What are the costs and considerations for shipping a vehicle and personal belongings to Thailand as an expat?

I can PM you someone who can help or put you in touch with someone who can help!

Anything is possible in Thailand with deep pockets and the right connections. Remember here it's not what you know it who you know. 🧘🏽

Contact a reputable international shipping / relocations agent in your home country, with good contacts in Thailand - they will be able to give you accurate information. By the way, shipping rates a currently sky-high, be prepared for a shock once you get a quote.

Sorry but some comments and the post resembles as if an ARAB SHEIKH keeping his gold toilet seat- gold engraved bed - platinum diamond embedded car- gold wheel plates- white gold framed tv etc in his own custom made swimming jacuzzi included AIR BUS 380 - while travelling with his entourage- with hundreds of suitcases if not thousands of USD bills with gold ingots going around living it the way he is born!

THIS AINT THE CASE RIGHT! Coz he don’t need to post and ask recommendations! Obviously it’s waste or just a time pass gig here then

at a "new" Price of a Toyota Hilux of $US 23-30K it might be an alternative just to buy in Thailand and sell your Vehicle in your Country... at least this is what I am planing

I would recommend Thai bureaucracy. You're going to take a hit on your stuff either way. You may discover you dont miss or dont need, some of your stuff and you may enjoy newer stuff. Thailand has much better things to do than watch TV.

And getting something registered is nearly impossible unless you know the right people

Do you realize how dangerous it will be having a left hand driving truck over here?? Damn dude these roads are so dangerous already and with your truck much worse and your truck is gas powered, correct? Very expensive to operate here. Resale in the states is high for Toyota, sell the damn truck bring your cash and buy a sweet turbo diesel Toyota over here. The exchange rate is the highest it’s been in 20 plus years!

U can bring the lot... As for truck u can Only bring in on temporary importation(meaning it must go back, and u have to provide proof of paid return of car) permit.. Remember u will pay deposit to customs.. So if car is not out by agreed date.. U loose deposit.. If u really hell bend bend on keeping truck in thai.. Its possible (with right garage) but it will cost price of 2+ new trucks to give your American baby thai plates.. So get rid of it and buy in thai.. Unless it's so sentimental to u that u prepared to pay 2 and half new truck price to slap thai plate on old.. Its all about money..then all possible.... And it's right hand drive.. Even more cost to convert.. Because no connection will be able to class a truck as a classic/collectors item... They in different bracket... Not for use on public roads same as motorsport importation..

You can find some really good deals on used cars in Thailand.

Please, do it and share the experience! 😂

I believe that used car imports for personal use were banned in December 2019. Before that it was a bad idea anyway, that's why you're getting so many negative comments telling not to do it. The effective cost to import a car pre the ban was around 200% of the vehicles value, I think only 100 vehicles were imported a year at that point, so I doubt you'll find someone that's done it legally. Also generally the more you can avoid Thai bureaucracy the better, that's another reason people are saying importing stuff is just not worth the bother, better to spend time on the beach than in an office filling out paperwork.

As others have noted, shipping the truck is probably not even permitted anymore, and would be expensive and a hassle (duties, maintenance, wrong side of the road, etc) if allowed.

For the rest of the stuff, though, ship it with an experienced company and you'll probably be fine. I don't know that FedEx is really the way to go, since my impression is that their packages get more scrutiny than regular ocean shipments, but I don't know that for sure.

I shipped an entire container of used personal effects here, and what I ended up paying in duty was a lot less than what it would have cost me to replace my espresso machine alone here. When folks online say, "just buy it all here, appliances are cheap in Thailand", what they don't add is that CHEAP appliances are cheap here - quality appliances are absurdly expensive.

My actual shipping and clearing costs were paid by my former employer as part of my retirement, so the calculus was different than yours, but what you're envisioning isn't ridiculous. FYI, the duty on my shipment was about $600-700 if I recall; the crates weren't opened, and I was issued an official receipt. And you don't need to have a visa already to ship the goods, but you will have to provide your passport to the shipping firm when the stuff arrives so they can carry out the clearance procedures.

Good luck to you.

Hi everyone I’d like advice but will refuse to listen to any of it unless it matches my distorted view of reality.

Good luck. 👍😂

You will also need your visa before you ship the items.

Invest some more time in Buddhism- had you done so you won’t have been too materialistic! In the end there or here- nothings you gonna can take back nor the future generations care about all that stuff except how much cash and gold you left!

Leave it there ! Even if you bring here you will leave it anyway! Good luck 👍

Electronic goods 115v us v 230v thailand car lefthand us v righthand thailand, i would say dump your stuff and buy again in thailand

I read that Thailand no longer allow foreign car imports .. suggest u check it out

We drive on the left hand side of the road here in Thailand…if your vehicle is left hand drive it’s going to be difficult and the traffic and road rules are manic without having to deal with that…. Going through toll booths on your own could pose some difficulty too… something to consider

Amazing how people get so attached to basic, replaceable material items 🤪

We shipped a full container of furniture and personal belongings from Australian to Thailand, the cost was only $6500 including insurance. We paid 3000 baht only for customs clearance, as it was in my Thai wife’s name, as a returning Thai National, it took 5 weeks door to door. Thailand now has bans on imported vehicles, before that the duty was at 315% of value. By all means ship your belongings, but don’t worry about the car

@Ticha ****************

made the only true reply.

If is NOT ALLOWED anymore to import a second hans car into Thailand!

You will never see your stereo stuff again. Trust me lol.

Spend 5 minutes googling thailand import taxes and you'll change your mind.

Have a small container for personal things (as I did) and as others have already said, sell the things you don't need as you can get cheaper in Thailand.

Warning. Don't use seven seas shipping. utter rubbish

Sell all this yunk and buy in Thailand new. Better and much Cheaper to.

Wasting Time and Money for nothing.

Maybe you’ve already made up your mind despite “just starting to research”

Good luck 🤞

Thai customs are known to hold your imported belongings unless you pay them additional costs even if you have already paid import duties. Be careful, it's better just to buy new here.

Dump it all. Waste of time, effort and money to ship it

Thailand law doesn't allow second hand car import even for personal use. Atmost can be used for traveling for 60 days

My question to the OP. Have you been to Thailand before ? I am with the majority here. Start fresh here. If you have you must have seen you can buy all the items you want to bring. You are creating more issues and problems than it's worth. smh...

Shipping a car internationally(did several times on Matson lines)nothing can be stored in the vehicle. Maybe if you do a full container/ own container. If you ever see it again in Thailand you will pay 2 to 3 times more than just buying a car. Then you have to register it. A ridiculous idea.

Its way more than 80 % for a complete vehicle and thats if you can get the import license which is extremely difficult now

Plenty of old vehicles here especially American ones

My advice is to leave it all behind and just start afresh when you get there. Too much of a headache and im willing to wager that it will cost more than you calculate. What sort of visa are you planning on?

Research it more and forget the car.

Normally you can't have personal belongings in a vehicle you ship. That's the way it is shipping to Hawaii.

U.S. cars are left hand drive and in Thailand they’re right hand drive. Could be a problem there.

General guidance is that it's never worth it to try and import a vehicle. Super expensive. Just buy one inside Thailand.

Also for shipping your belongings, is that just the cost to ship them or are you also including the customs assessment, because you'll need to pay the import tax as well.