In short. A scooter has two documents: the STNK, the registration certificate with the plate number, which you carry with you and renew every 5 years with an annual tax mark, and the BPKB, the owner's book, which stays at home and under article 16 of police regulation No. 7/2021 confirms ownership. A foreigner with a KITAS and a residence certificate SKTT from Dukcapil, or with a KITAP, can register a scooter in their own name; a tourist with a visa is not on the list in article 10, so scooters "in a friend's name" are a purchase without ownership. Before paying, match the frame and engine numbers with the STNK and BPKB and check the tax on the Samsat Bali site by plate number and frame number. Re-registration in Samsat under article 29: your documents, the BPKB, the STNK, a receipt with a duty stamp, the cek fisik inspection and the fees under regulation No. 76/2020: new BPKB 225,000, STNK 100,000, plates 60,000 rupiah. There has been no tax for a change of owner of a used scooter in Bali since 5 January 2025: under Perda No. 1/2024 it is charged only on the first sale of a new vehicle.
What is in the scooter and what should be at home. The STNK, Surat Tanda Nomor Kendaraan, is the registration card: number, owner, frame, engine, year, colour. Under regulation No. 7/2021 the STNK is valid for 5 years from the date of issue, and once a year a tax payment mark is put in it; without that mark the document is invalid. Carry the STNK with you: the police ask for it together with your licence, with details and fines in the guide to being stopped by police. The BPKB, Buku Pemilik Kendaraan Bermotor, is the owner's book, and article 16 of the same regulation calls it the document confirming the legality of the scooter and the right of ownership. Whoever has the BPKB in their name is the owner. With a rental the BPKB stays with the rental company, and with a purchase it passes to you with the scooter: a seller who will "bring the BPKB later" or says it is at the bank as collateral for a loan is selling you someone else's or a pledged scooter. What to check in the scooter itself is in the guide to choosing a scooter for a beginner.
Who may register a scooter in their own name. Article 10 of regulation No. 7/2021 lists how a private person proves the owner's identity at registration: the KTP card for Indonesian citizens and for foreigners with the permanent permit KITAP, and for foreigners with the limited permit KITAS, a certificate of residence, Surat Keterangan Tempat Tinggal, together with the KITAS card. A passport with a visa on arrival, C1 or D12 is not in this list. So a tourist or a D12 holder cannot register a scooter in their own name; a KITAS holder can, if they first obtain an SKTT at the Dukcapil of their district: Denpasar, Badung, Gianyar or another by place of residence. Under presidential decree No. 96/2018 on population registration, a foreigner with a KITAS is registered at Dukcapil with the passport and KITAS card, and the SKTT is issued there; each district has its own exact list of papers, so ask in yours.
A scooter "in someone else's name". The most common arrangement on the island: the scooter is registered to an Indonesian, and the buyer holds the BPKB, STNK and a receipt. Legally the owner is the person whose name is in the BPKB, which follows from article 16. You can ride, pay the tax for the owner and sell the scooter on with the same papers, but in a dispute, a theft or a falling-out with the "owner" you have nothing to prove ownership except the receipt. There is a second trap: article 87 of the regulation lets the person the scooter is registered to block the STNK data after the sale, and then the new owner can neither pay the tax nor renew the STNK until re-registration into their own name, as article 89 says. It works the other way too: if you sold a scooter and did not block the STNK, camera fines will come to your name, as covered in the guide to electronic fines. So for up to half a year renting is more honest, following the guide to renting a scooter, while buying "in a name" is a deal on trust and should be treated that way.
Checks before paying. First: the frame number and the engine number on the scooter match the STNK and BPKB character by character, the name and address in both documents are the same, and the plate has the letters DK; a scooter with Java or Lombok plates will also need a transfer of registration. Second: tax. Samsat Bali has a service "Informasi Status Pajak Kendaraan Bermotor" at portal.bpdbali.id/infosamsat: you enter the plate number and frame number and see the payment status. Tax debt passes with the scooter, and the older the debt, the more expensive the re-registration. Third: the STNK renewal year, printed on the card; if the five-year term has expired, a replacement of the STNK and plates with a frame check is ahead. Fourth: a copy of the seller's KTP and their signature on a receipt with a meterai duty stamp; without it the receipt under article 30 of the regulation is not good for re-registration. For a scooter with a loan history, check the BPKB: for a pledged scooter the book is held by the bank or the leasing company.
How to re-register the scooter. Article 29 of regulation No. 7/2021 sets the list for a change of owner: an application, a document proving the identity of the new owner (for a KITAS this is the SKTT and the card, for a KITAP the KTP card), a power of attorney with a duty stamp and a copy of the representative's KTP if you do not go yourself, the BPKB, the STNK, proof of transfer (under article 30 this is a purchase receipt with a duty stamp and/or a letter of waiver of rights), a referral for transfer of registration if the scooter is registered in another region, a receipt for the fees and the result of the cek fisik inspection: the frame and engine numbers are checked at the Samsat site and an imprint is taken. This is done at the Samsat office of the district where you live; the list of offices by district is on the Bapenda Bali site, and Badung and Denpasar also have a Samsat Drive Thru window for the annual tax. The new owner receives a new BPKB in their name and a new STNK, and if the scooter comes from another island, new plates as well.
What it costs by law. The state police fees are in the annex to regulation No. 76/2020: a BPKB for a two-wheeled vehicle at a change of owner 225,000 rupiah, issuing an STNK 100,000, a pair of plates 60,000, and a certificate for transferring registration to another region 150,000. There is no separate charge for the cek fisik in the list. The regional change-of-owner tax BBNKB in Bali has been charged since 5 January 2025 only on the first sale of a new vehicle: article 11 of Bali Perda No. 1/2024 names the first transfer as the object of the tax, and the explanation to article 15 states directly that the second and later transfers of a used vehicle are not taxed. The rate of 12 percent under article 14 relates to new scooters from a showroom. The annual PKB tax remains: it is calculated from the assessed value of the scooter at the rate of article 8, with a lower rate for scooters up to 200 cubic centimetres, and is paid together with the compulsory accident insurance contribution SWDKLLJ. Anything asked beyond these amounts "for speed" or "for an intermediary" is not a state fee.
Tax every year and the STNK every five years. The annual mark is put in at Samsat when you pay PKB and SWDKLLJ: you need the STNK, the owner's document and money, and some offices have a Drive Thru. The SIGNAL app, Samsat Digital Nasional, according to the description on the Bapenda Bali site, matches the payer's face with the Dukcapil population database and the name with the NIK in the Korlantas database: for a foreigner with a KITAS it is easier to pay at the counter. Every five years the STNK is replaced: again a cek fisik, new plates and fees of 100,000 for the STNK and 60,000 for the plates. Overdue tax is not just a debt: a scooter without a valid mark on the road is treated as having no papers.
If you have an accident or the scooter is stolen. With a BPKB in your name, you make the police report and talk to the insurer; with a scooter "in a name", the report is written by the person in the BPKB, and you will have to find them. What to do in an accident is in the guide to accidents. The licence needed for riding and the international permit are in the guide to driving licences.
Our advice. Buy only with the BPKB in the seller's hands and their KTP, write the receipt with a duty stamp in their presence, photograph the frame number and the STNK before handing over the money, check the tax on the Samsat site, and if you have a KITAS, finish the job with your own BPKB within a month. If you have no KITAS: honestly count that you are buying the right to ride, and keep the receipt, the photos and the owner's contact until the scooter is sold on.
What this means for you. A scooter in Bali is a BPKB with your name; keys and the seller's smile prove nothing. Only a KITAS or KITAP holder can register it in their own name, re-registration costs less than 400,000 rupiah in fees by law plus tax debts if there are any, and there has been no tax on buying a used scooter in Bali since 2025. Everything else, from checking the frame number to the receipt with a stamp, is an hour at Samsat that saves months of disputes.