Do you need a permit to ride a motorbike in VN?

Hi,
Because almost polices in Vietnam are not good at English, they don't often punish foreigners  But you just have to present a license when you broke one of traffic rules if any. At night it can be a little different. Though you don't break any rules you still have to present license in some cases.
You should remember to wear helmet before driving, drive at a moderate speed, turn the signals lights before turning, just move on when the green light turns on and stop at the right line to avoid popular errors. There are sometimes traffic traps that you can't anticipate until you are gotten pulled over.
if you still want to be safer, you can ask for exchanging the license.
Take care! Good luck!

Legally, yes, you need one if you ride above 50cc
Fine is below $15 

I have followed all the above suggestions and I have been under the radar for 2 months now.

Yes, you need an International driving permit or Vietnamese driving licence to legally drive in Vietnam. I have been stopped for a licence check twice, and fined 500,000 dong once for speeding at 44km/hr.

Cloud9 wrote:

Has anyone gotten pulled over for not having license/permit? How much was the fine? I'm don't want to ride the taxi while I'm there. Just want to rent and ride if that is permissible by the local authority.

Like ralphnhatrang says, yes you need a license if it's above 50cc. How much is the fine if you get caught driving here without one? The better question might be what happens if I hit a little old lady pushing her fruit cart and she ends up in the hospital, regardless of who might be at fault, and I don't have a valid license or insurance? Think about the probable out come.

Talking about license. I heard that those who are from ASEAN ie Singapore, Malaysia etc can use their own country license to drive in Vietnam. Is this true ?

I know Singaporean and Malaysian can drive into each other countries without any international license.

So, can members of ASEAN drive or ride motor bike in Vietnam with their original country issued license?

Myker Zhen wrote:

Talking about license. I heard that those who are from ASEAN ie Singapore, Malaysia etc can use their own country license to drive in Vietnam. Is this true ?

I know Singaporean and Malaysian can drive into each other countries without any international license.

So, can members of ASEAN drive or ride motor bike in Vietnam with their original country issued license?

Extract from 1985 agreement

The Governments of Brunei Darussalam, the Republic of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines, the Republic of Singapore and the Kingdom of Thailand (hereinafter referred to, as "The Contracting Parties");

BEING members. of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (hereinafter referred to as "ASEAN");

DESIRING to accelerate and intensify the implementation of the aims and purposes of ASEAN as embodied in the ASEAN Declaration;

AND CONSIDERING the desirability of facilitating the movement of citizens of the ASEAN countries by recognizing domestic driving licences issued by the respective countries.

Link to the above agreement

For the curious the full wording can be found using the link above.

Myker Zhen wrote:

Talking about license. I heard that those who are from ASEAN ie Singapore, Malaysia etc can use their own country license to drive in Vietnam. Is this true ?

I know Singaporean and Malaysian can drive into each other countries without any international license.

So, can members of ASEAN drive or ride motor bike in Vietnam with their original country issued license?

Short answer.. NO they can't. Not in Vietnam


You can present other countries DL, that is what I did before.. And no problems.

Main problem driving without a valid DL is that if you hit somebody or get hit, and it was not your fault.. No valid license and it will be your fault in the end. ( and no! foreigner will not mean automatic that it is your fault. Same way that if a scooter hit a car, car is not always to blame even if its a bigger one)
But transfering your license is easy and cheap.

#9 wrote - "Same way that if a scooter hit a car, car is not always to blame even if its a bigger one."

Some years ago the Vietnamese language press ran a very informative report about a woman who lost control of her motorbike, crossed onto the wrong side of the road, was hit by two trucks and was killed."  The judge referred to the law in his decision. Industrial law says [gist], "Operators of dangerous equipment, including explosives, motor vehicles [etc, etc,] will pay compensation unless the injured person was wholly at fault."  The judge ruled that the woman driver was not wholly at fault and ordered BOTH truck drivers to pay compensation. They gave notice of appeal.

So beware when riding a motorbike in Vietnam.  Even if a cyclist or pedestrian does want to commit suicide by walking in front of you, you will be the one to pay.    It cost me several million dong to have a young student thoroughly checked at the province hospital after she rode straight in front of me on a roundabout. Neither the police, nor anyone else, asked me how the collision happened, it was just matter of pay up.