For peace of mind: Najwa filling a vehicle insurance form for a customer at her shop in Changlun near the border checkpoint.
BUKIT KAYU HITAM: Keys? Check. Passport? Check.
And for those driving to Hatyai, Krabi or Phuket in Thailand for a holiday, there is another essential item on their checklist: Get an insurance policy for their vehicles for international travel.
Travel agent Najwa Asyiqin Muhammad Zambri, whose shop is just 10 minutes away from the Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security Complex, said there has been a surge of car owners coming to buy insurance for their vehicles.
“Our sales have gone up by 80% since the start of the school holidays,” said Najwa, 29.
For instance, she said at least 50 people, including bikers, stopped by at the shop yesterday morning to get travel and vehicle insurance to cross into Thailand.
Najwa, who has been a travel insurance agent for more than five years, believes that business would be even better this week during the Christmas and New Year’s Eve period.
Another travel agent, Nur Syamimi Zubair Ahmad, 26, estimated that she has attended to 40 customers daily since Friday.
Usually, there would only be about 10 customers a day.
“Business will pick up further until the school holiday is over,” she said.
According to insurance agent Terry Loo, 36, travellers should get proper insurance coverage for themselves and their vehicles to ensure their safety in a foreign land.
“I’d recommend motorists get insurance which covers their medical expenses and also their vehicles in case they are involved in an accident in Thailand,” he said.
Loo, 36, also sells prepaid Thai SIM cards and data plans.
As for other traders, the “ka- ching” sound has been non-stop.
Hawker Ani Abdullah is delighted that business has been so good that she needed to hire an extra pair of hands to cope with the high number of outstation patrons.“Most of them will stop for breakfast and lunch before proceeding to the checkpoint to enter Thailand.
“On normal days, only locals and workers around here would patronise my stall,” said Ani, 50.
On the first day of the school break on Saturday, more than 500 vehicles were seen entering Bukit Kayu Hitam to cross into Thailand.
Some of them came from as far as Johor to look for food, clothes and relaxation in the border towns.
Schools in Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Perlis, Penang, Perak, Putrajaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Selangor begin their year-end break on Saturday until Dec 29 while those in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu started a day earlier with the break going from Dec 20 to Dec 28.
