I bought a car in Thailand and in this article I’m going to explain why I chose this particular car, what documents I needed for the purchase, and how I financed it.

Why did I buy this car ?

First of all, quite simply, why buy a car ?

I’ve been living in Hua Hin for three years now, relying solely on a scooter and using public transport to travel a bit further afield (train, bus, taxi)

Public transport is very cheap in Thailand.
On the other hand, I didn’t want a car because of the dangerous roads in Thailand, which has the highest accident and fatality rates in the world.

But two factors made it a bit difficult not to have a car.

The first reason is that two years ago we took in a stray dog ; this dog has been domesticated and since then it has been difficult to go anywhere as it forces us to find someone to look after him or put him in a kennel, which is quite expensive. Whilst it is always possible to take him in a taxi, it is really complicated on buses and trains.
The second reason, which was starting to get to me, was that when we went to visit a new town, I couldn’t take my golf bag with me, as the kit is quite bulky, which has so far prevented me from trying out a few golf courses. Of course, I can hire equipment locally, but it’s sometimes quite expensive, and I already struggle enough playing with my own kit, so adding further complications really isn’t worth it.

So, together with Jarun, we decided to buy a car. Initially, we looked at Toyotas, particularly because of the brand’s reliability, which is the best in the world.
There’s also a very extensive network in Thailand, so it’s very easy to get a Toyota repaired.
We were very interested in the Toyota Yaris Cross, which is available here at a price well below that in Europe – around €24,000.
But that’s a sum I don’t have, so we had to finance the purchase on credit one way or another.

In Thailand, car dealerships offer loans in partnership with banks. Obviously. Otherwise, Thais would never be able to buy new cars. But these loans are relatively expensive (over 6%) and, more importantly, I’m over the age limit, which is set at 64.
So it’s impossible to get financing in Thailand.

I started looking into the possibility of taking out a personal loan in France, which isn’t very straightforward as the banks consider that, at my age, I don’t have sufficient income. And even if I’d managed to get one, my monthly repayments would have started to add up significantly given what I pay for health insurance.

In short, €24,000 was too much.
We stopped by the MG dealership, which is offering impressive promotions at the start of 2026 on two of its models : the fully electric MG4 and the MG5, a non-plug-in hybrid.

Jarun wasn’t too keen on the MG 4 because she was worried it would be a hassle to manage the charging. And I think she’d also seen a few videos online of batteries catching fire, which put her off a bit, so to speak.

But I didn’t like the MG 5 ; it’s a fairly low-slung saloon with a traditional boot. I’m not too keen on that, and besides, it’s not practical for either the dog or the golf bag.

I finally managed to convince her.
Especially as, after doing some research, it turns out it’s extremely easy to charge the battery in Thailand.
Not least because the most widespread petrol stations in the country are those in the PTT network (nothing to do with the Post and Telecommunications service, and it’s pronounced ‘Peuteuteu’).
PTT here is the equivalent of the Total network in France : stations in every town and on most main roads.

Above all, this network has a very handy and user-friendly app that works in Thai and English, allowing you not only to find nearby stations but also to book charging points for the next half-hour if they’re occupied when you arrive, and to pay for it all by scanning a QR code – it’s very, very simple.

The paperwork

After paying a deposit of 5,000 baht to order the car, which we received in about a week (the factory is in Thailand), we paid the remaining balance in cash.
This was obviously the simplest option, and in fact the only one, since, as explained above, credit wasn’t an option.

To buy the car, I just had to provide my passport, the yellow tenancy agreement for the house, my driving licence, and that was it.
In Thailand, you don’t need to provide proof of insurance when collecting the vehicle, simply because the compulsory government insurance – which is basic cover equivalent to third-party insurance in France – is provided by the garage.

As this was a great promotion for the start of the year, not only did we get the insurance free of charge, but we also received a home charger, which will be installed within about three weeks, and, most importantly, a lifetime warranty on the battery, which normally comes with an 8-year warranty. The dealership also gave us free solar films, which were fitted to the car upon arrival at the showroom.

We therefore bought the basic model with the smallest battery and a few fewer options. The total price of the car, including all taxes and registration fees, is 556,400 baht, which is just under €15,000.

For your information, at the start of this year, the MG4 is also available with a discount in France. The MG4 64 kWh (ours) is therefore sold there from €27,490 (instead of the list price of €33,490).