Buying a car in Vietnam

If you want to buy a car in viet nam, you have to live & work in viet nam and have temporary redidence card form 1 year and more.

Kenjee come back from Singapore 
Buying a car is not much complications like Singapore  but price is not cheap!
I can buy a new car in India with the motorbike price in Vietnam!

Like some post above,  the prices is quite expensive. if u buy a second-hand car, at least u have to pay $4.000. if u want to buy new car, it will be complicated. Price for car with 4 seat is minimize around $17.000

Hi Kenjee
A more useful question to ask in Viet Nam is "Buying a motorbike in Vietnam".
There are relatively few cars here...
2013: "Vietnam has more than 37 million motorbikes and 1.6 million cars."

That is a good thing, or the cities would become gridlocked like Manila, Jakarta, etc.
I am guessing that outside of taxi and tourist companies, cars are primarily owned by rich people and corporations. Maybe some expats in quiet places like Vung Tau own cars, crazy to want a car in the city.

I am here in Vungtau, and bought a new small car 1 year ago. I want my sun, 1-1/2 year old now and next year, brought to school in a safe way. I do not like motorbikes with children and no proper fit helmets. It's not available in the shops here. Baby's are driving, with parents, all around with no proper protection. Really a-shame. Second hand cars are a night mire as you do not know who drove the car and many Vietnamese drivers really can not/know how to drive, and cars are repaired according local standarts. Way better to buy new small and have all the problems sorted before/with second hand. Be aware, I bought a new red Hyundai I 110 and payed small money upfront.  The Hyundai shop in Ba Ria ordered the good color but the wrong gearing/engine size. All with all, it was a pain in the butt, with many lies from the Ba-Ria Hyundai shop. To morrow your car will be here,  Sorry, it's still on the boat. It must be the last one being off loaded.  After a month it was still not there while these roll on roll off stay only 1 day in the port. They were absolute clear that nobody made a mistake but in the contract it stated the complete car abd engine configuration. After 5 months I really got sick and took the wrong ordered car. But it's a automatic which my wife love's.
Regards.

hoangtien1186 wrote:

If you want to buy a car in viet nam, you have to live & work in viet nam and have temporary redidence card form 1 year and more.

I never heard that before

Jlgarbutt wrote:

hoangtien1186 wrote:

If you want to buy a car in viet nam, you have to live & work in viet nam and have temporary redidence card form 1 year and more.

I never heard that before

You resurrected a 5 year old thread, but since we're at it, Hoangtien1186 is correct. 

Any foreigner can buy a car, but to register it, the owner (if he's a foreigner who doesn't work in diplomatic missions, consulates, or representative offices of international organizations) needs to show a work permit, or a PRC, or a TRC of one year or more (VEC is OK), and/or a Letter of Introduction from competent Vietnamese organizations and agencies (Clause 3, Article 9 of Circular No. 15/2014 / TT-BCA dated 04/04/2014).. 

Without the documents showing his rights to stay in Vietnam longer than a one year tourist, he cannot register the car in his name.

Ciambella wrote:

Jlgarbutt wrote:

hoangtien1186 wrote:

If you want to buy a car in viet nam, you have to live & work in viet nam and have temporary redidence card form 1 year and more.

I never heard that before

You resurrected a 5 year old thread, but since we're at it, Hoangtien1186 is correct. 

Any foreigner can buy a car, but to register it, the owner (if he's a foreigner who doesn't work in diplomatic missions, consulates, or representative offices of international organizations) needs to show a work permit, or a PRC, or a TRC of one year or more (VEC is OK), and/or a Letter of Introduction from competent Vietnamese organizations and agencies (Clause 3, Article 9 of Circular No. 15/2014 / TT-BCA dated 04/04/2014).. 

Without the documents showing his rights to stay in Vietnam longer than a one year tourist, he cannot register the car in his name.

I think the real question is how many expats would buy, It seems very attractive to jump in a car when it's hammering down with rain or if in a situation like mine we have 5 people and jumping on 2 bikes is sometimes a pain.

But when I add up the cost, tolls, petrol costs, fees etc and where to park it for the 5/6 days a week I wouldn't use it, plus the 3 times longer journey around HCMC I just cant justify getting a car.

No matter what the grab cost even if in high demand times in a thunderstorm it's still far cheaper and no hassle to find a park.

I have hired to go to VT and will hire during TET, compared to owning it's a tiny percent of the cost of buying.

I even thought of buying an old car but even then the 6 monthly checks and having to maintain a old car is still a hassle without a place to park it if not used a lot.

Your thoughts?

Car still wins for me... guess costs and useage woild be a deciding factor

Andybris2020 wrote:

Your thoughts?

Tolls don't cost that much, and petrol price is the same here as in the States so those two things are not the deterrents especially when you transport 3 or 7 other people from Saigon to Vung Tau, for example.

In Saigon, parking when not using is the first problem so you'll need a house with an empty ground floor to park the car inside at night. 

Parking when using is the second problem because you'll always have to drop your passengers in front of the restaurant, then drive down the street where the restaurant has an agreement with someone who allows you to park in front of his house etc. Then when everyone is ready to leave, you have to run down the street to retrieve the car while everyone is waiting outside of the restaurant.  A PITA.

Parking and traffic are much better in VT than in Saigon so owning a car here is almost hassle free, but I agree with you that owning a car in Saigon is more trouble than it's worth.

The cost of a car here is horrendous. I showed my wife the cost of secondhand cars in Australia compared to VN and she couldnt believe it. New cars with the added tax, I can understand, but secondhand cars are just outrageous.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Car still wins for me... guess costs and useage woild be a deciding factor

There are 4 SUVs (8 seaters) in my large extended family and the cars are used almost constantly. Family members have houses in Saigon, VT, and a few points in between so they traverse QL 51 every week.  They also go up and down the lower half of the country for short holidays very often so owning a car is almost a must for them.

colinoscapee wrote:

The cost of a car here is horrendous. I showed my wife the cost of secondhand cars in Australia compared to VN and she couldnt believe it. New cars with the added tax, I can understand, but secondhand cars are just outrageous.

Same for US.  My daughter is pretty excited about the fact that she will have her own car as soon as she turns 16.  I pared down a lot before I moved here and only have two now but before I moved I had six, all with specific purposes - racing, offroading, trucks for hauling or towing the boats, cars for normal transportation and two for collector value only.  Some rarely driven, but I enjoyed them equally.

I didn't buy one this time around because I new it was a temporary stay and I'd take a beating on resale after less than two years so we are waiting until we come back.  But once retired we will have one here.  We are fortunate the new land for the house is big enough that the house will have a garage in front and we will be taking almost weekly trips to the lake house in hometown three hours away.  The house in Lai Thieu will have an inside garage since the car may sit six months a year when we are back in the US each year.  Not ideal but it will be OK.

Ciambella wrote:

Andybris2020 wrote:

Your thoughts?

Tolls don't cost that much, and petrol price is the same here as in the States so those two things are not a determent especially when you transport 3 or 7 other people from Saigon to Vung Tau, for example.

In Saigon, parking when not using is the first problem so you'll need a house with an empty ground floor to park the car inside at night. 

Parking when using is the second problem because you'll always have to drop your passengers in front of the restaurant, then drive down the street where the restaurant has an agreement with someone who allows you to park in front of his house etc. Then when everyone is ready to leave, you have to run down the street to retrieve the car while everyone is waiting outside of the store.  A PITA.

Parking and traffic are much better in VT than in Saigon so owning a car here is almost hassle free, but I agree with you that owning a car in Saigon is more trouble than it's worth.

I stewed over it for months,,,, going to Vung Tau is a real pain on 2 bikes with 3 boys under 13, so we started to try hire car which was great.

We don't have anywhere to park in home so I agree thats the big stumbling point,,, plus parking and running to park or get car would be me in the rain so Grab wins out until we move out of HCMC.

So all your points are valid, I do miss the comfort of Australian car usage with a garage and park everywhere you go lol.

Ciambella wrote:

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Car still wins for me... guess costs and useage woild be a deciding factor

There are 4 SUVs (8 seaters) in my large extended family and the cars are used almost constantly. Family members have houses in Saigon, VT, and a few points in between so they traverse QL 51 every week.  They also go up and down the lower half of the country for short holidays very often so owning a car is almost a must for them.

Road trips would really appeal to me, just pack the car and go, so long as i have wifi where i end up i can work anywhere.

Seen some reasonable deaks on two to tgree year old dars, not as cheap as uk but still better than i expected

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Road trips would really appeal to me, just pack the car and go, so long as i have wifi where i end up i can work anywhere.

Portable Wifi hotspot is very inexpensive.

actually, despite Govt's efforts with tax, there are now FAR too many cars on roads that were never designed for them ... and so many now just bought for status symbol (just WHY would you need huge 4WD in Vietnam??? and stupid too in VN cities and roads)

(and leaving aside the issue that most VN car 'drivers' can't drive for nuts ... but they now they think they can bully bike drivers)

despite that, i admit that i would like the comfort and safety of a SMALL car having driven one for past 40 years - but you do have all the constant hassles and costs mentioned

my thought was to permanently hire a car AND driver, or have on a permanent retainer, to use on every day or week ... get all the convenience - and actually more with a driver - without any of the hassles and costs eg purchase, registration, insurance, licence, overnight parking, driving, parking when out, etc (and can use driver (and car) for other things eg send him to buy something or meal or pick up something)