I went to travel on a Tuk Tuk from Thailand to the USA. The Tuk Tuk will be one from Thailand. I worry that some countries will not approve the entry of the vehicle. Any suggestions as to what I need to do to make sure I will not have any problems? If the vehicle is registered and legal in Thailand and it is only passing through other countries, do you anticipate issues? Thank you!

This is my first day to see this website and it is absolutely fantastic! Great information and I look forward to be an active member here.

Hello and welcome to HUBB.

I remember reading somewhere in these pages from a couple who drove their Tuktuk to Europe. If it's registered in your name with all the proper paperwork you shouldn't have any problem.

The problem is getting the paperwork. First, you will need to get it registered in your name. For this you need a non-immigrant visa. See ThaiVisa.com and beware of rego scams. Also, make sure it is registerd as a private vehicle and not a passenger transport vehicle, as that may stop you from leaving Thailand (I'm guessing...).

Once you have this sorted you need an international certificate of registration, essentially an A4 sheet detailing your rego details in English, as nobody outside Thailand can read the Thai rego papers, aka Green Book. You may or may not get this from your regional rego office. My wife got hers in Bkk.

Depending on which countries you wish to travel through you will need a Carnet. See info under paperwork on the left of this page. The problem is: Thailand doesn't issue carnets, so you need to arrange that from somewhere else. The Canandian CAA may or may not issue you one, you need to talk to them before you leave. Failing that try the Malaysian AA, who told me that they would issue it for Thai registered vehicles.

If you cross the vborder into Malaysia you will get rego plate stickers in Latin script, useful, as again Thai plates are not readable by anybody else.

Be prepared for a very slow and uncomfortable trip...

Oh, and don't buy a gas powered Tuktuk. You won't be able to fill up outside Thailand.

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

Thanks so much for the info! It was great and VERY much appreciated. Why can't you fill gas up outside of Thailand?

He means get a petrol engined tuktuk, not one that runs on bottled gas.

Precisely. Imagine you run the tank empty. How do you fill it? Jerry can?

German campers can't even get their lpg bottles filled in France or Spain, because the fittings are different.

If you get one that runs on both gas and petrol then you will be fine, but I doubt they make them like that.

Which route did you have in mind?

__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

The CAA said:

If it is registered and licensed like a motorcycle then yes we will be able to issue you a carnet as long as you are an American or Canadian resident.

So, that is good news. I don't know if the TukTuk is licensed like a motorcycle or not.


As for the route, we have not planned it out full. We will start in Thailand, go to Malaysia and Singapore and then back to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, India and then haven't decided to ship to Middle East and keep moving or what direction to take. Really worried about going through the stan's. Not sure why but wonder if we should avoid that area all together and head to Europe next?