How To Drive To Cambodia With My Car

[Azoulay]

Hi Friends,

Hope it is the right place to post my question, but anyway...

Could somebody tell me how to cross the border and what papers are necessary to go (and return) to Cambodia with my car ?

The car is registered under my name, I have the book and all Thai papers (insurance, porobo, and others) in my name under validity.

I would like to cross the border in Tratt and visit around inside Cambodia.

Some say I would need a Carnet (what is this, where to get it) ???

Some say I would need nothing and make all at the border, but what ???

I would like to avoid traveling to Tratt for nothing and can not go to Cambodia to visit my friends.

Thanks a lot in advance for your valuable help.

Keep the Power On

 

[Jimenator]

Blue book only. If entering at Had Lek (Trat) no need for photocopies. However, on the Cambodian side you will be asked to pay 100 Baht for every day your car is in Cambodia and usually 100 Baht extra for the guy to lift the gate. You will also be told you can only drive within Koh Kong province. Agree to this. Your registration (blue book) or customs documents will be held by Cambodian customs and you will thus need to return the same way to collect them. There is however no problem driving around the country. Just don't let customs know!

However, you can also enter at Chong Chom/O'Smach, which is usually free, and there is no requirement to deposit your blue book (I didn't need to last time I went through a few days ago) although there are reports of drivers who were asked to a few months ago and last year. If you cross very early, at night or if you're lucky around lunchtime there will be no one at the customs hut so you can just drive on through.

You will need photocopies of all the important pages in your blue book and the front page of your passport at Chong Chom. You will even need these documents for re-entering at Aranyaprathet, if you go that way! So I suggest you bring these along, otherwise, about 2-3km before the border there are some photocopy shops at the market area in Kap Choeng district.

Forget about a carnet, it's not required and Thai vehicles don't normally have them because they are not available for purchase inside Thailand. It would be much cheaper and easier to obtain a permit for transiting Cambodia than a carnet, the nearest location for Thai vehicles would be Malaysia.

Despite not having any system for entry of foreign registered vehicles or insurance that can be purchased at the border, if you're OK with that I would just do what 99% of Thai and foreign drivers do when they enter Cambodia by car/motorcycle: know which borders are easy (Koh Kong and O'Smach, the latter is preferred) bring along your original car registration, passport and photocopies and you're good to go.