Permit A vs C is the first choice you make. Picking the wrong permit type is one of the most common and costly mistakes operators make. Here’s how you can get it right.
First: does your truck need a permit at all?
Trucks above 7,500 kg BDM need an APAD permit. At 7,500 kg BDM and below, you don’t need one for now if you carry your own goods. Under Ministry of Transport guidelines effective 1 April 2026, a vehicle in this range carrying other parties’ goods for hire needs a Permit A.
Permit C: your own goods
Permit C is for companies carrying goods they own, such as manufacturers delivering their own product. It covers the whole of Semenanjung Malaysia. APAD expects proof of your own deliveries, such as customer invoices or delivery orders.
Permit A: other people’s goods
Permit A covers carrying goods that belong to another party. It’s a broad permit that can cover rigids and non-container semitrailers such as tankers. Applications are supported by contract letters with the clients whose goods you deliver.
Permit KA: Kontena
“K” stands for Kontena. KA is the permit for container haulage. Eligibility depends on your company’s setup, so contact Dynamic Costa for an assessment.
The subsidiary trap
“Own goods” is decided by company identity (the SSM number), not by group ownership. Two common patterns:
- A manufacturer that also delivers for a sister company: it carries its own goods under C, but goods for the sister company count as another company’s goods, so it needs both C and A.
- A group whose trucks are held by a separate subsidiary: the subsidiary has a different SSM number, so it is carrying another company’s goods and needs permit A.
Licence and permits: who holds what
The lesen pengendali is issued to your company. Each truck gets its own permit, and prime movers and trailers have separate permits. A new company receives its lesen pengendali with its first approved permit.
What’s written on the permit matters
Each permit records the BDM, jenis kenderaan and jenis barang dibawa (N/A for prime movers). The vehicle type can’t be changed later through ubahsyarat. A tanker semitrailer permit stays a tanker permit, so choose carefully from the start.
Not sure which permit fits your fleet?
Related reading
You can also read about Dynamic Costa’s goods vehicle permit guide, commercial vehicle permit services. For official information, see the APAD official website. Contact Dynamic Costa on 010 652 1186 or dynamiccosta@gmail.com.
