The experience of renewing a driving licence (Cha-am office)

[HarryVardon]

In the past I have used an agent to renew my driving licence. This time I thought I would try it myself. On Monday I went to immigration on Soi 88 to get a certificate of residence. They required a copy of the contract for house rental, a copy of the main page of my passport and a copy of the visa and entry card. I had filled in the wrong form at home so I had to get a new blank form. This took about 20 minutes waiting in a queue at the copy shop. It is now a small room doing much more than copy work and there always seems to be a queue. I filled this in and took everything into the office downstairs. This was quickly checked and I paid my 500 Baht and was told to wait outside. This took ages as the girl in the office was simply collecting applications and money. Once every half hour she takes the applications upstairs to be processed. The processing upstairs takes about another half hour so I finished up waiting just over an hour for my certificate. In total it took almost 2 hours by immigration. Next I went to a clinic on Petchakasim Road to get a medical certificate. There was no-one in the surgery so I was helped straight away. The receptionist needed my passport and did a lot of typing. She weighed me and took my blood pressure. A doctor came into reception and signed the certificate but he didn’t talk to me or examine me in any way. I paid 300 Baht for the medical certificate. Next day I went to Cha-Am to renew my driving licence. Besides the medical certificate and the certificate of Residence I gave the receptionist a copy of my passport main page, visa and entry card. She gave me the medical certificate back. She didn’t want it even though I am more than 70 years old. She sent me upstairs where I first had to undergo some tests. From a distance of about 10 yards I had to identify colours on a drawing not much bigger than a football. It seems the only colours I was supposed to see were red, yellow and green but nobody told me this. I am sure I failed this test miserably as everything was just a blur to me (I had left my glasses in the car). I then had to sit in a chair with an accelerator and brake on the ground. There was a screen in front of me which I was told would show a green light when I accelerated and that I should brake as soon as a red light came on. Once I realized what was required this went OK. I then had a different eye test putting my chin on a rest and I had to identify the colours of lights turning on to the left and right of my head. These went very fast but I suppose I did OK except I said some colours were Orange or Blue when I was only supposed to see yellow, red and green (which, of course, nobody told me). With a lot of gesturing I was sent into a room with about 30 other people to watch a video. I was told this would last one hour, which it did. This was a complete waste of time as the video just consisted of a man talking in Thai for one hour. I didn’t understand a single word he said so I have no idea what the video was about. Many of the people in the room were just playing with their telephones and very few actually listened. After the video we all went downstairs and were told to wait until our names were called out. It took nearly an hour before I was called. I went to the desk, signed a form and paid 555 Baht. I was then told to wait in the queue to have my photograph taken. This took about another 45 minutes. I had my photograph taken and received a receipt for my payment and was told to wait until my driving licence was printed. This took about 15 minutes. The complete process was very easy, very inefficient and cost almost 6 hours (excluding travel). The total cost was 1355 Baht.

[Scout]

Had your old license already expired ? Looking at the expiration date of your new license, how many years is the new license good for ?

[HHTel]

I've never used the Cha-am office but from what I've heard from people, it does appear to be easier at Pranburi.
A medical certificate is only required for your first application and not for renewals. This may change as the new rules require you to be free from a number of conditions.

[Dannie Boy]

I renewed my 5 year license last year at Cha Am and a medical certificate was not required, however the process was a lot more tedious/bureaucratic than it was 5 years previous, so I can understand why others might want to give Pranburi a try.


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[europtimiste]

I renewed as usually at Pranburi. Certificate of residence at soi 88, 1 hour, went Pranburi with passport copy, certificate of residence, NO medical certificate. Very simple went at 09.00 am and everything was ready at 11.45 am.