Thai Motorcycle Tax Renewal (3 Steps)

For some people, renewing their motorcycle tax is something new. Especially for those who are just moving from abroad to Thailand, they experience many cultural shocks. In this post, I will describe how to renew your motorcycle tax in 3 steps, in which you need to follow the steps in sequence. There is also obviously an easy way to renew the tax, by simply going to an agent and ask for their help. Well, you could do that, but at some extra expense, from 300-500 baht ($10 - $15), depending on the matter. 

Here are the three steps you need to follow. Before doing this, make sure you have all documents given by you when purchasing your motorcycle such as the green book (It is an A5-sized book with a green cover, written in Thai). Basically, bring all documents related to the motorcycle; trust me, it will save your time from returning back and forth. In that, this document is called lem tabiyan (Eng: Copy of registration). Each vehicle has this, and never lost this document. 

1. Pay Insurance Money

First, you can go to any shops that can provide this service. Unfortunately, if you live in an area where foreigners are the minority, the writing will be in Thai. You can check any shops that usually put the sticker with this writing: ต่อ พรบ (read as tor po ro bo)

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Once you enter the shop, say you would like to extend the tax, the shop owner will understand and start checking the insurance and process it from the computer. Then you need to pay the owner some money. Last time I have to pay 330 baht, for one-year insurance. 

2. Vehicle Check

This step is where the shop will check the motorcycle performance and gas emission. This one is quite easy, go around the city and see this symbol below: 

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Usually, there will be a queue for this thing, and it is around 5-7 motorcycles. If you are lucky, sometimes both insurance and vehicle check is located in the same building. They will check the carbon emission from the exhaust, and see if all lights are working or not. Once it is done, you need to pay 60 baht. All price is listed in a board in the office, so there is no "foreigner price" in this case. The older the vehicle, usually the more the price it will be. 

3. Tax Extension

This is the longest process among the 3 steps. First, after obtaining the extended insurance and the vehicle check, head to the Department of Land Transportation (กรมการขนส่งทางบก). The building colour is dominated by purple. Park your vehicle, bring all documents and enter the building. Inside the building, go to the information section and tell them you would like to extend your motorcycle tax. They will help you and give you the queue number. Due to the number of the applicant, it could take 1-2 hours, so it is the best to avail your time at least half a day for this matter. Once it is your turn, head to the officer, give the papers, and wait. You are successfully extended your tax when the officer give you the new tax sticker (it is around 15x15 cm) and has big writing of number (such as 2564, 2565). Thailand uses a different year system from the gregorian calendar. If you are confused, use this website to convert the year:https://bangkokhasyou.com/thai-to-christian-year-converter-online/. Otherwise, reduce the year with number 543. 

What to do with the tax sticker? Simply replace it with the new one you have got. The old one, I recommend, to keep it, just in case any dispute might happen. You can either use the big plastic sticker to place it directly to motorcycle, or you can use a simple waterproof tube for storing the paper. 

Hopefully, this will help.