A series of new policies related to car users will be applied at the beginning of 2023.

Driving lessons must be practiced in a virtual cabin.

According to Circular 04/2022/TT-BGTVT of the Ministry of Transport (MOT) regulating training, testing, and granting of road motor vehicle driving licenses, from January 1, 2023, car driving learners must practice in a virtual cabin for a minimum of 4 hours per learner.

Learner drivers get a minimum of 4 hours of practice in a virtual cabin.

According to the Ministry of Transport, driving training facilities are responsible for equipping and maintaining car driving training cabins, equipment to monitor driving time and distance on the road of students according to the National Technical Regulations issued by the Ministry of Transport; car driving training cabins are implemented according to the roadmap specified in Clause 2, Article 47 of Circular 12/2017/TT-BGTVT.

With this virtual cabin system, students will be familiarized with the exercises of operating the vehicle's gear, going uphill, driving on perpendicular roads, winding roads similar to the driving test course, as well as familiarizing themselves with situations on mountainous terrain and highways. Upon completion of 4 hours of study in the cabin, students will be provided with a Certificate of Confirmation, which is a condition for taking the driving test and being granted a driving license.

Toll prices at road toll stations increase again

Decree 15/2022/ND-CP of the Government regulating tax exemption and reduction policies for socio-economic recovery and development, allowing the application of a tax rate of 8%, expired on December 31, 2022. From January 1, 2023, the tax rate will return to 10%.

The VAT rate returning to 10% makes cars passing through toll stations cost an additional 1,000 - 4,000 VND per trip.

This causes the current toll collection rates at road toll stations to return to the previous level (before 2022), which means an increase of about 1,000-4,000 VND per trip due to the VAT increase from 8% to 10%.

Auction of beautiful license plates

In November 2022, the National Assembly voted to pass a resolution to pilot the auction of car license plates for 3 years, effective from July 1, 2023, with the majority of delegates in favor.

According to the resolution, the license plates of cars put up for auction are white background license plates with black letters and numbers. Organizations and individuals can choose license plates of the province or city to register to participate in the auction. License plates of cars not selected for auction, license plates of cars that are not successfully auctioned will be immediately transferred to the vehicle registration and management system for registration according to regulations.

Beautiful license plates will be piloted for auction from July 1, 2023. Illustration photo

The starting price of a beautiful car license plate put up for auction is 40 million VND, applied uniformly throughout the country; the deposit is equal to the starting price of a car license plate put up for auction; the step price is 5 million VND.

The Ministry of Public Security will be the unit in charge of coordinating with units and localities to organize asset auctions, responsible for publicizing license plates of unregistered cars, expected to be newly issued on the national electronic information portal on asset auctions, the Ministry's electronic information portal, the Traffic Police Department's electronic information page, and the online electronic information page of the asset auction organization.

Exemption from first-time vehicle inspection for new cars

After 6 months of impact assessment combined with research on technical factors and actual data, the Vietnam Register has compiled and submitted to the Ministry of Transport a plan to exempt the first registration for newly manufactured, assembled, and imported cars for a period of one year from the year of manufacture.

New cars manufactured less than 1 year ago may be exempt from the first registration inspection as early as 2023.

The above plan has been registered by the Vietnam Register in the 2023 legal document development program of the Ministry of Transport and is taking steps to draft a supplementary and amended Circular 16/2021/TT-BGTVT and if approved, it can be applied in early 2023.

Previously, in May 2022, the Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) sent a document requesting the Vietnam Register to adjust a number of contents, most notably the proposal to exempt newly manufactured vehicles from inspection and still under manufacturer's warranty.

The reason given by the Traffic Police Department is that imported, domestically produced and assembled vehicles have been inspected for technical safety and environmental protection before being sold on the market, so registration for new vehicles is not really necessary.