Changing scooter status

Currently, I do not have a work permit/ARC card. However, I may get one in the future. I am wondering, if I buy a scooter now from someone and ride illegaly, can I change my scooter’s status once I get that visa so that I will be legal?

I need a scooter now, and don’t want to have to wait to buy one, but I also want to try and be legal.

Thanks!

If you don’t have an ARC you can’t

  • register a sccoter in your name
  • get a Taiwan driving license
  • get insurance

Even if you get a friend to do it, problems can still arise

Scenario 1:

Police stop you …where’s you reg?.. Here it is officer(they can speak english and going I don’t understand doesn’t work with them)…where’s you license?.. No license…where’s your ARC?..no ARC… trouble ahead for you

6000NTD fine for no license…and I think they would be curious about the lack of an ARC unless you had your passport with a visitor visa… jsut don’t let them see the english teaching books hanging out of your bag

Scenario 2:

If you are in an accident without a license you are fully liable

You don’t have to change the reg… as long as the bikes reg is up to date and it is insured, with you having a license, you are ok.
I had a bike and it was in my friend’s name… when I wanted it re-registered I just went and got insurance and then went to the desk at the place on Ba De Rd near Guang Fu and got the bike re-registered.

It doesn’t matter if you friend has left Taiwan and doesn’t have an ARC. The last time I checked you don’t have to have an ARC to buy and own something in Taiwan. I was in Taiwan for a while without an ARC and never got refused at the 711 when I was buying chocolate. Police tend to check reg to ensure the bike is not stolen or when Mayer Ma wants to purchase some new silk ties and not cut into the ity budget.

Try and get an international driving license from your home country, and remember a car license is not a bike license, but would this work in an accident, probably not.

My advice is to get yourself an ARC sooner than later, if you do you can avoid potential serious/expensive problems later

Thank you very much for your time.

Is it easy to get an international drivers licence after I am already here in TW? I did bring my US drivers licence, will that work?

I do have a visitors visa, and it has been extended as I am studying with a school. I just don’t understand why a student with a legal visa can’t buy a scooter and register it in his/her own name.

I am looking at one scooter to buy from a woman, it is registered in her name and the same with the insurance. She is willing to give me a letter saying it can be registered in my name. Could I buy it now, ride it illegally, and when i get the work permit in a few months, change it to be registered in my name?

And how often do foreigners really get pulled over by those nasty police? I always assumed that “I don’t understnad” act would work. Most have told me that most don’t speak English.

Thanks again!

Is it easy to get an international drivers licence after I am already here in TW? I did bring my US drivers licence, will that work?

AN international license is issued from your home country usually. And can you get an International license for a motorbike ?Depending on what state you are from, the Taiwanese might change directly into a Taiwan license, but this can sometimes seem ridiculous. A person from Bangledesh can change theirs while a UK license is not accepted.

Also you need an ARC to do this.

Could I buy it now, ride it illegally, and when i get the work permit in a few months, change it to be registered in my name?

You can buy it and ride it, the illegal part of riding it has little to do with registration and insurance and more to do with the fact that since you have neither have a Taiwan issued license or International, in an accident you are liable, they insurance won’t cover you; and the police might issue you a ticket if they are checking.
When changing registration, this can be done quite easily, all you need to do is go the Motor registration place on Ba DE Rd with your ARC and the the owners Taiwanese’s ID card or if it is a foreigner, their ARC card. They can change it there in 5 mins.
Check before you change reg that there are no fines on the bike.

And how often do foreigners really get pulled over by those nasty police? I always assumed that “I don’t understnad” act would work. Most have told me that most don’t speak English.

Sometimes yes sometimes no…

I have gotten, “passport Passport”…then I say"do you speak english?" at this point they wave me on.
But I have also gotten… could you please pull over, stop you engine, and show me you Driver’s license and regsitration…but this was only once in Taipei City. If you live in the county or outside Taipei altogether, you can probabily get way with the “I don’t understand”…
Usually best policy is always be slow to give them info, the slower and more drawn out you make it, the more you frustrate them and they will probabily let you go

zhenni,

Go to the Legal Forum. There are posts on how to get a license (it’s a lot easier to just take the test than try to get your home-license transferred) and other issues. Also, check out http://www.tcmvd.gov.tw/en_default1.htm

Zhukkov,

Good points–especially on the scenarios that can happen when you get pulled over.

Curious thing, though. I had an accident last June. I had legal registration, but didn’t have a license and had previously been told the same thing you were about the liability problem.

HOWEVER–According to a lawyer I spoke to a couple of weeks later, it isn’t true. If you get into an accident and you don’t have a license, you will have to pay a substantial fine. But the accident will still be evaluated based on who’s at fault.

If you aren’t cited by a policeman for not having a license, you can go to a courthouse and submit a guilty plea (regarding no license at the time of the incident). Either way, after any incident like this I’d definitely get a license. But after that, you can treat an accident just like any other legal driver. I was able to collect insurance money based on what I was told.

I suppose that what zhukov and I were told once might have been true, or possibly some unscrupulous policemen or insurance people have used this idea tried to pressure foreigners out of a settlement. I can only speculate.

If anybody has any recent experience that shows different facts, please educate us.