Behaviors that cause personal car drivers to face fines of up to 14 million VND

After the reflection of Lao Dong Newspaper on the situation of white license plate cars disguised as combined cars, publicly receiving passengers through social networks, even drivers willing to abandon cars and passengers if inspected by functional forces, many opinions expressed concern about which acts will be penalized according to new regulations.

To clarify this issue, Dr. Dang Van Cuong (Chinh Phap Law Office, Hanoi Bar Association) analyzed specific cases and sanctions applied to the act of using personal cars for illegal transportation business.

Dear lawyer, Decree 238/2026/ND-CP supplements a fine of 12 - 14 million VND for private cars carrying passengers illegally collecting money. Can the lawyer clearly analyze which acts will be penalized according to this regulation?

- Decree 238/2026/ND-CP has supplemented regulations on penalties for the act of using unlicensed cars for transport business to carry out passenger transport activities for profit purposes.

Accordingly, drivers of private cars may be fined from 12 - 14 million VND if they use their vehicles to transport passengers and collect money but do not meet the conditions for transport business according to the provisions of law.

The essence of this regulation is to handle the situation of "illegal cars", "disguised combined cars", "passenger cars" operating as a type of transport business but not fulfilling mandatory legal obligations.

This is an act of unfair competition with licensed transport enterprises, and at the same time poses many risks for passengers and causes difficulties for state management.

According to the Road Law of 2024, automobile transportation business is the use of automobiles to transport passengers or goods for profit purposes. When it is a business activity, vehicle owners must meet a series of conditions such as: having a transportation business license, vehicles meeting business conditions, attaching journey monitoring devices as prescribed, fulfilling tax and insurance obligations, ensuring technical safety and subject to the management of state agencies.

Therefore, if an individual regularly posts news about receiving passengers on Facebook, Zalo, social networking groups or electronic applications, voluntarily agrees on fares, receives money from passengers, and organizes passenger pick-up and drop-off as a transportation service, this act may be identified as illegal transportation business and will be penalized according to new regulations.

In reality, many people use shared cars or convenient cars through social networks. How to distinguish between taking a ride, sharing costs and illegal transportation business, lawyer?

- This is a very important issue because not every case of traveling together and sharing expenses is a violation of the law.

The key point for distinguishing lies in the purpose of operation and the nature of the money received. If a person needs to travel from Hanoi to other localities and conveniently for acquaintances or travel companions, the parties voluntarily share gasoline money, bridge and road fees or actual incurred costs without the purpose of making a profit, then this is only a normal civil relationship, not a transport business operation.

Conversely, if personal vehicle users regularly search for passengers, publicly accept passenger transportation, decide fares themselves, collect money exceeding actual costs, or consider passenger transportation as a regular source of income, then in essence, it has become a transportation business activity.

In practice, functional agencies will not only base on whether to collect money or not, but also consider many overall factors such as:

Frequency of passenger transport

Advertising, finding customers

Fees and methods of payment

Is the journey organized regularly or not

Profitable purpose

Electronic documents and data showing the receipt of customers, quotes, and transactions

Therefore, it should not be understood that receiving money is a violation, but it is necessary to comprehensively assess the nature of the operation.

Dear lawyer, to penalize the act of carrying passengers to collect illegal money, what grounds and evidence should functional agencies base on? What should people pay attention to to avoid violating regulations?

- According to the Law on Handling of Administrative Violations, penalties can only be imposed when there are sufficient grounds to prove the violation.

The person with sanctioning authority is responsible for collecting and evaluating objective and legal evidence before issuing a sanctioning decision. In these cases, evidence may include:

Messages, posts on Facebook, Zalo, Telegram or other platforms showing passenger acceptance

Transaction data for transfers, money receipts

Passenger's testimony

Images and videos recording the pick-up and drop-off of passengers

Data from the journey monitoring device (if any)

Inspection results of functional forces

Electronic documents showing advertising, quotation or booking

For people, to avoid violations, it is necessary to pay attention not to turn personal vehicles into transport business vehicles when they do not meet the conditions according to the provisions of law. If only sharing costs in random trips, it is necessary to ensure that sharing is reasonable, transparent and not profitable.

In particular, you should not regularly post information to receive customers, publicly quote prices or organize transportation activities as a professional service if not licensed.

Thank you very much, sir!