Vehicle Transport · Thailand

Car shipping to and from Thailand, permit included

A car does not clear customs because it arrived. It clears because a permit was obtained before it sailed. Asia Relocation Thailand prepares that file, picks the method the vehicle actually needs, and follows it through Bangkok or Laem Chabang to the far door.

Request a shipping quote → What the service covers
In Thailand since 2011 Two ports, one coordinator Cars, motorcycles and fleets
2Thai ports we clear through
2011on the ground in Thailand since
1coordinator, inspection to handover
118client reviews across the company

Shipping a vehicle is not freight with wheels. A car is a registered object in two jurisdictions at once, and what decides whether it moves on time is administrative: the permit, the title, the customs entry. The sea crossing is the easy half.

Thailand is strict about that paperwork and consistent about it, which is good news once you know the sequence. An import permit is required, including for a private individual, and it is obtained before the vessel sails. A car that reaches Laem Chabang without one does not get waved through — it waits, and it accrues charges while it waits.

Asia Relocation Thailand has run that sequence since 2011, with its own people at both port desks. The vehicle is inspected and photographed before anything is sealed, and the same coordinator follows it from that inspection to the handover at the other end.

The perimeter

What we handle, and what is a different job

The second column is not small print: most disputes in this trade are about something everyone assumed was in the price.

Carried by the service

  • A pre-loading inspection with a written condition report and photographs, which is the document any later claim rests on.
  • The Thai permit file — import or export authorisation, title, customs forms — prepared before the vessel is booked.
  • The method chosen for the vehicle: sealed container, roll-on roll-off, or crating for a motorcycle or a non-standard car.
  • Sea or air freight, and the port handling at Bangkok or Laem Chabang.
  • Clearance and delivery at destination, ending in a documented handover rather than keys left with somebody.

Every line is written into the quotation, with its limits.

A different service

  • A car you do not own. Driving here without buying and without shipping is car leasing, a different arrangement entirely.
  • Thai plates. We clear the vehicle in; registering it here afterwards is a separate process, and we say what it involves rather than doing it.
  • The household. Furniture crossing a border is an international move; staying inside Thailand, a local one.
  • The animals. They do not travel with a vehicle: pet relocation.
  • Cover, and a gap in the dates. Moving insurance is quoted separately, and storage in Thailand holds a vehicle that lands before you do.

All of these can run on the same file and the same dates. Say so in the inquiry.

Shipping methods

Five ways a vehicle travels, and what picks between them

The vehicle decides more often than the budget does. Here is what each method is actually good at.

A container to itself

Sealed at loading and opened at destination, with nobody else's cargo inside. It is the answer for anything low, rare or recently restored, and the one that copes with a monsoon quayside: a container does not care that it rained at Laem Chabang for three days.

Highest protection

Shared container

Two or three vehicles braced in one box, each secured independently. It costs less than sole use and keeps the weather protection, at the price of a consolidation schedule: the container leaves when it is full rather than when you are ready.

Shared space

Roll-on roll-off

The vehicle is driven aboard a vessel built for it and secured on the deck. On the routes that offer it out of Thailand it is the economical choice for a standard, running car, and it is available only where a service actually calls.

Standard vehicles

Motorcycles and non-standard vehicles

Bikes are crated or strapped into a shared container; a classic or an oversized vehicle is crated to its own dimensions. Thailand is a motorcycle country, and this is a larger share of what we ship than most people expect.

Crated

Company fleets, inside the country

Several vehicles moved between Thai sites rather than abroad: transport permits, a planned route, and a documented handover at each end. No customs file, the same condition reports, one contact for the whole movement.

Company
How it works

From the inspection to the documented handover

  1. Inspection and condition report

    Before anything is booked, the vehicle is examined and photographed: bodywork, interior, mileage, existing marks. That record is what makes an insurance conversation short instead of an argument.

  2. The Thai permit file

    Import or export authorisation, title, customs forms. This is where a shipment is delayed or not, and it is why we ask for your documents early rather than in the week the vessel sails.

  3. Method, and a written scope

    Container, shared container, roll-on roll-off or crating, with the reason stated. Two identical cars going to two destinations do not always travel the same way.

  4. Loading, sailing and clearance

    Securing at the port, the crossing, then customs at the far end. Whether the vehicle moves through Bangkok or Laem Chabang follows the vessel and the route, and we tell you which before it goes.

  5. Delivery and handover

    A second condition check against the first report, then a signed handover at the address or the fleet site. Nothing changes hands without a name and a date on it.

Who it's for

Four owners, four different problems

Assignees bringing a car to Thailand

Usually a car worth more than its replacement here, or one that will not be sold. The permit is the whole exercise, and it starts weeks before the vehicle does.

Owners shipping a car out of the country

A posting ending, or a vehicle going back where its plates make sense. Export documentation and the receiving country's rules are read together, not in sequence.

Motorcycle and classic car owners

The vehicles people will not put on an open deck. Crated to their own dimensions, photographed in detail, and insured on a declared value rather than a category.

Companies, embassies and NGOs

Fleets moving between Thai sites or across a border, with entitlement to respect, one billing trail, and a condition report per vehicle rather than per convoy.

Ports and routes

Bangkok and Laem Chabang, and the road to your door

Collection anywhere in Thailand, clearance at whichever of the two ports the vessel uses.

Most vehicle sailings to and from Thailand work through Laem Chabang, the deep-sea port down the eastern seaboard, with Bangkok handling the rest. Which one your car uses is decided by the vessel and the route rather than by your address, so we collect where the vehicle is, in Bangkok or upcountry, and drive it to the port its sailing actually leaves from.

That collection matters more than it sounds. A car driven to the quay by whoever was available arrives with kilometres and marks nobody recorded. Ours is moved by our own people, against the condition report signed at the inspection.

FAQ

What owners ask before a vehicle is booked

Can a private individual ship a car into Thailand?
Yes, but it is a permitted process rather than an open one: an import permit is required, and it is obtained before the vehicle sails rather than after it arrives. We prepare the file with Thai Customs and the shipping line. A car that reaches port without its permit waits, and accrues charges while the paperwork catches up.
Which papers do you need from us?
The vehicle title, a passport copy, the bill of lading, the import or export permit, and the customs forms. The list differs depending on whether the car is coming into Thailand or leaving it, so we confirm it once the direction and the destination are fixed, and we check every document before the vehicle is booked.
Container or roll-on roll-off?
A container is sealed, weather-proof and takes the car nobody else touches; roll-on roll-off is driven aboard and costs less on the routes that offer it. The vehicle usually decides rather than the budget. Anything low, rare or already restored travels in a container.
Do you ship motorcycles and classic cars?
Yes, and they are handled differently from a saloon. Motorcycles are crated or strapped into a shared container; a classic or a non-standard vehicle is crated to its own dimensions. Both are inspected and photographed before anything is closed, because that record is what an insurer reads later.
Which ports do you work through in Thailand?
Bangkok and Laem Chabang, which is the deep-sea port most vehicle sailings actually use. Our teams deal with both, and with the customs desks attached to them. Which one your car moves through depends on the vessel and the route, not on where you live.
How long does it take?
Four things move the date: the route, the method, the sailing schedule, and clearance at both ends. Air freight is faster and limited to what fits a hold. We give a dated plan once the vehicle and the destination are known, because a figure quoted before that is a guess dressed as a promise.
Is the vehicle insured while it travels?
Cover is quoted separately and we recommend it, because a car passes through more hands than a carton does: loading, the quay, the vessel, the clearance inspection. The pre-loading condition report and its photographs are what make a claim short if one is ever needed.
Can you move a fleet between provinces rather than abroad?
Yes. Moving company vehicles inside Thailand is road work rather than shipping: transport permits, a route, and a documented handover at the far site. It is the same team and the same condition reports, without the customs file. Tell us how many vehicles and where they need to be.
Not what you were looking for?

Two neighbours of this page

You do not own the car yet

Driving here for the length of a posting, without buying and without shipping anything.

Leasing a car in Thailand →

The whole moving service

Seven services in Thailand, and which of them your move actually needs.

Moving services in Thailand →

Tell us the vehicle and where it has to end up

We inspect it, work out which method it needs, prepare the Thai permit file, and come back with a written scope and a date.

Request your shipping quote →
Shipping quote What's included