Proposed 40,000 baht grant to swap old cars for pickups

Picture the owner of a pickup first registered in 2010. The truck has done more than ten years on the road and still carries goods to market every morning, but the repairs come more often each year. On hearing that the state may pay 40,000 baht to trade the old vehicle for a new pickup, the first questions are whether it is worth it and where to apply.

For now, nobody can apply, because this is still only a proposal. Thansettakij, citing a Finance Ministry source on 2 November 2026, reported that the Excise Department is preparing to propose an "old car for a new pickup" scheme, paying a grant of 40,000 baht per vehicle with a target of 150,000 vehicles, or 6 billion baht in total, in the 2027 fiscal year. MGR Online reported the same figures. The proposal still has to pass the committee that screens spending of borrowed money, and it has not been approved.

The money would come from the 2026 energy emergency loan decree, a special law that lets the Finance Ministry borrow to deal with the energy crisis and help the country move to cleaner energy. The scheme has two aims: to cut PM2.5 dust from old vehicles and to revive the pickup market, which has slowed as banks and finance companies have made car loans harder to get.

Who could trade in, and for what

The conditions in the proposal are fairly detailed, covering the owner, the old car and the new one.

Applicants must be Thai citizens aged 20 or over whose name matches the owner in the registration book, and each person can trade one vehicle. The old car must have been registered before 2012, or before 2555 in the Thai calendar, and must be one of three categories shown in the vehicle type box of the registration book: รย.1, a private passenger car for up to seven people; รย.2, a private passenger vehicle for more than seven people, such as a van; and รย.3, a private goods vehicle. Its engine and chassis numbers must be traceable, its annual tax paid, and it must have no outstanding finance and no seizure order.

The new vehicle must be a pickup or a PPV, a pickup-based passenger vehicle built on a pickup chassis, and it must be made in Thailand. Its engine must meet the Euro 5 or Euro 6 emissions standard, a European rule in which a higher number means less pollution, emit no more than 185 grams of CO2 per kilometre, and be able to run on B20, which is diesel blended with 20% biodiesel, or be an xEV, a vehicle with an electric motor that helps drive it, such as a hybrid. The carmaker must also have a pickup factory in Thailand.

The 40,000 baht would not be paid into your account

Under the proposal, the grant goes into the price of the new vehicle, not into your hands as cash.

It would be used as a down payment or taken off the price straight away at the showroom, in an arrangement known as co-pay, in which the state, the carmaker, the dealer and the lender each pay a share, and carmakers add their own extra discounts, according to The Nation. The Government Savings Bank would pay the state's share to the carmaker, which passes it on to the dealer. Under the proposed plan, the first payments, of about 136 million baht, would go out in January 2027.

The old car would not be resold. The dealer must notify the Department of Land Transport to cancel its chassis number, then send it to a plant certified by the Ministry of Industry to be destroyed and issued with a certificate of destruction. Put simply, once it enters the scheme, the old car is off the road for good.

For buyers who need a loan, those who choose an xEV pickup could apply for the Government Savings Bank's "GSB Thai Business Revival" loan, at no more than 5% a year. The proposal offers this only for xEV pickups and does not mention a special rate for ordinary diesel pickups.

Why this round is limited to pickups

This proposal is narrower than the earlier idea, because the earlier idea has already stalled once.

In June 2026, Lawarun Saengsanit, permanent secretary of the Finance Ministry, said the switch of private cars to cleaner energy would no longer use an old-for-new trade-in, and the main problem, as Krungthep Turakij summed it up, was the complicated rules for destroying and handling scrapped cars. This time the Excise Department has brought back the trade-in but kept it narrow, because certified scrapping plants can take only about 50,000 vehicles a year. That is far below the target of 150,000 vehicles, so it remains to be seen how a real scheme would schedule the scrapping.

The case on dust is backed by numbers. Department of Land Transport data for 2026 found about 8.18 million cars, pickups and vans aged 10 years or more. The Pollution Control Department sees vehicles, especially older diesel pickups, as a major cause of urban dust, with some assessments putting their share at about 60%. The proposal therefore aims to cut carbon dioxide by at least 310,000 tonnes a year and to cut PM2.5 and nitrogen oxide gases from exhaust by at least 30% among the vehicles replaced.

Do the sums before you switch

If the proposal goes through, whether it pays depends more on the old car than on the 40,000 baht figure.

Because the old car is destroyed, the comparison is with what you would get by selling that 2010 pickup on the used market yourself. If it would sell for more than 40,000 baht, selling it and putting the money towards a down payment may leave you better off. If it is too worn to fetch that much, the grant plus the carmaker's discount looks more attractive. The other thing to weigh is the monthly payment: a new pickup means a new debt to pay off over several years, and the rate of no more than 5% in the proposal applies only to xEV pickups.

Anyone weighing a new pickup against an imported electric car should also know that the excise tax on electric cars imported whole rises to 35% on 1 January 2027, as SV News explained in this story. The pickups in this proposal must be made in Thailand anyway, so the two are part of the same year-end car decision.

While you wait, take out the registration book and check whether the car was registered before 2012, whether its type is รย.1, รย.2 or รย.3, whether its annual tax is paid and whether it still has finance owing. If the scheme goes ahead, the proposed payments start in January 2027. For now, there is no application process, so be wary of anyone who claims to be taking bookings for a trade-in or asks for a fee in advance.

FAQ

Can I apply for the old car for a new pickup scheme yet?

No. As of 4 November 2026, the scheme is still an Excise Department proposal waiting for the committee that screens borrowed spending, and it has not been approved.

Which old cars would qualify?

Cars registered before 2012 (2555 in the Thai calendar) in the รย.1, รย.2 or รย.3 categories, owned by the applicant, with annual tax paid, no outstanding finance and no seizure order, under the proposal reported by Thansettakij.

Would I get the 40,000 baht in cash?

No. Under the proposal, the money is used as a down payment or taken off the price of the new vehicle straight away, paid by the Government Savings Bank through the carmaker and the dealer, and the old car must be destroyed.

Could I use the grant to buy an imported electric car?

No. The proposal covers only pickups and PPVs made in Thailand.

Sources

• Thansettakij: สรรพสามิตชง 'รถเก่าแลกรถกระบะใหม่' ขอใช้เงินกู้ 6,000 ล้าน อุดหนุน 4 หมื่น/คัน
• The Nation: Thai Excise seeks THB6bn for THB40,000 pickup trade-in grants
• MGR Online: สลัดหนี้ไม่หลุด! สะพัดสรรพสามิตจ่อเข็นรถเก่าแลกรถใหม่ อุดหนุนกระบะ 4 หมื่นบาท
• Krungthep Turakij: พับโครงการ 'รถเก่าแลกรถใหม่' สรรพสามิตเตรียมคลอด 'แผนใหม่' หนุนเปลี่ยนผ่านอีวี