Buying a new scooter in Hanoi.

Just het paper what say you are allowed to use that bike, that law is really stupid....  plus nobody cares

Playstyle wrote:

I'm planning on staying for awhile and just moved to Hanoi on a year long tourist visa.

I want to buy a new Honda PCX or Kymco scooter as a foreigner, what are my options?

I have a Vietnamese friend that I can register it in their name but I also heard you're not allowed to own scooters that belong to other people if you get in trouble.

Thanks.

Vietnamese here.
It's not true, just a rumor.
feel free to get a scooter in your own name or other's

lanatran wrote:

Playstyle wrote:

I'm planning on staying for awhile and just moved to Hanoi on a year long tourist visa.

I want to buy a new Honda PCX or Kymco scooter as a foreigner, what are my options?

I have a Vietnamese friend that I can register it in their name but I also heard you're not allowed to own scooters that belong to other people if you get in trouble.

Thanks.

Vietnamese here.
It's not true, just a rumor.
feel free to get a scooter in your own name or other's

Not as easy as you make out. Getting it in a foreigners name is more trouble than it's worth.

The law as it stands right now only allows one person to register one scooter/motorbike and the only exception is for business'. Whether you get caught and what they do about it is a completely different story.
A couple of years ago you could simply ask a Vietnamese friend to do it for you and some of the main motorbike dealers like Honda would even get staff to do it for foreigners if it meant they got a sale. They then simply make out another bill of sale so you have something to show as proof of purchase when you eventually decide to put it in your own name.....
This doesn't mean it cannot be done, I'm merely pointing out the law as it stands.
Keep in mind also that the person name on the 'blue card' (the registration document) is to all intents and purposes the legal owner so if you have a friend register it for you and you have a falling out, he'll want HIS bike back and there is nothing you can do about it!

If you have a VN drivers license and a TRC you should be able to walk into any of the main dealers and buy one (I bought a Yamaha Exciter 3 years ago in my name). They'll charge you about 500k VND for registration and number plate, then there is another 20 or 30k for the bit of toilet paper that says 'insurance' on it. Of course there is also tax to go on as well - don't remember how much I paid to be honest (I think it was 10%) but they should be able to give you an 'on the road' price including registration, taxes, number plate etc.

On  the down side, as a foreigner, you'll have a 'NN' plate not a '51' plate so when you ever need to sell it, no Vietnamese person would ever buy it which restricts your resale market potential.

"Keep in mind also that the person name on the 'blue card' (the registration document) is to all intents and purposes the legal owner so if you have a friend register it for you and you have a falling out, he'll want HIS bike back and there is nothing you can do about it!"

To gain ownership all you need to do is obtain a form HỢP ĐỒNG MUA BÁN XE from the relevant government office. The bike stays in the VN name but the bike is basically handed over to you from the Blue Card owner. Have it stamped at the notary office and you're on your way.

Indeed. But if you have a falling out with the friend who purchased the bike for you, they are unlikely to sign that document.

ScriptShack wrote:

Indeed. But if you have a falling out with the friend who purchased the bike for you, they are unlikely to sign that document.

You sign the document the day you get the Blue Card. If you do have a falling out within that small time frame then thats a different story, and the friend you thought you had never really was a friend.

colinoscapee wrote:

HỢP ĐỒNG MUA BÁN XE

We recently sold our car by using a HỢP ĐỒNG MUA BÁN XE.

Through this contract the license plate which was registered to my wife was returned and the reference of my wife's name to the car was omitted.  The buyer must re-register the car in his name within a period of time.

The buyer has urged us to make another kind of contract with him, where the license plate does not have to be changed and the name of my wife remains connected to the car.  He would have paid us more for the car, because he could have saved the taxes and work for a new registration.

But I refused, because I didn't understand the whole thing correctly and wanted to get my wife's name off the car.

Although it is clear from this other kind of contract that my wife "sold" the car, the police could still be at our door after an accident.

As far as I understand, my wife would still be the legal owner of the car, but the buyer has the right to drive or sell the car.

Apparently, the buyer can drive or sell the car up to a date specified in this other kind of contract and after that the car and all related rights would go back to my wife.  If the buyer sold the car, the license plate would also change and the reference to my wife's name would be omitted.

As I said before, this is only what I understood without really knowing if it is correct.

With regard to your statement with HỢP ĐỒNG MUA BÁN XE, I am therefore not sure whether the new buyer will have to register the car or motorcycle in his name after all.