Renewal of Driver's License in Bangkok

*Post transferred from ammegan.tblog.com

I lost count of how many times I've actually gone back and forth to the Land and Transport Department, situated between Sukhumvit 99 and 101 or opposite of Sukhumvit 62. Last Monday, I thought ah, it's time to renew my license for it causes no harm to renew it before the expiration date because "the earlier the better." It actually expires on August 14, 2008 and last Monday was just August 11. What more, school has just resumed this week and I don't want to miss any morning classes.

So after a few drive and ride across the jammed Sukhumvit road, I was finally at the DLT. With a big smile and a grateful heart I stepped into the DLT glad that my brilliant plan was about to kick in and it did, from getting through the queue and getting approval on my documents from the officers there. I thought in no time I would be given a new title of "Five Years" instead of the previous "One Year". Well, apparently I was wrong altogether and the brilliantness came to a halt.

The officer who was adorned in yellow that day muttered a loud "aww!!" and what followed was "your license has not expired but please come back again on this coming Thursday (August 14, 2008)" which was yesterday when my license was officially pronounced dead. After all the hassle I went through!!!

No longer bearing the big smiles and grateful hearts but with a big frown that seemed to need lapses and lapses of face lifts, I left the place muttering in all possible languages. Wasn't so brilliant afterall wasn't it? Now with this kind of experience, here's the rule of a thumb for you:

Renew your license on your actual expiry date only or after the expiry date.

Forget about being well-planned.

Yesterday when I again visited the lovely faces working at the DLT, I didn't have to go through the busy queue to get my documents checked anymore but they offered me to walk right to their desk and process my license that viola! I got my "Five Years"! It cost 605B beautiful figure. Again, the big smile and grateful heart was back on. Yay!

For those of you who live in Thailand and own a license, please wait for it to really expire first in order for you to use it. Other than that, don't forget to bring your passport and work permit plus a doctor's certificate when you come for renewal purposes. Of course, bring money with tell-time Guess watches! You want to beat the Thai time. :)