| Q |
Andy, can I refer to you as an ex- Bangkok teacher? I mean you did
actually walk into a classroom a few times? |
| A |
I taught for 3-4
years at places including King’s College Bang-Na, which I quite enjoyed, I
worked at another Bangkok school on some questionable outside contracts, and
a few other fly by night operations. I was always racking my brains though
trying to find an angle to get out of it. I'm Glad that’s all behind me, but
you never know when you may end up in the classroom again. |
| Q |
You did a stint in Hong Kong as well. How did that go? |
| A |
I was burnt out in
Thailand so I sold up and tried to seek my fortune over there. Things didn’t
work out because I’m something of an uneducated idiot, and ended up working
10 hours a day for $100HK (500 Baht) an hour in a teaching sweatshop to get
enough wedge to come back to Thailand. HK is a great place if you’re making
the money, but a nightmare if you’re skint. |
| Q |
Enough of this
teaching lark. You're the driving force behind Expat Motors. How does it
work? |
| A |
Basically we act
the same way as a property broker does - but for cars. I don’t want to give
too much away though. The most important thing is we check for dodgy
paperwork, and ensure that any vehicles have not been wrapped around a lamp
post at some time in the past. The beauty of this business is that I only
have to work 2-3 days per week, which suits me fine. |
| Q |
Presumably you
make a little bit more money out of this than you did out of teaching? |
| A |
I came back from
HK just over a year ago with about 50,000 Baht. Now I’ve got 2 reasonable
cars - one for me, and one for the missus (so she’ll leave me alone), a nice
(rented) apartment with all the mod cons. My daughter goes to a decent
bilingual school, and we’ve a few bob in the bank for a couple of beers. So
I guess I’m doing OK. |
| Q |
Why would an
ex-pat come to you for a car instead of going straight to a Thai dealer? |
| A |
The people we deal
with are usually fresh off the boat on the Expat package. They don’t know
how much to pay, what makes and models of car to go for, or any of the
registration procedures. So we make everything nice, and easy for them - a
service which they are happy to pay for. Another angle is that ex-pats can’t
communicate with your average Thai used car dealer, and also they don’t
trust them (however the ones I know have some decent motors). We only deal
in used cars, if people want a new vehicle, they just go to a main dealer
and pay the list price on the car. |
| Q |
Have you ever
turned the clock back on one of your motors or stuffed the sills with wet
Bangkok Posts? |
| A |
Errr... no but,
I’ve seen a few that have. |
| Q |
How many teachers
have ever been in the position to buy a car off you? |
| A |
I’ve done quite a
bit of business with the international school crowd, Bangkok Pattana and ISB
to name a few. I’ve sold a few motors to the odd ESL teacher, but not that
often. I get quite a few emails from ESL teachers who only have a budget of
50-100,000 Baht, but it’s not worth the hassle as it would ultimately be a
car they’d be unhappy with, and it would reflect badly on us so in the long
run - it’s bad for business. |
| Q |
Do you ever drive
past a teacher who's probably standing at a bus-stop waiting for the next
non-aircon, and think "that used to me"? |
| A |
All the time. I
usually have a chuckle, but I could be back there one day. |
| Q |
You've muscled in
on what many would see as Thai territory. How do the Thais themselves take
to you? |
| A |
All the Thais I
deal with are making money because I’m selling their cars to people they
don’t have access to so no problems. We only sell to “farangs” so there’s no
hard feelings, or feelings of competition. My secretary deals with all the
Thai side of things which makes life a lot easier. |
| Q |
Is there a Thai language equivalent of "one careful owner, the rest were
bastards"? |
| A |
Jow khong poo ying
kon diow, chai rot by Bhaot took wan atit yang diow.(One lady owner, only
used the car to go to church on Sundays.) |
| Q |
Let's say I've got 300,000 Baht to spend and I'm sick of getting on and off
Microbuses. What can you do for me? |
| A |
I always push the
Japanese cars because they go forever, and I never have any complaints. For
around 300,000 Baht I’d recommend a 98/99 Toyota Soluna, auto gearbox, 1.5L.
It's a boring car but will go forever if you maintain it, and will be easy
to sell, and hold it’s value even after 2-3 years. You could also get a
decent pick-up truck, but they're no fun to drive in Bangkok. |
| Q |
The fact that if the business goes tits up, you can always fall back on the
teaching must be a great comfort to you? |
| A |
I view teaching as
being on a par with claiming the dole in the UK - it’s a bastard if you have
to go back to it, but it’s always there. |
| Q |
We're thinking of re-starting the ajarn teachers nights at the Londoner. Any
chance we can coax you down to join in discussions on the effective way to
do role-plays and aspects of classroom management? |
| A |
Any excuse to get
out for a few beers. |
| |
Check out the Expat Motors website
 |
