[nghtrydr23]

i assume its possible as many people in the philippines do the same thing. they fly out to the US buy the cars and ship them. its cheaper, all you need to do is lie about the actual worth of the car thus paying less taxes.