SELF DRIVING IN VIETNAM INQUIRIES REPLY

Below you can find a standard reply to common Self Driving In Vietnam inquires. In case you need more details please contact us.

Hello,

Thank you for contacting us.

Foreign Licence

First, none of the foreign licenses is valid in Vietnam, including your country license. There are conflicting reports about this but the reality is sadly not good news.

IPD

However, the good news is IDP (international driving permit, issued in compliance with the 1968 Convention – not the 1949 Convention) is now valid in Vietnam from August 1st, 2016 with the 46/2016/ND-CP decree. You can purchase an insurance policy easily when you have a 1968 IDP. If you have the 1968 Convention IDP, please also bring your home country driving license.

Vietnamese Licence

Foreigners who work at embassies can drive diplomatic registered cars. People who have a Vietnamese driving license can drive Vietnamese registered 4-wheel vehicles.

You can get a Vietnamese license with a Vietnamese visa of any type. To get one, you need to bring all documents (passport, visa, and licence) to a notary office (takes about a day) and then apply at the local Department of Transport. It takes about 3-5 working days after your submission. In fact, getting a Vietnam driving license is a very complicated issue.

Car Hire

Car price in Vietnam is among the most expensive in Asia, except Singapore. Therefore, this is a real issue to find a person or a company that rents cars to foreigners. For Vietnamese, it’s easy because the owner requires some sort of security deposit. However, for foreigners, it seems nobody is willing to provide car hire at the moment. There are so many things to worry about, from possible scratches, fines from the police to accidents…

On the other hand, if you hire a car in Vietnam and want an English-speaking tour guide, the guide and driver are usually different people because one can’t do both works and no driver speaks good English enough to be a guide. One 4×4 car can accommodate maximum three travellers, a guide, and the driver.

In general, you can either just hire a car with a driver or book a guided trip and the cost depends on the size of the group.

If you have more questions or are not clear with any detail in this reply please get back to us anytime via email, Yahoo Messenger or Skype, or phone.

We look forward to hearing from you again.

Regards,

Anh Wu,
Sales Manager.