will be out of the country when Driving Licence expires

[Gail]

My 5 year driving licence expires in April during the Songran holiday and then I will be out of the country until the beginning of May, can I go before say the 12th April or can I wait till I get back on 1st May, don't want to have to start all over again.

[Bristolian]

My 5 year driving licence expires in April during the Songran holiday and then I will be out of the country until the beginning of May, can I go before say the 12th April or can I wait till I get back on 1st May, don't want to have to start all over again.

You can wait until you return. You have one year to renew from the licence expiry date. You will still need to produce the same paperwork.

[moja]

If your birthday is due soon wait until a couple of days after your birthday and then you will get almost 6 years rather than the usual 5 for you license; as Bristolian has said you have a year before your license becomes invalid.

[Dannie Boy]

If your birthday is due soon wait until a couple of days after your birthday and then you will get almost 6 years rather than the usual 5 for you license; as Bristolian has said you have a year before your license becomes invalid.

Just a point here - and I don't know the correct answer, but whilst you can still renew the licence up to a year after the expiry of the old one, what about getting stopped by the BIB, are you not inviting them to say "licence expired, that will cost you XXX baht"?

[Bristolian]

If your birthday is due soon wait until a couple of days after your birthday and then you will get almost 6 years rather than the usual 5 for you license; as Bristolian has said you have a year before your license becomes invalid.

Just a point here - and I don't know the correct answer, but whilst you can still renew the licence up to a year after the expiry of the old one, what about getting stopped by the BIB, are you not inviting them to say "licence expired, that will cost you XXX baht"?

Quite clearly it is not legal for you to drive without a valid licence. In theory you would need to have someone drive you to the office to renew, once your licence has expired. Legally you can not even use an International Driving Permit after a time period of being resident here. 6 months I think but I stand to be corrected.

[Dannie Boy]

Quite clearly it is not legal for you to drive without a valid licence. In theory you would need to have someone drive you to the office to renew, once your licence has expired. Legally you can not even use an International Driving Permit after a time period of being resident here. 6 months I think but I stand to be corrected.

Agreed, I was just trying to raise the point about having up to a year in which you can still apply for a licence renewal using your old licence and somebody forgetting that they would be driving without a valid licence and inviting the BIB to extract tea money and/or potentially invalidating their insurance.

[Bristolian]

DB. I realised the point you were trying to make. I think that the 12 month period of grace is excellent for those who are away from Thailand for periods of time and are unable to renew on the expiry date.

My only point, and it's the same as yours, is beware; an expired licence is an expired licence and if you are caught driving there will be a cost. Probably no more than tea money unless you are involved in a serious accident.