Insurance

About forty-five days ago my wife bought her new truck and I enjoyed watching the process. There was no wheeling and dealing over the price of the vehicle as we do back home. When I asked for a discount they looked at me as if I were from another planet. Here, the sticker price is the price, plain and simple. This is really strange for almost anything else for sale in this country can be had for a lesser price. I like this arrangement though, a lot.

But there is room for negotiations though and this is done through the form of what accessories will they throw in if you buy today. In our case the wife negotiated for the following extras. An up graded rear bumper, a bed liner, extra turn signals which are mounted on the front of the two side view mirrors, a fancy thing that covers the rear lighting assembly, rain guards over the window that keeps water from dripping down, tinted windows and get this, one years insurance.

Yes, one years insurance. The stranger part is that for this years insurance they asked my wife not one question. No one wanted to know how long she had been driving, had she ever had an accident or speeding ticket, does she take drugs, beat her husband or drink and surely not if she had completed Drivers Education. Nothing, nada, not one question. I guess in Thailand one size fits all.

So now the question is, how good is this insurance? No one can seem to tell us. After all this time no policy as been received like we would expect back home. All we have is a little piece of paper that says we have insurance and some maximum payouts are listed, but for what I really have no idea as it’s all in Thai. I know what I’m told, but….. What about theft of the truck? Don’t know. What about medical payments? Don’t know. What about deductibles? Reply, what are deductibles? It goes on and on. Anyway, you get the idea. Nobody knows anything. I bet should we have an accident they would then know.

The strangest part is they think that it's strange that I ask questions. And my wife hates it when I ask her to do so. Asking questions is akin to questioning peoples authority and their integrity. A very questionable practice in this culture. Though there is example after example where peoples authority and intrgrity was doggy. It's in the paper daily.

Note: Did you know that the turn signals in almost the entire world are amber in color rather than red as in North America.