Sharing a motorbike is not fined for 'transferring ownership'

People who borrow motorbikes from their spouses or friends to use are not fined, only those who own them without transferring the ownership are fined.

The information that buyers and sellers of motorbikes should complete the procedures to change the ownership before December 31st has caused confusion among many people because they think that riding an unregistered motorbike on the street will result in a fine, but this is a misconception.

In fact, the regulations are issued to control "owners" of motorbikes, not "all motorbike riders on the road". That is, those who own motorbikes bought from others, or given as gifts, must complete the procedures to change the ownership, otherwise they will be fined from January 1, 2017, according to Decree 46/2016, the fine is 100,000 - 200,000 VND for individuals and 200,000 - 400,000 VND for organizations.

Not everyone who rides a motorbike without their name on it gets fined.

When asked, legal experts and traffic police all answered that there is no such thing as anyone riding someone else's motorbike being fined. For example, if Mr. A buys a motorbike from Mr. B to use but does not change the name of the owner, the person whose name is on the motorbike registration is still Mr. B, then when the authorities discover it, Mr. A will be fined.

Mr. A's wife, Ms. C, also owns a motorbike, registered under Ms. C's name. When needed, Mr. A can use Ms. C's motorbike, which is normal. There is no law prohibiting it and Mr. A will not be fined. The same is true if he borrows a motorbike from a friend, colleague or rents a motorbike.

If Mr. A rides his wife's motorbike and violates traffic laws and is fined by the traffic police, the motorbike must be impounded for 30 days. At this time, the traffic police will check the documents and verify whether Ms. C is the owner of the motorbike or not. If the traffic police find that Ms. C is indeed the owner of the motorbike and Mr. A's wife, Mr. A will not be fined for "unregistered motorbike" but will only be fined for traffic violations. In addition, the cost of impounding the motorbike for 30 days will be paid by the owner of the motorbike, i.e. Ms. C. Simply put, "whoever is at fault is responsible for it". The driver is responsible for traffic violations, but the owner of the motorbike is responsible for administrative violations.

For this reason, the person selling the car to someone else should proactively ask the buyer to complete the transfer procedure. Otherwise, if something bad happens in the future, such as an accident or theft, the competent authority will contact the previous owner to investigate, causing a lot of trouble.

Previously,The Traffic Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) directed local traffic police to encourage people to complete procedures to transfer ownership of two-wheeled motorbikes, three-wheeled motorbikes, motorbikes (including electric motorbikes), and vehicles transferred to multiple owners without documents or with incomplete documents before December 31. In cases where documents have been received, units must not let them remain unsold and must resolve them before January 1, 2017.

According to Decree 46/2016 on traffic penalties, fines range from VND100,000-200,000 for individuals and VND200,000-400,000 for organizations that own motorbikes, mopeds and similar vehicles if they do not complete the registration procedures as prescribed when purchasing, being given, being gifted, being allocated, transferring, or inheriting assets such as motorbikes, mopeds or similar vehicles./.

According to VNE