Personal Injury Law · 06.11.2024

Road Traffic Accident Claims in Vietnam: Liability Without Fault and Compensation

After a road accident in Vietnam the most valuable thing to know is that liability for a motor vehicle does not always depend on proving the driver was at fault. A motor vehicle is a source of extreme danger in Vietnamese law, and its owner or keeper compensates even where there…

Lawyer UnilawReading time: 5 min

By Lawyer Nguyen Nhu Hai – UniLaw LLC

After a road accident in Vietnam the most valuable thing to know is that liability for a motor vehicle does not always depend on proving the driver was at fault. A motor vehicle is a source of extreme danger in Vietnamese law, and its owner or keeper compensates even where there is no fault — with three narrow exceptions.

This note is about claims arising from road traffic accidents in Vietnam, for people injured here, for families of those killed, and for foreign residents and visitors. It does not deal with the traffic or injury law of any other country.

The framework is the Civil Code No. 91/2015/QH13, Articles 584 to 601.

Liability without fault

Article 601.1 lists motor vehicles as a source of extreme danger, alongside power lines, operating industrial plant, weapons, explosives, flammable and toxic substances, radioactive material and dangerous animals. Article 601.3 then states the rule that matters: the owner, keeper or user must compensate even where they are not at fault, except where:

the damage occurred entirely through the deliberate fault of the injured person; or
the damage occurred in force majeure or a situation of urgent necessity, unless the law provides otherwise.

Note how narrow the first exception is. Carelessness by the injured person is not enough — it has to be entirely deliberate. This is the single most misunderstood point in Vietnamese road accident claims.

Who is the right defendant

This decides whether a claim is worth bringing at all:

The owner compensates for damage caused by the vehicle (Article 601.2);
but where the owner has handed possession or use to someone else, that person compensates, unless they agreed otherwise. So a company vehicle, a rental, or a borrowed motorbike changes the defendant;
where the vehicle was possessed or used unlawfully — taken or driven without right — the unlawful possessor compensates (Article 601.4), and if the owner or keeper was at fault in letting that happen, they are jointly liable;
Article 584.3 adds the general rule that where property causes damage, the owner or possessor is liable.

Where the driver was a minor, Article 586 allocates liability by age: an adult compensates personally; a child under 15 with living parents means the parents compensate in full, with the child’s own separate property used for any shortfall; and between 15 and under 18 the young person compensates from their own property, with the parents making up any shortfall.

How much, and what reduces it

Article 585 sets the principles: actual damage must be compensated in full and promptly, and the parties may agree the amount, the form (money, in kind, or performing work) and whether it is paid once or in instalments. Four qualifications matter in practice:

the person liable may have the amount reduced where they were not at fault, or only negligently at fault, and the damage is disproportionate to their means (Article 585.2);
where the injured person was partly at fault, they are not compensated for the part their own fault caused (Article 585.4);
no compensation for damage that occurred because the injured party failed to take necessary, reasonable steps to limit harm to themselves (Article 585.5);
where the agreed figure later becomes unrealistic, either side may ask a court or competent authority to change it (Article 585.3).

The heads of damage come from Article 590: reasonable costs of treatment, care and restoring lost or reduced health and function; actual income lost or reduced, using average income for comparable work where income is irregular and cannot be established; the reasonable costs and lost income of the person caring for the injured during treatment, and the cost of permanent care where working capacity is lost; plus a sum for mental suffering, agreed between the parties and otherwise up to 50 times the statutory base salary.

Where the accident was fatal, Article 591 adds reasonable funeral costs and maintenance for those the deceased had a legal duty to support.

The complete defence, and why it rarely applies

Article 584.2 excuses the person who caused damage where it arose from force majeure or entirely through the fault of the injured party. Combined with Article 601.3, the practical position is that a defendant arguing “the pedestrian stepped out” or “the motorbike was in the wrong lane” is usually arguing about apportionment under Article 585.4, not about escaping liability.

The deadline

Three years from the day the person entitled knew or should have known their rights were infringed (Article 588). Where a criminal case is running in parallel over the same accident, the civil claim can be pursued within it — but the three-year clock is not suspended by negotiation with an insurer.

What to secure in the first days

The traffic police record of the accident, and the scene report.
Photographs of the scene, the vehicles and the injuries, with dates.
The vehicle registration — to establish owner versus keeper versus driver.
Whether the driver was working at the time, and for whom.
Every medical document and receipt, including transport and care.
Proof of income before the accident, or of the comparable work used instead.
The compulsory motor insurance details of the vehicle involved.

Where a lawyer changes the outcome

Identifying the correct defendant among owner, keeper, employer and unlawful possessor; resisting an apportionment argument under Article 585.4; and quantifying the Article 590 heads — particularly lost income where earnings are irregular, and the carer’s loss, which claimants routinely omit. A reduction application under Article 585.2 also has to be answered rather than ignored.

This note is general and reflects the position at the date of writing; it is not advice on a particular accident.

Legal basis: Civil Code No. 91/2015/QH13 — Articles 584, 585, 586, 588, 590, 591, 601.

If the accident also affects your work or residence here, see legal services for foreigners in Vietnam.