To those of you who advertise your business on company cars

[Pleng]

I know it's difficult to know how somebody drives unless you spend time in the car with them. Even then, if you're their boss then they may well drive differently when you're not around, but if you have employees who have company cars which have your branding on, or you lend out such vehicles to employees for any reason, then it doesn't do you business any good what so ever when said people drive as if they're hell bent on causing an accident.

I don't know what the solution is, but maybe it's better to remove branding all together while a car is in the possession of somebody who's driving habits you are unsure of.

[poosmate]

It would be a big job debranding all the Thai police cars

[dtaai-maai]

(with the OP) I remember starting an identical thread a few years ago after being driven off the road by an insurance company!

[buksida]

It doesn't do the company any favours when their vehicles are being driven by loons.

Far more concerning though are the drivers of school minivans packed with kids - I've almost been forced off the road by whoever drives the van out to Somtawin over the bypass, overtaking round bends at breakneck speeds ...

[Spitfire]

Occasionally, you do see the odd company van (5% perhaps) that has a number on the back regarding this issue to call if they are 'Spanky Spangler' on the road, but not many. But generally, you can 'whistle-in-the-wind' regarding this one as the lunatic driving has little other than contempt for anyone, and the worst qualities of all are let loose once they get behind the wheel of something that moves as they believe they suddenly have status.

As far as the school minivans are concerned, I find it surreal and disturbing that I witness the shameless violations of every safety protocol you can imagine with the under 10 faces squashed/pressed against the inside of the window smiling at you when they race past.

A little too Roald Dahl or Twilight Zone for me really.

[cookie102]

On a slightly different note, a couple of years ago one of our English friends was driving his Thai girlfriends car which had her company name on it and was stopped by the police and told that he was in fact working as he was promoting his girlfriends company.
On this occasion he was made to remove the stickers before he could continue his journey and no action was taken against him.
But this is another point to consider.

[VincentD]

Cookie, while it may appear that the BIB (Boys In Brown) may have been taking the p*$$, it may have been technically correct. If that was the case, why didn't the English gentleman get out of the driver's seat, let his girlfriend take over, and just drive off? It would have saved the hassle of taking off the stickers (and I would assume putting them back on again at a later stage as it was a company car?). It was her (company-assigned) car to start with.

[PeteC]

Sounds as if I better trade the wife's car before trouble hits. Pete

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[cookie102]

He was driving on his own in her car as I am sure he would have been the one being driven if they had been together.

[Pleng]

Occasionally, you do see the odd company van (5% perhaps) that has a number on the back regarding this issue to call if they are 'Spanky Spangler' on the road, but not many. But generally, you can 'whistle-in-the-wind' regarding this one as the lunatic driving has little other than contempt for anyone, and the worst qualities of all are let loose once they get behind the wheel of something that moves as they believe they suddenly have status.

Spitfire, I was aiming my post more towards companies who specifically target the expat market, who may take a bit more interest if one of their vehicles is driving dangerously.

I agree that a 100% Thai owned company who has very interest in the farrang market would be likely to worry to much.

[Dannie Boy]

Occasionally, you do see the odd company van (5% perhaps) that has a number on the back regarding this issue to call if they are 'Spanky Spangler' on the road, but not many. But generally, you can 'whistle-in-the-wind' regarding this one as the lunatic driving has little other than contempt for anyone, and the worst qualities of all are let loose once they get behind the wheel of something that moves as they believe they suddenly have status.

Spitfire, I was aiming my post more towards companies who specifically target the expat market, who may take a bit more interest if one of their vehicles is driving dangerously.

I agree that a 100% Thai owned company who has very interest in the farrang market would be likely to worry to much.

Pleng, in your Opening comment you were suggesting that removing the logos might be a good idea - this however would have no positive effect on the capability of the driver and therein lies the problem. Thailand as with so many other non-western countries (but even some of them are a bit suspect) typically drive with either little consideration/ or awareness of others and unless you can tackle this, the situation is going to remain the same.

[Pleng]

I'm talking from the point of view of the business owner.

I don't know the solution to sorting the driving issues, any suggestions I'm sure would be welcomed by those who do have to employ people driving vehicles with their company branding.

All I am saying is that if you have people driving around in your vehicles, and you don't know anything about their driving ability, you might want to consider weather the publicity you generate from having your branding on/in the vehicle is outweighed by the risk of the person doing damage to your brand by driving like a maniac.

That's why I didn't originally post this topic in the motoring section. I considered Legal/Visa but then originally settled for The Beach Bar.

[Dannie Boy]

It's a difficult one, but unless the owner gets feedback about the "maniacs" driving their vehicles, they mightt not know they have a problem. In the short-term they might suffer, but if they tackle the issue responsibly and promote safer driving with their staff and maybe even advertise the fact that they do as such, then hopefully in the long term they will benefit and we will all have a slightly safer journey on the roads. Will it ever happen - we can but hope?

[Pleng]

I guess one thing that might seem obvious to us, but maybe not so to a Thai employee (especially if he's previously worked for any of the Thai industries that have massively unrealistic time-based performance indicators) is that most customers have no problem with somebody being late for an appointment so long as they are kept updated with a phone call.

For all we know, this driver may have been running late and been fearful because of that.
He may not have been late for anything at all; he may just always drive like an arse.

Some of life's mysteries will never be solved eh?

[dtaai-maai]

I'm not entirely sure why we're focusing entirely on Thai drivers. I thought the point was vehicles with company logos, SUVs as often as not - it's usually impossible to see who is driving.

1. Very few Thais have had any form of driving instruction.
2. All farang have.
3. So what is the farangs' excuse?
Stick 'em behind the wheel of a pick-up or SUV and after a couple of months they're as bad as anyone else.