Short answer: the ages are fixed by the 2024 road traffic law — 16 for mopeds, 18 for the A1 class — and the penalty schedule prices the gap. A rider aged 16 to under 18 on a licence-required motorbike (50 cc or more, or 4 kW electric and up) is fined 400,000–600,000 VND under Article 18(4)(a) of Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP. Riders under 16 are not fined into that band; the decree prescribes a reprimand. The adult who supplied the bike faces the heavier exposure of the two.
The age lines
Article 59 of the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety (No. 36/2024/QH15) sets the two birthdays: 16 for the licence-free moped category — the 50 cc-and-under, low-power machines that include pedal-assisted motor bicycles under their own rules — and 18 for the A1 licence, which covers everything from the 110 cc runabouts to 125 cc scooters, and above that the A class. There is no licence a 16-year-old can hold that covers a 110 cc bike, and no exception that makes the family Wave a moped.
What the fine schedule does with the gap
Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP handles underage riding with the rider’s age, not the bike’s papers. Article 18(1) prescribes a reprimand for a person aged 14 to under 16 riding a motorbike — the violation is recorded, the parents hear about it, the machine goes home. Article 18(4)(a) prices the older group: a 16-to-under-18 rider on a 50 cc-plus machine, or a 4 kW-plus electric, is fined 400,000–600,000 VND. Under-16s on licence-free mopeds have not violated anything at all — that category was built for them.
The adult on the other side of the keys
The rider’s fine is the small money. Whoever let an unqualified rider take the machine — parent, friend, rental shop — is exposed under Article 32(10) of the decree for handing a vehicle to a person who does not meet the conditions to drive it: 8,000,000–10,000,000 VND for an individual, 16,000,000–20,000,000 VND for an organisation. A rental shop that hands a 125 cc scooter to a 17-year-old has produced two fines from one handover, and the shop’s is twenty times the rider’s. Serious harm caused by an underage rider reaches further still, into criminal provisions about allowing unsuitable persons to operate vehicles.
For families and visitors
The practical shape of the rule in Hanoi: the licence-free category is the honest option for a 16-year-old — slow, capped, legal. The A1 test exists from 18, and no amount of “he’s almost 18” changes the band. For a visiting family renting, the shop that asks for licence evidence is not being difficult; the one that does not ask is renting you the owner-side fine.
Information, not legal advice. Verified against Law 36/2024/QH15 and Decree 168/2024/NĐ-CP on 2026-09-22.