Most riders who ask us about the police do it in a lowered voice at the counter, as if the question itself might get them into trouble. It won’t. A police stop in Hoi An is a normal part of riding here, the same way a roadside check is normal in Europe or Australia, and for a rider with the right papers it is a few minutes at the side of the road and a polite nod.

We rent bikes at 84 Phan Chau Trinh and our phone rings when a customer is standing next to an officer, so this guide is built from those calls as much as from the rulebook. It covers what the officer is required to do under the rules that came into force in 2025, what you should do, the Vietnamese words you will hear, and exactly what happens when something is missing. It does not cover how to avoid the police. There is no trick for that, and the only reliable way is to ride legally.

A police stop in Hoi An at a glance

Every police stop in Hoi An that we have heard about from customers followed the same shape. The details change; the order does not. If you only read one section, read this table.

Most stops end at stage 3. The rest of this guide is about stages 4 and 5, because that is where tourists lose time and money, almost always through a missing document or a misunderstanding rather than anything the officer did.

An officer who stops a rider with a 1968 permit, a registration card and a fastened helmet has nothing to write down. That is the whole secret.

Where and when a police stop in Hoi An happens

Traffic police work the roads that carry the most motorbikes, not the lanes inside the Old Town. Inside the pedestrian area the barriers already keep vehicles out during the day and evening; the rules for that are in our guide to the Hoi An Old Town vehicle restriction hours. Outside it, the places our customers mention most are:

• The beach roads towards An Bang and Cua Dai, where tourist traffic is thickest in the late morning and afternoon.
• The coast road to Da Nang (Lac Long Quan / Vo Nguyen Giap), long and straight, which is where speed is checked.
• The approaches to town from the Da Nang and Tam Ky directions.

Checks are not limited to those places and there is no fixed schedule anyone can give you. Two patterns are real, though. Around Tet and other public holidays, enforcement campaigns run across the country and roadside checks become more frequent. And in the evening, especially near restaurant and bar strips, the check is often an alcohol test, where the legal limit for a motorbike rider is zero.

Hoi An is now part of Da Nang City

Since the administrative merger of 1 July 2025, Hoi An is no longer a city in Quang Nam province but three wards and a commune of Da Nang City. For a rider that changes nothing on the road, but it explains why the paperwork you may be handed says Da Nang, and why the traffic police you meet on the coast road and in Hoi An now belong to the same city police force.

Cameras don’t wave you over

Not every fine comes from a roadside stop. Da Nang uses traffic cameras, and a camera fine goes to the registered owner of the bike, which for a rental is the shop, sometimes weeks after you have flown home. Ask your shop how it handles camera fines before you ride; it is an honest question and a good shop has a clear answer.

What the officer has to do

Since 1 January 2025, the work of traffic police on the road is governed by Circular 73/2024/TT-BCA from the Ministry of Public Security. Most travellers never hear of it, but it is useful to know, because it tells you what a normal stop looks like and therefore what an unusual one looks like.

Traffic police signal a stop with a traffic baton, a whistle, a loudspeaker or signals from a patrol vehicle, and choose a place where stopping is safe. Once you have stopped, the circular sets out the order of the check. The Government’s policy portal summarises it as the steps of a traffic police check:

1. Ask you to stop safelyAnd, in a car, to get out; on a motorbike you simply stop and switch off.
2. SaluteAccording to police regulations. It looks formal, and it is supposed to.
3. Tell you why you were stoppedThe legal basis for the stop and what will be checked.
4. Check the documentsPaper documents, or electronic ones through the national ID app and police databases.
5. Tell you the resultWhether there is a violation and what will happen next.

A stop does not need a visible offence. The rules allow police to stop vehicles when they see a violation, when a camera or other equipment records one, under a planned patrol or check, at the request of another authority, or following a report from the public. A routine document check at a checkpoint is lawful even if you were riding perfectly.

What you should do, step by step

This is what we tell every rider at handover. None of it is about “handling” the officer. It is about making the stop short and making sure you understand what is said.

1. Pull over early and safelyIndicate, slow down and stop where the officer points, not ten metres past him in the traffic lane.
2. Engine off, helmet off, sunglasses offSo he can see your face. Keep your hands where he can see them.
3. Greet him“Xin chào” and a nod. It costs nothing and sets the tone for everything after it.
4. Hand over the papers he asks forLicense and IDP, the bike’s registration card, the insurance certificate. If a paper is missing, say so rather than searching every pocket for a minute.
5. Listen before you argueIf you don’t understand, say so. Ask him to write the amount or the offence down, or show you on his phone.
6. Call your rental shop if you are stuckPut the phone on speaker. A shop can explain in Vietnamese in thirty seconds what would take ten minutes of gestures.
7. Keep and photograph every paperA receipt, a record, a note that the bike is held. You will need them later.

What not to do is shorter: don’t ride off, don’t raise your voice, don’t grab back documents, and don’t offer money. Each of those turns a simple stop into a much longer one.

The papers they ask for

There are three documents that decide how a police stop in Hoi An ends. Two of them are the rental shop’s job, one is yours.

Two details catch people. First, missing-paper fines stack: three missing papers are three fines. Second, your license only counts together with the right permit. Vietnam recognises International Driving Permits issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention, and only for the categories stamped in it. The United States, Canada and Australia issue 1949 permits, which Vietnam does not accept; a UK permit bought for Vietnam is the 1968 kind. A 1968 permit stamped only for cars (category B) does not cover a motorbike. Our guide to the 1968 IDP in Vietnam has the full country list, and do you need a license to ride a motorbike in Hoi An covers the rest.

Vietnamese riders can now show some documents through the VNeID app, and officers check electronic records. That rarely helps a tourist: a foreign license is not in the Vietnamese system. Carry the originals of your license and permit, and leave your passport in the hotel safe.

Words you will hear, and what to say

Officers in Hoi An deal with foreign riders every week and many will manage a few words of English, but you should not count on it. These are the phrases that come up in almost every stop. Screenshot the table; it is more useful at the roadside than any app.

The two most useful lines are the third and the fourth. A figure written on paper removes every misunderstanding about money, and a phone call to someone who speaks both languages removes the rest.

When something is missing: fines, records, a held bike

If the check finds a problem, what happens next depends mostly on the size of the fine. The full list of amounts is in our guide to Vietnam motorbike license fines; this section is about the procedure.

Small fines: settled on the spot

For a fine of up to 250,000₫ for an individual, the officer can decide the penalty without writing a full record. In that case you pay on the spot and receive a receipt. Ask for it (“cho tôi xin biên lai”). A receipt is what makes the payment a fine rather than something else.

Larger fines: a written record

For anything above that, and for every license, helmet or alcohol offence, the officer writes a violation record (biên bản vi phạm hành chính). He should explain it, give you a copy, and ask you to sign.

• You do not pay the officer. The penalty decision tells you where to pay: at a bank, the State Treasury or online. The law gives ten days from receiving the decision to pay.
• The record has space for your explanation. If you disagree, write your side there, in English if you need to, rather than refusing everything.
• Refusing to sign does not stop the process. The officer notes the refusal, with a witness where possible, and the record stands. Signing confirms you received it, not that you agree.

The bike may be held

For offences such as riding without a valid license, the vehicle can be held for up to seven days while the case is processed, and longer if the case is complicated. You get a record of the hold. Keep it and send a photo to your rental shop straight away: the bike is theirs, and they will need it to get it back after the fine is paid.

Foreigners are sanctioned exactly like Vietnamese riders, with no separate “tourist fine” and no surcharge. Vietnam Law Magazine explains how foreigners are sanctioned for traffic violations.

Filming the stop, and why cash is a bad idea

Can you record the officer?

The short answer is yes, carefully. An older circular spelled out that people could monitor traffic police with audio and video recording. The 2024 rules dropped that sentence, which many websites reported as a ban. It isn’t. As LuatVietnam explains in its piece on the removed recording clause, recording is not prohibited as long as you do not obstruct the officer or step into a restricted area.

In practice, a phone held up in an officer’s face makes a two-minute check longer and colder. If you want a record, photograph the documents you are given. That is the evidence that matters later, and nobody minds you doing it.

Taking the license question off the table

The honest way to make a police stop in Hoi An a non-event is to ride something you are allowed to ride. If your permit is the 1949 kind, or you never got one, four kinds of vehicle need no license at all. Prices are our daily rates, checked in September 2026.

Helmet, phone and alcohol rules still apply on a moped, so a no-license bike is not a no-rules bike. Be careful with “50cc” scooters from shops that paint the number on a 110cc engine: riding one of those without a license is the 2–4 million dong offence. Our 50cc license guide shows how to check, and renting a motorbike in Hoi An without a license covers the options. You can browse the no-license bikes directly.

How your rental shop fits in

A rental shop cannot make a stop go away, and any shop that says it can is telling you something you should not believe. What a good shop does is quieter and more useful.

• It checks your permit before you ride. Decree 168 fines an owner who hands a vehicle to someone not qualified to ride it: 8–10 million dong for an individual, 16–20 million for a business. When we ask to see the category page of your IDP, it is our fine we are avoiding as well as yours.
• It puts the bike’s papers on the bike. Registration card and insurance certificate, in a place you know.
• It picks up the phone. Our WhatsApp is +84 935 206 306 and the 24/7 roadside line is +84 766 766 087. If you are stopped and lost for words, call and hand the phone to the officer.
• It deals with a held bike. The bike belongs to the shop, so collecting it after the fine is paid is a job we do with you.

Our guide to what is included in your Hoi An motorbike rental lists what comes with the bike, and tips to avoid fines when riding in Vietnam covers the everyday habits that keep a stop short.

Frequently asked questions

Want the numbers behind every fine? Read Vietnam motorbike license fines 2026.

Procedure is based on Circular 73/2024/TT-BCA (in force 1 January 2025) and the Law on Handling Administrative Violations; fine amounts on Decree 168/2024/ND-CP as amended by Decree 238/2026/ND-CP, cross-checked with the Government policy portal, LuatVietnam and Vietnam Law Magazine in September 2026. Dollar figures are approximate at about 26,000₫ to the dollar. This is a rider’s guide, not legal advice; at the roadside, the officer’s record is what counts. Rental prices are our daily rates at 84 Phan Chau Trinh, Hoi An at the time of writing.