Hello,

I'am now travelling 8 months in South - America and I still have like 4 months left. I would like to buy a bike in Chile to drive to the south and cross the border to Argentina. Do you think it's possible? I heard from some people it's dificult to cross the border, but if I come back to Chile to sell the bike, I dont think it will be a problem. I was thinking for a Honda CG 125 or 150 if I can find. Cheap bikes and they drive it everywhere here, very trustfull bike and they can repair it in every corner. So if someone can help me,... Thanks a lot

Greets

Robrecht

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If you are in Chile it is fairly easy to buy a bike and cross into Argentina. You would normally first obtain a RUT from the local government -- it is like a tax identification number. Then get a chilean ID card called a Carnet. With that you are almost a local and can buy and register a bike in your name and the documents will show you are the owner. It is surprisingly easy. Or... if no RUT of your own, go to a dealer and get the registration in his name, and then get a notarized (legalized) paper that you are authorized to take the vehicle out of the country. Keep multiple copies of that legalized paper because you may have to give a copy to the frontier officials in CHile each time you leave the country with the motorcycle. I have a KLR in Chile registered in my name and each time I cross into Argentina it only takes about 10 minutes to do the papers.

Hey Patagoniax!!

Thanks a lot for that info, I am probably going to do that! I might fly to Temuco and buy the bike there.... do you know of any website where I can look up the prices?

thanks again!

__________________
.:Master Piotr:.
-'79 BMW R65-

Just a note for other people that read this, it is OK for Argentina (as long as you have the correct temporary paper called the 'Transferencia de Solutiad' or something like that, don't remember exactly) but you can't get into Peru or Bolivia!! To get into Bolivia you need a legal document from the previous owner, which I did after being turned around at a border. To get into Peru I had to bribe the border cops at the Bolivian/Peruvian border.

I don't want people to make the same mistake I did as I had to sell my Chileno moto and buy a new one in Bolivia, it was very costly.

The best way for you to buy a bike in either Chile or Argentina is to buy it at a heavy discount from a fellow foreign traveller who is selling his. Make sure the owner is willing to let you photoshop his temporary import form and his title. Ride 2 up with the seller to the border and then cross the border using your new documents. There is a 99.9% chance that this will work as long as you are confident with all your answers. The worst case scenario is a slap on the wrist.

Remember that you are in Latin America and corruption is everywhere (with Chile being the exception).

BTW: When I was in Mendoza my Australian friend sold his KLR to a Polish guy and they rode to the Chilean border and completed the sale this way. That is why I am recommending this.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

I have taken my Chilean bought Falcon into both Bolivia and Peru w/o problems. I have just a "power of attorney" and the title of the original owner. I have heard of one guy getting refused at Tacna, but this is all.

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

The power of attorney is what I used after being turned around however they only gave me 3 months on it and said that if I arrived later they would take the bike from me. I believe the maximum amount of time is 6 months but I had no Spanish then unfortunately

Also the peruvian border guards wouldn't accept the power of attorney document until I gave them $10usd, once I was in everything was OK with getting back to Chile to make the sale.

I am sorry you had so many problems. Perhaps it was the way that the "power of attorney" was written. On mine, I had them list all countries of South America and central America for an indefinate period of time. Also, I crossed into Bolivia on the altiplano and into Peru at Puno which could have made a difference. I was given the same ammount of time for mysefl and the bike in each country. Whatever the reason, I have yet to have any troubles at any border (knock on wood). I will head to Bolivia again on Monday, we will see how it goes.

Suerte

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

Hey guys, I live in the US, and have been planning on leaving here in February towards S. America....I wish I could leave earlier but thats just when its lookin like its gonna work out for me. I am just starting to look up info like this....border crossings with my motorcycle. I currently still owe a couple grand on my bike. Do I need to pay off my bike before I leave so I have the title in hand? I never thought about that until just now reading this thread.

Also, Im gonna start spending a lot of time on the HUBB and on google researching all the different border crossing etc and if you guys have any links to send me to cut down on time spent looking through BS that would be great. Last spring I backpacked through Central America...and I learned a couple things....A)it was hard to find any "official" information online from the countries....and B)a lot of info i found was outdated once I got there, or simply misleading. I ended up doing better when I got there by just going with it, and luckily I knew enough to expedite certain things. Soooo I would like to learn everything I can about motorcycle travel in Latin America etc, and figure a lot of it will just come as it comes.

This is gonna be my first motorcycle tour out of the US/Canada....and its a bit overwhelming to me....but super exciting at the same time.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

sweet, just found the Border Crossings tab, and will be exhausting the mexico and central america info. Sorry for the newb questions, sites like this are hard to get used to at first, and I have little time for the net right now between working 80hrs a week to save for my trip, working on my bike, and keeping my gf happy ;p

This thread is about chilean licensed bikes. I am assuming that you have Seattle plates. Yuo will likely never get asked for your title. Registration is usually enough.

That said, it is likely a violation of your loan agreement to leave the country on your bike. This will only likely be a problem if you wreck or have the bike stolen in a foreign country and decide to not continue paying on your loan. At that point you may be in a heap of trouble.

Personally, I would not head to S Am on a bike I did not own.

Welcome to the site.

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

Amigos, anyone considering purchasing a foreign registered (USA, UK, Germany, Austraiia, etc.) motorcycle from a local or another foreign tourist in South America should be aware of several important points made in the following thread:

Information wanted from experienced bikers in South America ( 1 2)

South and Central and Mexico Forum

Gatogato, perhaps you could read this thread twice especially the part explaining that if you have an accident on a bike with a fraudulent title or falsified Temporary Vehicle Import Permit, any insurance is immediately null and void and read the part about what happens to a foreign tourist involved in an accident with property damage or personal injury in South America.

Do you really want to suggest photoshoping of documents at the possible expense of the liberty of those who read here? Come on man have a little consideration for the laws of South American countries.

Eat, Drink and Be Careful xfiltrate


Thanks

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Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com

Hi there,

I just did a 2 month jaunt in chile and argentina on my nz bike that I shipped to chile. I have left the bike in storage in Mendoza. I’m thinking of heading back in sept to ride north through Bolivia and peru. Another friend wants to come so I’m thinking he can buy a bike in Santiago and take it to Mendoza and continue north with me. From what I have read on the hubb there is no prob crossing to argentina on a bike bought by a foreigner in Santiago. What I couldn’t quite understand is if it will be ok at all the other borders heading north…e.g. arg to Bolivia to peru..equador…Columbia


Any help would be greatly appreciated

cheers

Chile is definitely the best place to buy a motorbike in South America if you want to take it out of the country and travel around. If you buy one in Argentina you can't take it out of the country for one year. Brazil is way too expensive, the rest i'm not sure about, but wouldn't risk it.

I bought a 125cc motorbike in Santiago de Chile and sold it in Paraguay 18 months ago, all for just under 400 UK pounds. I have been meaning to post a blog on this site for some time, so here we go.....

Firstly i'd like to thank Patagoniax for his useful information on buying a bike in Chile - that information was so invaluable when originally planning the journey .

I've got a few additional do's and dont's to be noted; some apply to all non-Chilean citizens, but mainly informs UK residents of what they can get away with. I'll try and make it as simple as possible, it is NOT easy, you will have to be patient (but that's the fun of it).

Note for UK citizens: The whole process of buying the bike and travelling SA can be done with a counterpart driving license form alone (no photocard). I still to this day don't have a motorcycle license - the reason is that in Chile the code letter for being able to ride a bike is A, the letter A also appears on a UK Driving license form (but has different meaning).
Also, on the back of the counterpart form is a statement about 125cc bikes, which when shown to someone who doesn't speak English worked fine - much to the surprise of my Chilean friends!

Which brings me to my first point - If you don't speak Spanish, you will definitely need someone to help you who can, so get a Chilean friend who speaks English.. then as Patagoniax stated, get a RUT number (tax identification). Santiago has many places where this can be done, it's free to do and takes minutes.

ALWAYS TAKE YOUR LICENSE AND PASSPORT WITH YOU.

Next step is buying a bike. From my experience Chileautos.cl was the best website to search for a bike: I bought an Acadian CG125cc Firemax for 329,000 chilean pesos (£329.00). The bike was a cheap Chinese Honda copy, which due to regular oil changes (which can be done in any garage) got me safely to selling it on in Paraguay.

I didn't do what Patagoniax advised when buying the bike, but in retrospect would have done: When I bought the bike I signed it over to my Chilean friend to claim back the Chileans form of Value Added Tax. Do not do that! Doing that created tons more hassles and procedures on his part. Plus I never got the rebate anyway!

In retrospect I would have gone to the dealer and got the registration in their name, then got a notarized (legalized) paper that I was authorized to take the vehicle out of the country.
In order to do that I would have gone to the Notario with the dealer. There are a few Notario's in Santiago. The Notario, as far as I know (and from an outsiders perspective) is a lawyer/actuary behind a desk who stamps forms of large financial amounts in total silence.
You don't have to speak to the Notario, you explain what you want to the receptionists who type up a legal document (on a typewriter - which takes a while) THEY then take the form to be signed and stamped by the Notario. I would imagine this procedure probably costs no more then £40's.

(I did have to go to the Notario, but when I did it was to register my bike and type up a document stating I was allowed to ride my motorbike because it was purchased in my Chilean friends name, don't do that either!)

My next step after obtaining a RUT number and buying the bike was heading to Registro de Civil (civil registration) to get the bike registered. I had to do this because my bike was unregistered and brand new.
So, if you're going to do this get to one early in the day as you may have to wait a while, the queues are ALWAYS long in Santiago. You pay a small fee as far as I remember, take your license and passport. Then you get the registration plates for the bike with a document, which needs to be approved by the Notario
(see where i'm getting? Confusing I know, but saying that I rode around Santiago for quite a few weeks without registration plates, but luckily I wasn't caught)...

So whatever way you've done it, you've got to the point where you have a bike that is legally registered.

Now I recommend that you go to the Municpalidad de Providencia (or any Municipality) and get a circulation permit (Permiso de Circulacion), I know how much it costs because it's the only form I have left now, it was £7.50 and well worth getting.

Finally I recommend that you head to the Ministry of Justice in central Santiago next to the Police Station. Go there and get all your documents signed by them, it's totally free and takes 5 minutes, but again is well worth doing for legal reasons (especially when you're doing the whole thing illegally!)

So that's pretty much how to do it. I got across the Santiago- Mendoza pass fine (although nearly froze to death). Headed through Argentina to Uruguay, then up to Paraguay where I sold it for 200 US dollars staright up cash in hand with no form stamping!

One warning if you're going to do this: Take food and water. Be wary of the border patrols. When I was crossing provinces in Argentina they would go through all my documentation, inventing something illegal i'd commited (for example not tying a scarf to the back of the rucksack bungeed to the back of my bike)

After the first bribe I kept all my cash in my boot, pretended to not understand them when they spoke, and when crossing provinces prepared to be sat down for 30 minutes of minor interrogation nodding my head saying "no me entiendo" (I don't understand). They won't hurt you and are just looking for a quick buck, so keep about 30-40 Argntine Pesos in your pocket and be prepared to lose it at any time.

That is most definitely how you have the time of your life in South America for next to nothing.

Thanks for this Info, This will be my Bible! I will try and message you as I have some more questions to put to you if you dont mind?

My emails slackjacket@hotmail.co.uk