Why Scooter Insurance Claims Get Refused in Phuket: 5 Reasons

The expensive part of a scooter accident in Phuket is rarely the accident. It is the email three weeks later: "We regret that your claim does not meet the conditions of the policy." The hospital bill is already paid from your card, the rental shop has kept your deposit and sent an invoice, and the policy you bought for exactly this situation has just explained why it will not pay. In almost every case the refusal comes down to one of five reasons, and four of them were decided before the rider left the rental shop. This article is only about the money after a crash: why insurers refuse, what the compulsory policy actually covers, and the two things you can do this week so that your claim is paid.

Reason 1: wrong licence category

This is the big one. In Thailand category A (motorbike) is mandatory for any scooter, including a 110–125 cc automatic. A car licence, from any country, with or without an International Driving Permit, does not make you a legal rider. When a claim arrives, the first document the insurer checks is the licence, and if it shows category B only, the file is closed with the words "incorrect licence category". This is the single most common reason motorbike claims by tourists in Thailand are refused, and it applies equally to travel insurance, the rental shop's own cover and third-party liability.

It does not matter that the policeman at the checkpoint only fined you 500 baht, or that the rental shop said nothing. The shop is not your insurer. The insurer reads the policy, and the policy says you must have been legally entitled to ride the vehicle.

Reason 2: no valid licence at all

A subset of reason 1, with the same result and worse optics. Riding without any licence is, by law, up to one month in jail or a fine of up to 1,000 baht; at a Phuket checkpoint it is 200–1,000 baht in practice. An expired licence is a fine of up to 2,000 baht. For an insurer, however, there is no sliding scale: no valid licence with category A at the moment of the accident means no payout. The fine is the cheap part. If you want the full picture of fines rather than insurance, that is in our Phuket fines guide for tourists; here we only need one line from it: the licence has to be valid, of the right category, and on you.

Reason 3: the alcohol trap at 20 mg%

Thailand's general drink-driving limit is 50 mg% (0.05 BAC). Most tourists know this and plan around "one or two beers". What they do not know is that a stricter limit of 20 mg% applies to drivers under 20, to holders of a temporary first two-year licence, and to anyone driving without a licence or with the wrong category. A tourist on a scooter with a car licence is in that last group. 20 mg% is roughly one bottle of beer.

So the rider who had one beer with dinner, got knocked off by a pickup that ran a red light, and was then breathalysed at the scene, is now legally drunk. The police penalties are serious on their own: up to one year in jail and/or 5,000–20,000 baht plus a licence suspension of at least six months; 1–5 years and 20,000–100,000 baht if someone is injured; 3–10 years and 60,000–200,000 baht if someone dies. For the insurer, alcohol over the limit is a standard exclusion, and the case is closed regardless of who caused the crash. Refusing the breathalyser does not help: under Thai law it counts as an admission of guilt.

Reason 4: no police report, a moved bike, or a signed paper

A police report is mandatory for any insurance payout in Thailand, including the compulsory Por Ror Bor. No report means no claim, from anyone, however clear the facts. Three things riders do in the first twenty minutes after a crash make the report useless or impossible:

• Moving the bike before police arrive. The positions of the vehicles are the evidence of who hit whom. Once moved, it is your word against theirs, and the report will reflect that.
• Signing a Thai-language document without translation. At the scene or at the station you may be handed a form "just to confirm the details". Tourists regularly sign an admission of fault this way. Nothing gets signed without a translation you trust.
• Not photographing everything. Both vehicles, the road, skid marks, the other party's plate and licence, your injuries. Insurers ask for pictures; "I was in shock" is not accepted.

Call 1669 for an ambulance, 191 for police and 1155 for the Tourist Police, who speak English. Stay with the bike until the report is written, and get a copy.

Reason 5: expecting Por Ror Bor to pay for the bike

Every registered motorbike carries compulsory insurance, Por Ror Bor, and rental shops like to say "the bike is insured". It is, in one sense: Por Ror Bor covers people. It does not cover vehicles. Repairs to your scooter, to the car you hit or to the shop front you slid into are not covered by it at all. That is what the rental shop's own policy and your travel insurance are for, and both of those bring you straight back to reasons 1 to 4.

What Por Ror Bor does pay, with the exact limits:

• No-fault medical expenses: up to 30,000 baht per person, whoever caused the crash.
• Death or loss of an organ, no-fault: 35,000 baht; combined with medical, up to 65,000 baht.
• If the victim is not at fault: medical up to 80,000 baht, disability 200,000–500,000 baht, death 500,000 baht, plus 200 baht per day in hospital for up to 20 days.

Those amounts are real and they do get paid, but only with a police report, and only for bodily harm. The 30,000-baht no-fault medical limit covers an emergency room visit and X-rays; it does not cover a week in a private hospital. Everything above it depends on fault, and fault depends on the report you did or did not get.

Reason, refusal, fix

The two fixes that actually work

Fix A: an International Driving Permit with category A

If your home licence already includes a motorbike category, get a 1968-style International Driving Permit before you fly and carry it with the national licence. Thailand ratified the 1968 Vienna Convention and has been in the UN registry since 1 May 2020, so a Russian national licence is formally valid and a 1968 IDP is recognised; in practice police want to see the IDP. Both documents must show category A. An IDP issued against a car-only licence changes nothing for a scooter. Paperwork details are in international driving licence in Phuket: what works and what does not.

Fix B: a Thai driving licence through the school

If your home licence is car-only, or you have no licence, the clean solution is a Thai licence. The school handles the process: category A (motorbike) costs 11,000 baht, category B (car) 15,000 baht, and it takes 5–7 working days. A Thai licence ends the discussion at checkpoints and satisfies the "legally entitled to ride" clause in every policy. Details and the request form are on the Thai driving licence for foreigners page.

If you cannot ride yet, add a lesson before the licence. A two-hour lesson on an automatic scooter with an instructor costs $60, starts on a closed training ground and moves to the city; the bike, helmet and gear are the school's. See the scooter lessons page. Learning to ride and getting category A in the same week is the normal order, and it is the only order in which a claim gets paid.

The day of the accident: what keeps the claim alive

1. Do not move the bike. Make the other party leave theirs where it is too.
2. Photograph both vehicles, the road, the plates, the other driver's licence, your injuries.
3. Call 1669 (ambulance), 191 (police), 1155 (Tourist Police, English).
4. Sign nothing in Thai without a translation you trust.
5. Get the police report and keep a copy with your passport.
6. Keep every receipt from the hospital and the pharmacy.
7. Notify your travel insurer and the rental shop the same day.

None of this helps if the licence is wrong. Check the category today, before the ride, and if it is not an A, the Thai licence is a week away.