Deposits and documents: never hand over your passport
What Vietnamese rentals actually take as security, why some ask for the passport, why you should still refuse, and what to offer instead so the rental still says yes.
Fact-checked: August 30, 2026
Live rental prices, and every bike shows whether it needs a licence
Browse bikesWhy rentals ask for it
A rental hands a stranger a machine worth several months of local income, on the strength of a short conversation. Holding the passport is the simplest guarantee available, and a rental that asks for it is usually reaching for that rather than running a scam. It is not a scam and usually not ill-intentioned - it is the cheapest solution to a real problem.
Deposit terms, stated before you ask
Open any card below and the deposit is written there in advance, in a number, not discovered at the counter.
Why you should still say no
Your passport is the document you need for the hospital, the police, the bank, the domestic flight and the border. Without it, an ordinary problem becomes a serious one, and a dispute with a rental turns into a dispute where the other side is holding the thing you cannot leave the country without. Vietnamese law does not require a private company to hold a foreigner’s passport, and hotels ask for it only to register you, not to keep it.
There is a second, quieter reason. A passport in a drawer makes it easy to raise the stakes later: a scratch that would have cost 300,000₫ becomes a conversation about a much larger number, because leaving without paying is not an option. That leverage exists whether or not anyone plans to use it.
What to offer instead
A cash deposit is the standard alternative and it works. The amounts vary widely, from a few hundred thousand dong on a plain scooter to tens of millions on an expensive motorcycle, and the exact figure is written on every offer. A photograph or photocopy of the passport, plus a photo of your licence, covers the rental’s identification need without leaving you without documents.
The phrasing that works, in our experience: "I cannot leave the original - I need it for the hospital and the flight. I can leave a cash deposit and copies of everything." Said calmly and before you have committed to the bike, this is accepted far more often than people expect. Said after you have already paid, much less often.
Before money changes hands
Photograph the bike from every side, including existing scratches, in daylight, with the odometer visible. Send the photos to yourself or to us by message, so they carry a timestamp neither side controls. Agree in writing what counts as normal wear and what does not. This takes four minutes and settles almost every dispute that would otherwise be one person’s word against another’s.
Where we stand
We will not promise this on behalf of every rental in the catalogue. Most listings here are put together from public sources, and the terms are whatever the rental sets. What we do instead of promising: the deposit is written on the offer before you decide, and the awkward part is not hidden. Where a rental keeps a document as well as money, it says so right next to the amount. We do not claim any of them is legal, licensed or official - we have not audited anybody.
Every bike on EastRide shows whether it needs a licence.
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