Insurance

daveg

Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
riding rtw
What's the deal with insurance in Thailand? I have a couple of friends who have it for here and there seem to be some places selling it. I talked to someone at Touratech Thailand and he said that for foreigners, while it may be the law to have it, it is never checked and if you get in an accident, you're going to have to pay cash anyways.

I'm going to be riding my USA plated bike here for about 3 or 4 months.
 
The coppers will not really check it, that is true but if you were to be involved in an accident it would be to your advantage to have it for sure.

A few years back it would automatically be your fault in case of an accident as "if you were not here in Thailand the accident would not happen", nowadays though it is looked at differently.

I would say; get the basic insurance even if just for peace of mind.

Regards,
Eric
 

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Any idea where to get it in northern Thailand? I asked around Bangkok and couldn't find a definite source
 
A few of us have been using AA insure in Chiang Mai for some time (contact details at the bottom of this message). The minimum legal insurance needed here is called CPTL, you cannot renew your Thai road tax on a Thai registered motorcycle unless this has been renewed.

For a large motorcycle CPTL insurance is normally in the range of 650-850 bht a year. It is available for bikes here with no registration, but the 3% excise tax has been paid and it is available for foreign registered bikes here on temporary import.

3rd party and fully comprehensive insurance is only available for Thai registered bikes.

For a BMW F650, CPTL & 3rd party insurance is about 2,500 bht premium a year.

Contact details for AA insurance:

Ms. Mayuree Reunsati (Mam)

Office Manager



AA INSURANCE BROKERS CO., LTD.

206/22 Moo.6 Rimping Meechoke Plaza

T.Faham, A.Muang

Chiang Mai 50000

Phone: 053 230 127

Fax: 053 855 253

Skype: aa.insure.chiang.mai

Email: mam@aainsure.net

Web: http://www.aainsure.net
 
I'll echo Eric on this one; in general the BiB don't seem interested in my experience but in case of an accident the insurance cover will at least give you a leg to stand on...

thaivisa.com has a pretty good insurance section with advice and links, I got some medical cover through them which is good but can't comment on the bike insurance side.
 
With a registered bike, you must have the required minimum 3rd party insurance. This costs 323 baht for small scooters and 645 baht for bigger bikes. Not exactly sure where the rate changes, but 250cc bikes pay the 645 baht. This insurance covers medical only, for you and the other party in the accident.

Previously in Chiang Mai, all companies were allowed to sell this insurance. Now there is only one company licensed to sell it - RVP (http://www.rvp.co.th). They have people selling it at the Motor Vehicle office at Nong Hoi, but there you would need to show a green book. They do have a main office, on the south service road of the Superhighway, just west of Tesco Kamtien. They may sell you insuance for an unregistered bike there.

1st class insurance is available, but limited to newer bikes. Usually the dealers can organize that. Rates will be 15-30,000 baht depending on the make and year.

A good compromise is called extended 3rd party. This gives you more medical coverage, minor coverage for property damage (not your bike), and a bail bond allowance of 200,000 baht. I get mine from Viriyah. It was 1600 to start, but dropped by 10% each year of no claim. No more discount once you hit 50%.

As far as it working, I can only talk about a minor accident 8 years ago. My bike had no plate, but the importer was completeing the process. The police wrote it up as "having no plate", but nothing else was done. The insurance company paid everyone's medical bills.

BobS
 
Always pay a bit extra for insurance with a 200,000 baht Bailbond .

Many bikes over 7 years old cannot get 1st class insurance depends on company policy
 
Going to get a trail bike soon and thinking about the plated/not plated issue. Don't reckon I'd do much road riding (though there is the Lao trips thing that makes a plate handy) but what concerns me is insurance. In case I hurt/crash into someone else. i.e. if I got collared, or feel responsible for causing, then costs for fixing bikes and bods could well fall (right or wrong) on me. And that might get nasty... So, that's one reason why I'd consider a plated bike, if I won't be able to get insurance on an unplated one. Would like 3rd party really - that's what I have on my road bike.

Phil - where can I get compulsory on an unplated? (Then, could/should you tax it too?) Are those riding around on unplated bikes bothering with /concerned about insurance? Maybe a modified (which I may well do) plated bike would cause problems with claims too??? UK - yes. Thailand - ?
 
CRS - read the 6th post in this thread

"Previously in Chiang Mai, all companies were allowed to sell this insurance. Now there is only one company licensed to sell it - RVP (http://www.rvp.co.th). They have people selling it at the Motor Vehicle office at Nong Hoi, but there you would need to show a green book. They do have a main office, on the south service road of the Superhighway, just west of Tesco Kamtien. They may sell you insuance for an unregistered bike there."
 
BobS said:
CRS - read the 6th post in this thread

"Previously in Chiang Mai, all companies were allowed to sell this insurance. Now there is only one company licensed to sell it - RVP (http://www.rvp.co.th). They have people selling it at the Motor Vehicle office at Nong Hoi, but there you would need to show a green book. They do have a main office, on the south service road of the Superhighway, just west of Tesco Kamtien. They may sell you insuance for an unregistered bike there."


I've been down this road before and you can get 3rd party insurance for a foreign registered bike, but not a non-registered bike.
 
Thanks for replies. So, compulsory (limited medical only), from RVP's main office, is the only insurance you can possibly get for an unplated bike (in Chiang Mai). IF they'll sell it to you... Will check with them then - but the amounts offered by compulsory are pretty small - http://www.rvp.co.th/rvp2011/Our-services.html
 
Phil - the last unregistered bike that I owned was sold seven years ago. However - I was able to get the 3rd party insuance for it, without a book or plate.

This was through Viriyah. I just told them that I was waiting for the book, and they happily took my money. Back then, the insurance companies issued a separate insurance sticker, which had to be displayed on the bike.

CRS - if you succeed in getting the 3rd party government insurance, you should then be able to get the extended 3rd party insurace mentioned above. More medical, bail bond, etc.
 
OK - but...

I was able to get the 3rd party insuance for it, without a book or plate...This was through Viriyah. I just told them that I was waiting for the book, and they happily took my money.

The problem I'd expect then would be that, if you had to make a claim, they'd want you to produce the book before they paid out.

I'll just ask RVP and Viriyah if they can insure unplated bikes and see what they say. I'd want it in print that the insurance is valid even though the bike isn't registered before paying them.
 
crs said:
OK - but...

I was able to get the 3rd party insuance for it, without a book or plate...This was through Viriyah. I just told them that I was waiting for the book, and they happily took my money.

The problem I'd expect then would be that, if you had to make a claim, they'd want you to produce the book before they paid out.

I'll just ask RVP and Viriyah if they can insure unplated bikes and see what they say.


Good point -- I wouldn't want to kill someone and the insurance company is looking to see if there's a way out of the claim and they find out that you were misleading them about the pending registration. Might be easy for them to prove your misrepresentation and not qualify for the claim.
 
Got the wife to call RVP Chiang Mai Head Office and they said that as long as you have an engine number/chassis number (same or just 1 in Thailand - not sure - and not sure on imported bikes) they can do it. (Compulsory - note the low coverage amounts, but better than nothing and maybe a way to get some help with dealing with the people involved.)

Wouldn't take this as a definite though - best if someone takes their unplated bike (no green book) down there, shows them the number stamped on bike and sees if they can do it.

ThaiSri said they can't do anything for an unregistered bike.
 
crs said:
Got the wife to call RVP Chiang Mai Head Office and they said that as long as you have an engine number/chassis number (same or just 1 in Thailand - not sure - and not sure on imported bikes) they can do it. (Compulsory - note the low coverage amounts, but better than nothing and maybe a way to get some help with dealing with the people involved.)

Wouldn't take this as a definite though - best if someone takes their unplated bike (no green book) down there, shows them the number stamped on bike and sees if they can do it.

ThaiSri said they can't do anything for an unregistered bike.

You can insure any bike, there is always some local insurance company willing to take your money, but doing so with any bike not registered will invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim. A friend has a mutt of a bike (something like a honda engine in a yamaha frame) that he gets both his compulsory insurance and a road tax sticker for, in an attempt to keep the BIB from troubling him. He also knows not to bother calling in a claim with that bike.

Compulsory insurance can easily be obtained for any bike with valid registration from another country.

Also any licensed insurance agent or broker can provide compulsory insurance, but many companies don't want to as there is no profit in doing so. :d
 
Fishenough said:
You can insure any bike, there is always some local insurance company willing to take your money, but doing so with any bike not registered will invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim.

Do you have a source for this? I haven't see anything like this on the terms and conditions when I've bought insurance on an invoice/taxed (no book) bike.
 
AlexUSA said:
Fishenough said:
You can insure any bike, there is always some local insurance company willing to take your money, but doing so with any bike not registered will invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim.

Do you have a source for this? I haven't see anything like this on the terms and conditions when I've bought insurance on an invoice/taxed (no book) bike.

No, it's just what I was told concerning renewing insurance on motorbikes without green books. Two local insurance companies will insure if the bike has valid road tax, though I have no idea how that is obtained without current compulsory insurance. Also several insurance companies with not provide polices for no book bikes as it's not looking after the customers interests.

What came first, the insurance or the road tax for a no book bike?
 
I remember looking at an unplated late model import a few years back.. he had insurance docs and the insurance sticker (back then used to still have them) and IIRC he also had tax..

Of course, will they pay ?? who knows..

Interestingly I saw a accident damaged bike, being repaired on insurance, that was a totally unplated / untaxed / not legal bike and the damage was going to cost a fair bit.. I was told as the accident was the other drivers fault, that the insurance company still had to pay, and the rider of the bike may have to pay the police 500b fine for having an illegal bike on the rd, but still received payment from the other party. Not how I would have expected it to go legally or from an insurance co perspective but assured thats how it worked.
 
Fishenough said:
No, it's just what I was told concerning renewing insurance on motorbikes without green books.

Which insurance company told you this?
 
AlexUSA said:
Which insurance company told you this?

AA Insurance Brokers LTD. 'To provide our customers with complete protection we will only insure legally registered vehicles'.
 
Fishenough said:
AlexUSA said:
Which insurance company told you this?

AA Insurance Brokers LTD. 'To provide our customers with complete protection we will only insure legally registered vehicles'.

I thought you were saying that companies are selling insurance but not covering the bike when you actually file a claim:

Fishenough said:
there is always some local insurance company willing to take your money, but doing so with any bike not registered will invalidate the insurance in the event of a claim.

Just curious if you had received info that my insurance company could break my contract somehow since it didn't specify anything about registration or book when I bought the coverage. Unless there's some other information out there, I don't see why the policy isn't valid.
 
AlexUSA said:
I thought you were saying that companies are selling insurance but not covering the bike when you actually file a claim:

Yes. It is simple argument of not giving an insurance company a reason to deny a claim. Not breaking your contract per se, it's just creates a valid reason to deny a claim.

There are many cases of subsequent owners renewing insurance without even knowing the person who's name is in the green book. Why renew theft coverage when in this event there may be no contact, or knowledge of, with the original owner? But coverage has been claimed successfully in cases like this for medical and liability, as in the case of a certain Fino whom the current owner had no idea who John from Canada was that was listed in current, valid green book.

insure-22.gif
 
I once was setting up a bupa deal, I have a long long list or previous injuries, some metal still in me, stuff like that.. So I was being really careful to list everything. A long time ago, I nearly lost my leg to MRSA, so I declared that I had it over 10 years etc..

"Oh that doesnt matter" goes the bupa rep "because we dont cover bacterial infections anyway".. So I pause for a minute.. ask again to be sure I have understood.. No he tells me bupa doesnt cover any kind of bacterial infection.. I then ask him what illness is generally caused by then ?? and hes now stumped doesnt get my inference.. I point out nicely that the vast majority of illness is in some way bacterial, and the rest is almost exclusively viral, we dont have much success treating viral infections also..

Hes still not really getting what I am saying.. And is just flat out adamant that bupa does not cover bacterial infection !!

Now I bet they still cover most hospital bills, but thats one hell of a wiggle room clause there.. I walked out and didnt sign up after that.
 
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