Verify Before You Buy

We verify the shop. We check its trade licence, its address, its shop front and the identity of its owner before it can list a single bike here. That is a documents check, done by a person, and it is described in full on How verification works.

We do not verify the bike. Nobody can, except BRTA. No marketplace in Bangladesh has access to a vehicle database, and any site that tells you it has checked a particular bike for you is selling you a feeling, not a fact.

So the shop is checked before it reaches you, and the bike is checked by you, at the counter, with the tools below. A shop that trades properly expects this and will have the papers ready.

Bangladesh has moved most vehicle documents to digital versions with a QR code on them. That QR is the useful part, because it lets you confirm the document came from BRTA rather than from a printer.

Scan the QR on the papers

Open the BRTA document scanner and scan the QR on the tax token or licence the shop shows you. Its own page covers tax tokens, licences and fitness certificates issued through the BRTA service portal. You can also upload the PDF or a photo. It is free, needs no account, and works while you are standing there.

If a document has no QR, it is an older paper version. That is not a problem by itself, and it is common. It just means this particular check is not available to you, and the in-person checks below matter more.

Check a digital registration certificate

The BRTA DNP & DRC Checker app on Android confirms that a digital registration certificate is genuine, and tells you whether a card has been produced for a registration number. Search the Play Store for the name, or use the Play Store listing.

Check a driving licence

The BRTA DL Checker app checks whether a smart-card driving licence is genuine and current, from its number or its QR. It covers licences issued from July 2021 onward. This one matters for you as a rider, and it is also what a shop uses before handing a stranger a bike for a test ride. Search for "BRTA DL Checker" by name on the Play Store or the App Store. We are not linking it directly, because the store page we found for it would not load when we checked, and we would rather name an app than send you to a dead link.

Government sites and apps are sometimes slow or briefly down. That is not a sign of a fake document. Try again later.

This is the part no website can do for you, and it is the most valuable. A perfectly genuine document belonging to a different bike proves nothing at all.

Match the numbers on the metal to the numbers on the paper

The chassis number is stamped on the frame near the steering head. The engine number is on the crankcase. Read them character by character against the registration certificate. If a number looks filed down, re-stamped or freshly painted over, stop and walk away. BRTA checks these numbers again at transfer, so a mismatch will surface eventually, and you do not want it to surface after you have paid.

Ask for the originals

Ask to see the original registration certificate and tax token, not photocopies and not photos on a phone. A shop that deals in bikes keeps these to hand, because it cannot sell you the bike without them.

Expect a tax token, do not expect a fitness certificate

Motorcycles in Bangladesh are exempt from fitness testing. There is no fitness paper for a bike, so nobody should be producing one. A valid tax token is the document that matters, and an expired one is a bill you will inherit.

Take someone who knows engines

Having the machine looked at by someone who knows engines is worth the trouble, and it is a different job from checking the paperwork. Start the engine cold, listen to it, check the chain, brakes, tyres and frame. See How buying works for the full visit checklist.

The bike is not yours until the ownership transfer is filed at BRTA. Until then it stays in the seller's name legally, which means the registered owner carries the liability if the bike is later involved in something.

Agree with the shop when you are both going, and keep the receipt. You can check what BRTA itself charges with the official BRTA fee calculator, and every bike page on this site shows the transfer cost up front so there is no surprise at the counter.

The same paperwork works in reverse, and shops ask for it because they have to.

Bring the original registration certificate, a valid tax token and your NID. If your documents are digital, have the PDF on your phone so the shop can scan the QR. Expect to sign the transfer paperwork rather than just handing over the key: a shop that skips the transfer is leaving the bike in your name, and that is your risk, not theirs. If you are trading your bike against another one, settle both transfers at the same time.