Every Thai driving licence carries a balance of 12 points. Traffic offences deduct from it, on a scale running from one point to four depending on severity, and a driver who reaches zero has their licence suspended for 90 days and is notified in writing by the police. The system has been running since 9 January 2023 and is operated by the Royal Thai Police through the same Police Ticket Management database that handles fines.

For a visitor driving on a foreign licence and an international driving permit, the important point is that the system is built around the Thai licence. There is no Thai licence record for points to be deducted from, and we have found nothing showing that deductions are applied to foreign licence holders. What will reach you is the fine, not the points. For a long-stayer or a resident who holds a Thai licence, it is a live and consequential system.

How the system works

The structure is simple and well documented. You begin with 12 points. Each qualifying offence deducts between one and four, with the heaviest deductions reserved for the most serious conduct — driving under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs sits in the four-point band. A deduction is restored one year after the offence that caused it. At zero, the licence is suspended for 90 days.

Deductions are triggered by the ticket, which is why the system sits inside the Police Ticket Management platform rather than at the Department of Land Transport. The points and the fine come from the same record.

Why we do not print a points table

You will find offence-by-offence points tables on plenty of English-language sites. We are not publishing one, and the reason is that the published lists contradict each other.

What is consistently reported across sources is the framework: 12 points to start, deductions of one to four by severity, restoration a year after the offence, and a 90-day suspension at zero. What is not consistent is which offence sits in which band. Different reputable outlets place the same offence in different bands — hit-and-run, wrong-way driving, driving without a licence and street racing are all given different values by different sources. Picking one and printing it as fact would mean choosing between sources that disagree, on a subject where being wrong has a cost for the reader.

What we can say with confidence. The heaviest four-point band covers driving under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs. The lightest band covers everyday offences. Beyond that, if you need to know the exact deduction attached to a specific offence, the authoritative source is the Royal Thai Police's own published schedule, not a travel website — including this one.

Restoration: what is agreed and what is not

The consistently reported position is that a deduction is restored one year after the offence. That is a per-deduction clock, not an annual drip-feed of points, and it is the version we are comfortable stating.

You will also see it described as "you get one point back each year". That is a different mechanism and we could not find sourcing that supports it, so we are not repeating it. There is a second unresolved question at the other end of the scale: sources disagree about what a driver who has been to zero and completed the retraining is restored to — one says 8 points unless further training is done, another says a full 12. We have not been able to settle it, and it would be dishonest to pick.

Reaching zero

A driver whose balance reaches zero has their licence suspended for 90 days and is notified in writing by the police. Points can be recovered by completing a Department of Land Transport training course, but only two such programmes run each year, which makes the timing a genuine constraint rather than a formality.

Driving during the suspension is a separate offence carrying up to three months' imprisonment and/or a fine of up to 10,000 baht — roughly £230 / US$300 / €260, and comfortably the most expensive routine traffic penalty a driver can collect here. Three suspensions within three years produce a suspension longer than 90 days, and a fourth may lead to revocation of the licence altogether.

A suspended licence is an uninsured licence, in practice. Driving while suspended is not merely a fine. It puts you in the same position as any other unlicensed driver as far as an insurer is concerned, and that is a much bigger exposure than the penalty — read what voids your motorbike cover in Thailand and what happens if you drive uninsured.

Does it touch a foreign licence?

Almost certainly not, but the honest formulation matters here. The points system attaches to a Thai driving licence and is operated through the Thai ticket database. A visitor driving on a foreign licence plus an international driving permit has no Thai licence record for a deduction to be applied against, and we have found no source showing that points are recorded against foreign licence holders.

What we are not going to say is that foreign drivers are exempt, because we have found no source stating that either. The accurate position is that the system is built around the Thai licence and there is nothing to show it reaching beyond it. If you are a short-stay visitor, what will actually reach you is the fine — see traffic fines in Thailand and what they cost — and, on a hire vehicle, the charge the rental company passes on.

If you hold or are applying for a Thai licence, this is your system. How to get a Thai driving licence and renewing a Thai driving licence cover the documents; the points balance becomes something to keep an eye on from the day the licence is issued.

Checking your balance

Points are visible through the Royal Thai Police e-ticket portal at ptm.police.go.th, which is the same place outstanding tickets are looked up. It is a Thai-language service, and a browser translation is usually part of the exercise. For a resident, checking it before a licence renewal — and before the annual vehicle tax renewal, which since 1 August 2026 is affected by unpaid traffic fines — is the sensible habit.

The deductions and the fine come from the same ticket. Which means the way to keep your balance intact is exactly the way to avoid fines: helmet on, seatbelt on, phone in a mount rather than in your hand, and nothing at all to drink. The four-point band is where a licence gets destroyed in a single evening.

Frequently asked questions

How many points does a Thai licence start with?

Twelve. Offences deduct between one and four points depending on severity, and a deduction is restored one year after the offence that caused it.

How many points do I lose for speeding, or for no helmet?

Everyday offences of that kind sit in the lightest band. We are not printing an offence-by-offence table because the published lists disagree with each other on individual offences, and the Royal Thai Police's own schedule is the only source worth relying on for a specific figure.

What happens when I reach zero?

The licence is suspended for 90 days and you are notified in writing. Points can be recovered by completing a Department of Land Transport training course, but only two programmes run each year. Driving during the suspension carries up to three months and/or a fine of up to 10,000 baht.

Do points from a fine on my rental car come back to me?

The points system operates on Thai licences. A camera ticket against a hire car is issued to the registered owner — the rental company — and what reaches you is the fine, passed on under your rental agreement. See speed cameras and how tickets find you.

Will a Thai deduction affect my licence at home?

There is no mechanism we are aware of that transmits Thai demerit points to a foreign licensing authority, and the system is built around the Thai licence record. That is a statement about what we could find, not a guarantee about your own country's rules.

Is it true that you get one point back every year?

That version circulates widely but we could not source it. What is consistently reported is that each individual deduction is restored one year after the offence that produced it — a per-offence clock, not an annual point.

Does drink-driving cost points as well as everything else?

Yes — it sits in the heaviest four-point band, on top of a penalty of up to a year's imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 baht, and a court-ordered licence suspension of at least six months or revocation. Drink-driving penalties in Thailand sets out the whole picture.