Driving to Malaysia in a rental car

SwiftDrive cars may be driven into Peninsular Malaysia: Johor Bahru for lunch, Desaru or Mersing for the weekend, Melaka or Kuala Lumpur for longer. Sabah, Sarawak and Thailand are outside the permitted area.

Choose the Malaysia option when you book. It adds S$40 a day to the rental and is shown as its own line in the quote. Delivery and collection still happen in Singapore, so plan to be back on this side of the border for your collection slot.

Malaysia requires every Singapore-registered car to have a Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) and an activated VEP RFID tag. Only the registered owner can apply, so for a rental car the work belongs to the rental company. Johor's road transport department began enforcing the tag at the border on 1 July 2025 and fined drivers who arrived without one, as Malay Mail reported.

Every SwiftDrive car carries its own VEP tag. There is nothing for you to apply for or install.

Malaysia charges every foreign-registered car a road charge of RM20 each time it enters, and the tolls at both crossings and on the expressways beyond take cards or tags only, never cash or credit cards. Bring a physical Touch 'n Go card and tap it at each gantry. GetGo suggests loading at least RM50 before a trip, which is a sensible floor for a day in Johor; load more if you are driving up the North-South Expressway.

Singapore charges its own small toll at the checkpoints: S$0.80 leaving through Woodlands (nothing coming back), and S$2.10 each way through Tuas, according to LTA. Keep a CEPAS stored-value card such as a NETS FlashPay or EZ-Link Motoring card in your wallet for these; LTA says the OBU will also pay checkpoint tolls from 1 January 2027.

Singapore-registered cars leaving by land must have at least three-quarters of a tank. Singapore Customs checks at Woodlands and Tuas, can turn you back to refuel, and compounds the offence at S$100 for a first offence, S$300 for a second and S$500 for a third. Being unaware of the rule or caught in traffic is not accepted as a reason. The rule covers hybrids too.

Fill up at a petrol station close to the checkpoint, so the gauge is still above the mark when you reach the booth. When you return the car, bring it back at the level it arrived.

Malaysia subsidises RON95 petrol for its own residents and has barred foreign-registered cars from buying it since 2010. From 1 April 2026 the offence was extended from petrol stations to the drivers and owners of foreign cars, as paultan.org reported. Fill up with RON97 at Malaysian stations, every time.

Pack these the night before; checkpoint queues are no place to discover a missing passport.

• A passport for every traveller, valid for at least six months.
• The driver's physical driving licence, plus the International Driving Permit or official English translation if you drive in Singapore on a foreign licence.
• The Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) for everyone who is not a Singapore citizen, including Singapore permanent residents and pass holders, submitted online within three days before arrival. Singapore citizens are exempt.
• The MyICA app, if you would like to clear Singapore immigration with a QR code instead of handing over passports. Carry the passports anyway.
• Your Touch 'n Go card and a CEPAS card for Singapore's checkpoint tolls.

The Woodlands Causeway leads straight into Johor Bahru's city centre and carries most of the cross-border traffic, so it is the quickest way to JB on a quiet day and the slowest on a busy one. The Tuas Second Link lands at Gelang Patah in the west of Johor: better for Legoland, Puteri Harbour and the North-South Expressway towards Melaka and Kuala Lumpur, and often quieter at peak times, at the cost of a longer drive into JB itself.

Northbound queues build on Friday evenings, Saturday mornings and the eve of public holidays and school holidays; southbound queues build on Sunday evenings and the last day of a long weekend. LTA's checkpoint traffic cameras on OneMotoring show both crossings before you set off.

Call us first, then follow the instructions of the Malaysian police. Our rule is the same on both sides of the border: report any accident to us within 24 hours, or protection cover is lost. Photographs of the scene, the other vehicles and their number plates help every claim, wherever it happens.

• Malaysia option on the booking.
• Tank at three-quarters or above, filled close to the checkpoint.
• Touch 'n Go card loaded, CEPAS card in your wallet.
• Passports for everyone, MDAC done for non-citizens.
• Licence (and IDP or translation, if you use one) in the driver's pocket.
• RON97 at every Malaysian petrol station.
• Back in Singapore in good time for your collection slot.