The habit of buying and selling cars without changing ownership can easily lead to "losing money and getting into trouble"

The case of Mr. BXH's dispute after buying a Honda SH motorbike with a "five-of-a-kind 9" license plate shows that the habit of buying and selling used motorbikes with handwritten documents and not completing the ownership transfer procedures causes a lot of trouble. Currently, many people still have this habit.

Mr. NXKh (residing in Thanh Tri, Hanoi) said that he bought a Honda Lead motorbike with a Hanoi license plate from an acquaintance in October 2023 but has not yet completed the ownership transfer procedures.

"I thought that buying a motorbike from an acquaintance would not require any registration procedures, and I did not anticipate any property disputes or trouble with fines," said Mr. NXKh.

Ms. NTH (living in Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) shared that although she had sold 2 motorbikes under her name, she had never gone through the procedures to change the ownership. "When I sold the motorbike, they wrote me a receipt and I signed it, but I did not go through the procedures to change the ownership. The buyer said that everyone did that, so I did not ask any more questions," Ms. NTH said.

Buying and selling a car without changing the owner's name will be fined.

Decree 100/2019, amended and supplemented by Decree 123/2021, stipulates that in the case of buying and selling used motorbikes without completing the transfer procedures, individuals will be fined from 400,000 to 600,000 VND and organizations from 800,000 to 1.2 million VND.

For cars, if you buy a car but do not register the vehicle ownership, you will be fined 2 - 4 million VND for individuals and 4 - 8 million VND for organizations.

Failure to transfer ownership will result in penalties from the authorities during the process of handling procedures such as registration and license plate issuance. In particular, during the investigation and resolution of traffic accidents, the traffic police will look up information about the vehicle to resolve legal issues.

If it is discovered that the vehicle purchase and sale has not been registered, the seller (who is the owner of the vehicle) will also face legal issues related to handing over the vehicle to an unqualified driver (if any).

What should car buyers and sellers do?

From August 15, 2023, car and motorbike license plates have been identified by person, so it is not allowed to buy, sell or transfer license plates (except for car license plates issued by auction, sold with the vehicle).

According to Circular 24/2023, when transferring a vehicle, the owner must retain the license plate and vehicle registration, and cannot sell the vehicle with the license plate. The seller must submit the registration and license plate to the police to complete the revocation procedure. This license plate will be reissued when the owner registers another vehicle under his/her ownership.

This identification number plate is retained by the vehicle owner for a period of 5 years from the date of revocation. After this period, if the vehicle owner has not registered, the identification number plate will be transferred to the license plate warehouse to be issued to another person.

Within 30 days from the date of vehicle sale, the vehicle owner must complete the license plate revocation procedure. If the vehicle owner fails to complete the revocation procedure or hand over the vehicle registration certificate and license plate to the organization or individual receiving the vehicle ownership to complete the revocation procedure, the vehicle registration authority will issue a penalty decision before proceeding.

In case the vehicle owner does not carry out the revocation procedure after transferring vehicle ownership, he/she shall be responsible before the law for any violations related to that vehicle.

After the vehicle owner completes the recall procedure, the buyer (new owner) completes the vehicle registration transfer procedure according to regulations.