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[ozgirlinbkk]

Hi,

Could anyone give me an idea of how much I should expect to pay to employ a full-time driver in Bangkok, working a 6 day week (he/she would be driving our car)? Basic english skills would be handy, but most importantly they should be a safe driver!

Thanks, Gina

Edited by ozgirlinbkk, 2009-02-08 23:04:13.

[Bagwan]

ozgirlinbkk, on 2009-02-08 23:02:36, said:

Hi,

Could anyone give me an idea of how much I should expect to pay to employ a full-time driver in Bangkok, working a 6 day week (he/she would be driving our car)? Basic english skills would be handy,but most importantly they should be a safe driver!

Thanks, Gina

At the risk of appearing cynical I would say that such would be a very rare creature.

You do not mention how many hours per day he/she would be required but I would suggest that you budget for 8000 baht per month.

[JimsKnight]

8,000 - 9,000 is about right.  Testing him on his map reading skills is another must-do along with punctuality.

[Toany]

JimsKnight, on 2009-02-09 00:44:53, said:

8,000 - 9,000 is about right.  Testing him on his map reading skills is another must-do along with punctuality.

per week or month?

[kiakaha]

ozgirlinbkk, on 2009-02-08 23:02:36, said:

Hi,

Could anyone give me an idea of how much I should expect to pay to employ a full-time driver in Bangkok, working a 6 day week (he/she would be driving our car)? Basic english skills would be handy, but most importantly they should be a safe driver!

Thanks, Gina

We lease a car and driver, all through a company. The driver portion of the deal is 11,000 p/mth (i'm not sure how much of this the driver actually gets) , we also give him tips and sometimes meals/drinks aswell.Better a happy driver than a bitter one

[p_brownstone]

ozgirlinbkk, on 2009-02-08 23:02:36, said:

Hi,

Could anyone give me an idea of how much I should expect to pay to employ a full-time driver in Bangkok, working a 6 day week (he/she would be driving our car)? Basic english skills would be handy, but most importantly they should be a safe driver!

Thanks, Gina

I pay my Driver a Basic Salary of Baht 7,500.- per month for 5 days a week, 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, for any work outside those hours he is paid Baht 55.- per hour. He is usually required to work on Saturday (at Bant 55.- per hour) and with other overtime on average his total income is about Baht 11,000.- per month. He has been with me for 5 years now however.

Patrick

[Boater]

Quote

I pay my Driver a Basic Salary of Baht 7,500.- per month for 5 days a week, 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, for any work outside those hours he is paid Baht 55.- per hour

this is about the same as we pay our driver

Quote

but most importantly they should be a safe driver!

our driver is not ... but then he drives the same as all the other Thais ....................

i know of one guy in BKK that got so pissed off with the way the Thai Drivers drove his family, he employed a western driver ( 55K a month ! )

but then he said you cannot put a price on your families safety ! or your own

[JimsKnight]

Toany, on 2009-02-08 22:59:45, said:

JimsKnight, on 2009-02-09 00:44:53, said:

8,000 - 9,000 is about right.  Testing him on his map reading skills is another must-do along with punctuality.

per week or month?

Per month.

Start at 8k and move up to 9k if they are decent and go the distance (ie don't quit after the first mishap).

[kiakaha]

Our driver is ok, he is punctual, honest and destination accurate which is the main thing.Can be a bit of a hoon on the tollway.

Many years ago I was in a taxi and the old thai driver had the most excellent Queens English, even with a nice accent to boot...the guy is gold... if I could ever find him again, i'd hire him on the spot.

[Soi224]

I've never had a driver, but my mates that have them generally tend to pay more in the 15,000 - 20,000 range. Perhaps that is because the company covers it, but they also have the cart around their kids all the time too. Precious cargo deserves the motivation for care that pay covers, but that's just me

[thaihome]

For my driver, basic salary is 9K a month, 8 hrs day, 5 days week. He gets about 100+ hours OT so total pay is close to 15K a month.  This is paid by company.  In addition we use him on weekends and we pay directly. This probably adds about 4-8k a month.

Company wide we have about 30 drivers in Thailand.  In the 5 years I have been here, there have been only 3 accidents (non fender bender types), none when expats is in the car.  Only one resulted in minor injuries to the driver.

We are serious about driving safety and all drivers are  required to attend yearly safe driving course each year at which a test is administered. If they fail they are relieved of driving duties and suspended without pay for a month and given another chance to take the course and test at the end of the test.  If failed again, they are fired.  We have never had one fail even once.
TH

[ozgirlinbkk]

thaihome, on 2009-02-10 11:56:03, said:

For my driver, basic salary is 9K a month, 8 hrs day, 5 days week. He gets about 100+ hours OT so total pay is close to 15K a month. This is paid by company. In addition we use him on weekends and we pay directly. This probably adds about 4-8k a month.

Company wide we have about 30 drivers in Thailand. In the 5 years I have been here, there have been only 3 accidents (non fender bender types), none when expats is in the car. Only one resulted in minor injuries to the driver.

We are serious about driving safety and all drivers are required to attend yearly safe driving course each year at which a test is administered. If they fail they are relieved of driving duties and suspended without pay for a month and given another chance to take the course and test at the end of the test. If failed again, they are fired. We have never had one fail even once.
TH

Thanks for all those replies. Could you please provide some more info on the safe driving course. When I do hire a driver, I would like to send them for a course like this. Cheers!

[thaihome]

Unfortunatly I have no idea about the safe driving course.  It was arranged by our office manager and was in Thai (duh).  Suggest you get someone who speaks Thai to talk to one of the many dirving schools in Bangkok.  Would not suggest trying to do this (or even hire the driver) without being able to speak Thai.
TH

[Pib]

A member of our family works as a driver for a vehicle rental company here in Bangkok.  He drives a van and carries people here-and-there mostly around Bangkok--basically, you rent the van for a couple hours to a day and he takes you where ever you want to go.  Don't know what his company charges is per hour/day, but his monthly salary for a 5 day work week is a little less than 10,500 Baht.   There is overtime pay (usually for some weekend work) and he does get weekend use of the company van.

[Sam125]

Bagwan, on 2009-02-09 00:35:51, said:

ozgirlinbkk, on 2009-02-08 23:02:36, said:

Hi,

Could anyone give me an idea of how much I should expect to pay to employ a full-time driver in Bangkok, working a 6 day week (he/she would be driving our car)? Basic english skills would be handy,but most importantly they should be a safe driver!

Thanks, Gina

At the risk of appearing cynical I would say that such would be a very rare creature.

You do not mention how many hours per day he/she would be required but I would suggest that you budget for 8000 baht per month.

Actually there are many safe Thai drivers. I use taxis every day and many drivers drive way too fast but on a regular basis I find calm and polite drivers also.

[midas]

Boater, on 2009-02-09 08:57:36, said:

i know of one guy in BKK that got so pissed off with the way the Thai Drivers drove his family, he employed a western driver ( 55K a month ! )

but then he said you cannot put a price on your families safety ! or your own

I am very curious to know how that guy got around this   :-

Restricted Professions for foreigners

There are certain restricted professions and occupations for which the
Labor Department is prohibited from issuing a work permit to foreign nationals.
Under Royal Decree B.E. 2522 (1979), an alien is unable to obtain a permit to
work in the following occupations:


5. driving of motor vehicles or non-motorised carriers (except piloting international airplanes)

[OZinBKK]

Our company uses a group called Thai to Drive.

It's a bit up market and they're a registered company but the drivers are veterans, the cars are new and included and they have native english speaking account managers, cell rental and have always done well on turn around time etc.

I think they have a website but their email is thaitodrivebangkok@gmail.com - I'd recommend you ask for Jimmy.

Good luck