Voluntary motor insurance in Thailand is sold in a ladder of classes: 1, 2+, 2, 3+ and 3. Class 1 is comprehensive and covers your own vehicle in almost any circumstance, including a crash with no one else involved. Class 3 is third-party liability only. Everything in between is a partial product, and the two most popular options — 2+ and 3+ — share a limitation that catches out more owners than any other feature of the Thai market: they cover damage to your own vehicle only when another vehicle is involved.
All five classes sit on top of the compulsory por ror bor cover that every registered vehicle must carry, and all five add third-party liability for injury and property damage, which compulsory cover does not touch at all. Choosing a class is really two decisions in one: how much liability protection you want, and how much of your own vehicle's value you want an insurer to carry.
- Class 1Comprehensive, including single-vehicle accidents, theft, fire and flood
- The "+" classesOwn-vehicle damage only in a collision with another vehicle
- 2+ versus 3+3+ drops theft and fire
- Every classAdds third-party liability on top of compulsory cover
The five classes, side by side
| Cover | Class 1 | Class 2+ | Class 2 | Class 3+ | Class 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Third-party injury and property damage | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Your vehicle, collision with another vehicle | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Your vehicle, single-vehicle accident | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Theft | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Fire | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Flood and natural disaster | Yes | No | No | No | No |
What the plus sign really means
The plus tiers cover your own vehicle only when a named third-party vehicle is involved in the accident. That is the whole meaning of the symbol, and it is a much bigger exclusion than it sounds.
2+ and 3+ do not cover the accident you are most likely to have. Losing the front wheel on gravel, aquaplaning into a kerb, misjudging a wet corner on a hill, or putting the car into a ditch on an unlit road at night are all single-vehicle accidents. There is no other vehicle to name, so there is nothing for a plus policy to attach to, and the repair is yours. Only Class 1 covers it.
Nor is it enough that another vehicle was somehow involved in the story. Thai insurers work from a named third party — a registration number, a driver, a counterparty insurer. A car that swerved at you and drove on is, from the policy's point of view, no third party at all. That is one of several reasons why stopping, photographing and getting the other vehicle identified matters so much; the process is set out in how fault is decided after a crash in Thailand.
Flood is a Class 1 feature, and in Thailand that is not academic
Class 1 covers flood and natural disaster. The classes below it do not. In a country where an afternoon of rain can put standing water across a Bangkok soi or a Chiang Mai underpass deep enough to drown an engine, that is a real difference rather than a technicality — see the rainy season and flooded roads in Thailand. If you park on the street in a low-lying district and your car is worth insuring at all, this is the line in the table that should decide it.
Which class suits which owner
- A newer car you could not afford to replace — Class 1. The premium is the price of not carrying a total loss yourself.
- A car on hire purchase — expect the finance company to have a view. Under a hire-purchase agreement the lender is recorded in the registration book as the title holder and you are only the possessor, so the vehicle it is protecting is, in a real sense, still its own. Ask before you downgrade.
- A five- to ten-year-old car you drive daily — 2+ if theft is a worry, 3+ if it is not, Class 1 if you park outdoors in a flood-prone area or do a lot of night driving on rural roads.
- An old, cheap runabout — Class 3 for the third-party liability, and self-insure the vehicle. Paying to protect a car worth ฿90,000 rarely survives contact with the premium.
- A motorbike — a different calculation entirely, worked through in which insurance class to buy for a used motorbike.
What none of them is
Two things worth separating out, because readers routinely conflate them with a class number.
First, a Thai voluntary policy is not travel insurance and will not repatriate you, fly a relative out, or pay a private hospital bill for you as the driver beyond whatever personal accident element the policy contains. Second, the collision damage waiver sold at a car rental counter is a different animal again — it is not insurance at all but a contractual reduction of what the rental company will charge you, and it comes with its own exclusion list. If you are renting rather than owning, go to rental insurance excess in Thailand, and if you want the broader visitor's view of how the compulsory and voluntary systems fit together, compulsory versus voluntary insurance in Thailand is the overview page.
Why we are not printing premium ranges
Because they would be invented. A Thai motor premium moves with the vehicle's make, model, age and declared sum insured, with the class, with the options attached to the policy, with the insurer, and often with the driver. There is no honest single figure, and the sites that publish one are quoting a marketing example. Get two or three quotes for your own vehicle from licensed insurers and compare them against the checklist below. The exercise takes an afternoon and the spread between quotes is usually wider than the difference between two adjacent classes.
Questions worth asking before you sign
- What is the declared sum insured on my vehicle? This is the figure a total loss is settled at, and it should bear some relationship to what the vehicle would actually fetch — see what a used car or motorbike really costs in Thailand.
- Is there a deductible, and how much? An excess you pay on each own-damage claim changes the value of the policy considerably on a cheap vehicle.
- Where can it be repaired? Policies differ on whether repairs go to a manufacturer's dealership or to the insurer's own network of garages.
- Is it a named-driver policy? If so, find out exactly who is covered before you lend the vehicle to anyone.
- What is the third-party property limit? This is the number that matters if you write off somebody else's pickup.
- Does the policy respond if the driver has no valid licence? Assume it does not. The entitlement question is the one that unravels claims, and it is covered in what voids your motorbike cover in Thailand.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Class 2+ and Class 3+?
Theft and fire. Both cover damage to your own vehicle only in a collision with another vehicle, and both cover third-party liability; 3+ drops the theft and fire element, which is why it is cheaper.
Does Class 1 cover me if I crash on my own with nobody else involved?
Yes. That is the single most important thing Class 1 buys you, and it is exactly what 2+ and 3+ exclude.
Is Class 3 worth having at all?
Yes, for the third-party liability. Compulsory por ror bor covers injury to people up to modest ceilings and covers no property damage at all — so without voluntary cover of some class, the cost of the other party's vehicle comes out of your own pocket.
Can a foreigner buy Thai motor insurance?
Yes. Insurers write policies against the vehicle's registration; being the registered owner is the relevant question, and a foreigner can be one.
Do I still need compulsory insurance if I buy Class 1?
Yes. Por ror bor is statutory and separate, and the annual road tax cannot be renewed without it. Voluntary cover of any class sits on top of it, never instead of it.
Does my policy cover the person I lend the car to?
It depends on whether it is a named-driver policy, and on whether that person is legally entitled to drive. Ask your insurer for the answer in writing rather than assuming.
Which class do I need to take the car on a ferry to an island?
The class does not change with geography, but the risks do, and loading ramps and vehicle decks are a common place for damage that no third party can be named for. Read your own policy before you drive onto a ferry.