Green, yellow or white plate? Which registration you need to rent out cars and motorbikes in Thailand

Updated 28 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. Rules are applied by your provincial land transport office (สำนักงานขนส่งจังหวัด), so confirm details with them before you register or buy vehicles.

If you want to rent out cars or scooters in Thailand, the first question is the plate. Thai plates are colour-coded by registration category, and the category decides what you may legally do with the vehicle, what insurance applies and how the vehicle is taxed and inspected.

This guide explains each plate type that matters to a rental business, what you need to register a car as a rental car, why motorbikes are different, and the risks of renting out vehicles that are still on private plates.

What each plate colour means

The colours are set by ministerial regulation under the Motor Vehicle Act 1979 (พ.ร.บ.รถยนต์ พ.ศ. 2522). The current rules were published in the Royal Gazette in 2011, replacing a 2004 regulation that set "business service, tourism service and rental service cars" on a green reflective plate with white lettering. Consumer guides such as Grab's plate guide and Rabbit Care list the same scheme, noting that some green plates have black lettering.

Two things confuse people:

• "Green plate" can mean two different things. A private pick-up has a white plate with green letters. A rental or service car has a green plate. When someone in Thailand says "ป้ายเขียว" they may mean either, so check the background colour, not just the letters.
• Orange is not a motorbike colour. Motorbike taxi riders wear orange vests, but their plates are yellow. Orange plates are used for trailers, tractors and farm vehicles.

Rental cars: the green plate

The Motor Vehicle Act defines a rental service car as a car "kept for rent, but not rented in order to carry passengers for hire" (text of the Act). In other words, the renter drives it. If you supply a driver, you are into a different category.

Key points about green-plate rental cars:

• You need approval before you register. Land transport offices list service cars among the categories that "must receive the registrar's approval before the vehicle is brought for registration" (DLT service guide, Lampang office).
• The car has to suit the category. Service cars are passenger cars carrying no more than seven people. Grab's guide summarises the body requirements for รย.11 as a four-door, two-row passenger car within set size and weight limits. Ask your office which body types it currently accepts before you buy.
• You rent from your registered area. A 2022 amendment to the DLT regulation on registering service cars says a rental car must be rented out from a rental location in the area where it is registered, and the registration can be revoked if you break that condition. A Koh Samui operator should register with the Surat Thani office, for example, not in Bangkok.
• Changing a white-plate car to green is a new registration. Under the DLT's 2019 registration regulation, changing the category of a registered vehicle is treated as an application to register it, with the same documents and inspection.
• Annual tax works differently. The same DLT guide says service and rental cars must be inspected before paying annual tax and can pay only 30 days ahead, compared with 90 days for private cars.

What you will usually need

Offices publish their own checklists, and they change. Expect to be asked for most of the following, and get the current list from your office first (Surat Thani publishes a registration work manual, for example):

1. Proof of who you are as a business. Your ID card for an individual, or a company registration certificate (หนังสือรับรองนิติบุคคล) for a company. Registering the business itself (ทะเบียนพาณิชย์ or a company with the Department of Business Development) is a separate step.
2. Approval for the service-car registration, applied for before the car is registered.
3. Vehicle documents: purchase or import documents for a new car, or the registration book (เล่มทะเบียน) for a car changing category.
4. Inspection of the vehicle at the office.
5. Insurance: the compulsory พ.ร.บ. at the rate for the vehicle's use, plus the voluntary insurance the DLT requires for service cars. The standard rental contract (below) has a line for exactly this policy. See our rental vehicle insurance guide.

We could not find a published quota or freeze on new rental-car registrations for Surat Thani or other tourist provinces as of October 2026. Approval is still discretionary, so ask before you commit to buying a fleet.

Rental motorbikes and scooters

This is where Thailand differs from what many new operators expect.

The Motor Vehicle Act has two motorbike categories that matter: private motorcycles (รย.12, white plate) and public motorcycles (รย.17, yellow plate), defined as motorcycles "used to carry passengers for hire". There is no rental-motorcycle category equivalent to the green-plate rental car. A yellow plate is for motorbike taxis and needs its own approvals and a public driving licence (KTC's guide to yellow-plate motorbikes). It is not the plate for a scooter rental shop.

In practice, rental scooters run on white private plates. That does not mean anything goes:

• The government is looking at it. In June 2025 the Ministry of Transport and DLT said they would draft a law to control motorcycle rental businesses, including a permit requirement and tougher penalties for operators and unlicensed riders. Check for updates before you expand.
• Rental contracts are regulated. Since 30 December 2025, motorbike rentals to consumers must use the government's standard contract (see below).
• Insurance is your problem. Most rental scooters carry only the compulsory พ.ร.บ. Insurers price motorbikes used for hire or rent separately (Grab's พ.ร.บ. renewal guide lists a hire/rental rate of ฿376.64 a year for 75–125cc, against ฿323.14 for private use). Tell your insurer the bikes are rented.

The risks of renting out white-plate cars

Plenty of small operators, especially on monthly rentals, rent out cars that are still registered as private cars. Before you do, understand what you are carrying.

1. Wrong category. The plate system exists because the Act ties each vehicle to a registered use. A private car rented out commercially is not being used as registered, and the 2022 DLT regulation shows the department will revoke registrations that break conditions. Fines can follow at roadside checks.
2. Insurance claims. This is usually the bigger cost. If you bought insurance for private use and did not tell the insurer the car is rented, Section 865 of the Civil and Commercial Code makes a contract voidable where the insured failed to disclose facts that would have changed the insurer's decision (text of section 865). Standard policy wording also adds an excess when the car is used outside the use stated in the schedule, and the insurer can pay a third party and then recover the money from you (example Viriyah policy wording).
3. The standard contract assumes a registered rental car. The car form in the 2025 rental contract rules asks you to list both the compulsory insurance and "the insurance required under the DLT regulation on registering service cars". If your car isn't registered as one, you cannot honestly fill in that line.
4. Disputes get harder. After an accident, the other side's insurer, the police and the renter will all look at the registration book. A mismatch weakens your position on every claim.

If you are starting out, the safer order is: register the business, talk to your provincial office about green-plate approval, then buy cars that fit the category.

How this differs from Grab and ride-hailing

Ride-hailing is a separate category. Since a ministerial regulation took effect on 23 June 2021, private cars can be registered as app-based hire cars (รถยนต์รับจ้างผ่านระบบอิเล็กทรอนิกส์). According to DLT announcements reported by Thai Post, the car must be no more than nine years old, carry additional public-vehicle insurance, be driven by someone with a public driving licence, and show a DLT sticker on the windscreen and rear window. Each person can register one car. The car keeps its existing plate rather than switching to yellow.

The difference for you: a rental car is driven by the renter, a ride-hailing car is driven for paying passengers. Renting your car to someone who then drives it for Grab mixes the two, and the definition of a rental service car excludes renting "to carry passengers for hire". The standard rental contract also only covers vehicles rented for personal use. Put a clause in your agreement that bans ride-hailing and delivery work unless you have agreed otherwise in writing.

Decision table by vehicle type

The 2025 rental contract rules apply to everyone

Whatever your plates, if you rent cars or motorbikes to consumers, the Contract Committee notice of 22 September 2025 makes vehicle rental a contract-controlled business from 30 December 2025. You must use a Thai-language contract that contains the terms of the official car form (แบบ ก) or motorbike form (แบบ ข), give the renter a signed copy straight away, and avoid banned clauses such as keeping the deposit when the renter has not breached the contract. The forms also require you to keep annual tax paid and insurance in force for the whole rental, and to supply a replacement vehicle if the rented one is off the road for more than a day because of an accident or maintenance. Thai media have reported that non-compliant contracts can lead to up to a year in prison.

Our free bilingual rental agreement is built around these forms and filled in with your details. RoveHQ then sends it for e-signature and stores the signed copy against the booking, so you can always show which version the renter signed. Pair it with the handover checklist, because the forms expect a recorded condition report at pick-up and return.

Before you buy your next vehicle

• Call or visit your provincial land transport office and ask: do you approve new รย.11 rental cars, which body types, and what documents?
• Get an insurance quote that states rental use, for every vehicle, cars and bikes.
• Check the vehicle's registration book matches how you plan to use it.
• Update your contract to the 2025 standard form.

If you're planning longer rentals, read how to run a monthly car and scooter rental business next.

Get your paperwork right before the fleet grows. Download the free bilingual rental agreement, or create a free RoveHQ account to send agreements for e-signature and keep each vehicle's tax, insurance and inspection dates in one place.