buy brand new bike page Motorbikes Services For Expats Saigon Vietnam the Extra Mile

Time to buy a new motorbike in HCM?

We offer several different options to help you navigate the complex process of buying a new motorbike in Vietnam

Our customer with his brand-new Yamaha WR 155

↑ The Extra Mile customer with his brand-new Yamaha WR 155

Who this service is for?

There are ways for foreigners to own motorbikes in Vietnam, under a thing called an NN number plate. But this process is complicated and directly tied to your Visa duration. Ultimately it isn’t really a viable or realistic solution to buying a motorbike in Vietnam.
To get around this, we have services that can help.

Listed below, is the different kinds of people we can help!

  • Foreigners who do not wish to have a foreigner plate (NN plate).
  • Foreigners or Viet-kieu unable to register on their names due to a lack of documents required.
  • Foreigners or locals wanting to have a Saigonese plate (59), but they do not have official residency in the city of HCM

Our service fees for buying new motorbikes

BIKES UNDER 175CC (A1 Driving License): 3,800,000 VND

BIKES EQUAL OR OVER 175CC (A2 Driving License): 5,500,000 VND

Service fee excludes VAT. Should a VAT Invoice be required, the 10% tax will be added to the final amount.

* The times indicated may vary if the date is near a holiday or a special public event that may affect government working hours.

** Customers are requested to understand that delays may happen due to issues with the corresponding government offices. Should there be frequent delays at one period of time, we will disclaim it to the customer before the purchase.

Common issues with NN Number plates

Listed here are the problems with the NN plate.

  • NN plates have an expiry date based on the owner’s visa. If it’s a 2 year TRC, then the owner must renew the registration every 2 years.
  • Expired NN plates incur a fine if renewed late.
  • To transfer the ownership of an NN plate bike, the owner must be present at the re-sale to sign transfer/sale contracts over to the new buyer.
  • For the owner to legally sign over a transfer of ownership, he/she must have either a marriage certificate and sign together with his/her spouse at a notary office, OR for single owners, they must provide a certification from their embassy or country proving that they are single. All certifications whether for marriage or celibacy must be officially translated to Vietnamese and legalized by local authorities.
  • It is very common for foreigners to get stuck with an NN plate bike for which they do not have sufficient documentation to legally re-sell. As a result the bikes are either sold with a big loss on their value or abandoned/donated.

Common ways around the NN number plate without using The Extra Mile services

The NN number plate is so bad, that even the police recommend to foreigners that they should register their motorbike to a trusted Vietnamese friend or partner.
Therefore it is normal and common for foreigners to be driving around on motorbike/scooters where the paperwork does not match their own name.

Usually foreigners living in Vietnam will find a trusted Vietnamese friend, this can be a work colleague, someone you just met in a bar, or perhaps your new pickleball partner.

If they are prepared to register the motorbike on your behalf under their name, then great, you are good to go!

The Downsides

  • Vietnam is difficult with paperwork in strange ways that only Vietnamese understand. Your friend who is helping you by using their name is actually taking legal liability and risk by doing so. In the old days this was fine, but laws have changed over time and the risk has increased.
  • If you ever want to sell your motorbike, you will have to hope your friend is still your friend. They will need to do paperwork to help you sell it!
  • Ask for a favor, owe a favor. It is usually easiest not to be the new guy asking everyone for favors!

To help you avoid having to ask people for favors, The Extra Mile will register the motorbike under the company name. This gives you a long list of advantages that don’t really need listing here, but one of them is that we will help you with paperwork when the day comes to sell your motorbike!

BENEFITS OF registering with the Extra Mile

Our brand-new bikes come with a local Saigonese registration (59) license plate. We sign additional papers that go outside of the number plate registration process to help prove that the motorbike is actually yours, and not ours. These papers are legal enough, to the level that you can prove ownership at any point. You can even take out Vietnamese insurance in your own name.

You do not need to go through any of the purchase and registration processes. It is a known hassle to buy a bike in Vietnam for foreigners due to language and culture barriers.

We will handle all paperwork from beginning to the end. We define “the end” as us helping you do paperwork to sell to the new owner when the time has come to sell your motorbike.

One final benefit of using The Extra Mile, is that we often get better prices from retailers because we buy alot of motorbikes!

license plate vietnam saigon the extra mile paperwork

How does the process work for buying a new motorbike?

  1. The customer indicates to us the model and colour desired. We will check with our sources to find the best deal at the moment and await confirmation from the customer before requesting the source to lock-in the bike for us.
  2. We invoice the customer with the value of the bike plus our service to request the payment. For this matter we provide an invoice validated with our company stamp and tax code. Once the payment is made, we proceed to purchase the bike.
  3. We handle the registration ourselves. The bike will be ready with license plate within 2 to 5 days.
  4. We deliver the bike to the customer with the plate. We provide the compulsory insurance for 1 year.
  5. We collect the registration (blue card) within 3-4 weeks after obtaining the license plate.
  6. Once the registration in hand, we meet the customer at a notary office to sign a power of attorney to the customer, giving the full rights to use and sell the bike.
  7. We will remain available to transfer the ownership once the customer decides to sell the bike.

Additional considerations:

_ The customer may choose to meet us at the dealership to pay the bike to the dealership directly.

_ The customer may opt out of the power of attorney option and leave the bike registered under our company to make the ownership transfer at re-sale easier and to keep the value of the bike high.

If you would like to inquiry further, please fill out the form on our contact page!