Andys Real Guide to Thailand

The examples used on this page are from a car. The certificates for a bike are essentially the same, though the tax certificate is circular rather than square.

Not surprisingly both documents are writen in Thai. This should only prove an obstacle when trying to read the month. A list of Thai months along with their most common abbreviated forms is at the bottom of this page. Years are Buddhist era (BE), you need to subtract 543 to arrive at an A.D. figure: 2547 - 543 = 2004.

Tax

The registration number of this vehicle is and this certificate will expires in 2547BE on That's the 20th September 2004.

Insurance

Seems that diabolical handwriting goes on all round the world. Looks like a doctor wrote this out... The registration number is This particular badly writen abbreviated month is August. Thus this insurance certificate expires on the 1st August 2004

Miscellaneous;

New motorbikes don't have a registration plate for 3-4 months. It is quite common to see them ridden without a plate. They should still have an insurance certificate - the chassis number is used in place of the registration plate number. The tax certificate arrives at the dealer with the number plate

New cars have plates with a red background. This is a temporary plate issued by the dealer at the time of purchase.

Table of Thai month names

1	January
2	February
3	March
4	April
5	May
6	June
7	July
8	August
9	September
10	October
11	November
12	December