Good question! Yet I am sure there is an good answer... perhaps like everything else here in the Kingdom... "I have no idea. It just works!"

Oh just get an agent and keep your money in home country where it will actually earn interest. Here it will not.

Get the Toyota. It will not let you down over a lot of years. Ford is crap. Tranny issues and the engine has oil issues. The Toyota lasts longer and take better care of your wallet! Had both... take my advice!

@Nigel *******

define "legal" here in Thailand. No helmet on any motor bike... illegal. No driver's license for car or any motor bike... illegal. Driving a car or any motorbike under the age of (depending) is illegal. Speeding is illegal. Crossing the solid yellow line is illegal. Not wearing underwear is illegal (no, really, it is on the books). Yet everyone from the grade school Thai kid to the 70+ year old foreigner does it. So exactly what is the "legal route" you are on about? Not that I am suggesting that anyone breaks the law herein, but we have to remember that we are in SEA. Here there are ways that things are supposed to be done and then there is the way those things are actually done. As for your last point, that you will be 'using the same agent for the following year/s'... well, why not? Less hassle, less time spent enjoying the wonders of the Immigration office and the charming folks there, not to mention the fact that you could be sitting on a beach or up in the mountains exploring the beauty of this country and its people and culture. Agents have their ways to simply simplify the system.

@Craig *********

Thank you for that. I try and keep it civil... but there are times when .... I just bang my head against a wall....5555

@Robert *******

Lighten up. K sitting in a Thai bank is dead money. It will not work for you for it cannot. You say "bribe" the IO say "Really?" They would prefer you to use a reputable agent. As for living with "so little money"... there are local families here that never see that amount of money in a year and manage to get by. There are foreigners can do the same. They will have to forego going to the bars every night, or bar girls every other night, or staying at -star hotels, take the bus rather than a flight, shop at markets rather than at high end stores. But to suggest that they "end up on the streets dying in some dark corner".... really?! Those who cannot make it are usually sent home on flights arranged by there country's reps here helped to the airport by the local IO plods or a charity organization. It is a rare occurrence and no one dies.

@Craig ******

get another agent. What they have told you is wrong.

@Damo **********

Okay.... so you are right in principle. Unfortunately, our local IO prefers it if you would use an agent. They hate the paperwork. They hate the banks when they get the letter wrong or when they have to photocopy bank books and have to read the codes for deposits, and frankly, have to deal with the entire matter. In short.... "See agent" is what many here get told. Now if you want to believe that there are bribes or under the table deals... welcome to SEA. It has been a system that has existed or decades. It may not be the way things are supposed to be done... but it is the way things get done.

@Kate ******

Absolutely correct. Great response and spot on!

@Michelle ********

DMK yes. Swampy joy sure but I would need to dought....but. ???