Motorcycle Insurance in Guatemala? Help?

[donnh]

I'm in Guatemala and can't seem to find insurance, am I missing something?
My riding partners used Motorcycle Express I went to their web site and you have to sign up by mail 15 days in advance. Not much help to me now. From here I'm riding south through CA and SA. Any suggestions????
Thanks in advance. Blog here: Donn and Deby's Motorcycle Adventure Blog | ADV on two wheels

[scottym24]

I rode through Guatemala two years ago, spending 5 months in the country without insurance on my XT600. Every other country in Central & South America requires a SOAT (Seguros Obligatorio de Accidente Traffico), in English, "obligatory traffic accident insurance", usually purchased on the border but not always. You will be most unlikely to find any insurance outside of the country for Guatemala, and vehicles over a certain age can sometimes be difficult to insure as well, around 20 years seems to be a notional limit. In South America, the border people on entering Peru (from Ecuador) insisted we didn't need insurance, being tourists etc, and 100klms down the road, a cop stopped us and the first thing he demanded was the "SOAT y documentos", and it turns out, they have the legal right to confiscate your bike if you don't have it. That cost us a $90 bribe. My advice, buy local insurance wherever you can, the you have the papers to wave around, and it will wotk out cheaper than all the bribes you would end up paying.
As I'm in Guatemala now, and will be until the end of March, I will make inquiries for you after the weekend if you tell me the make & model, cc etc of your bike.
Hope this helps
Scott

[cgwinner]

I've been riding in Guatemala for 3 years now and I can tell you that you don't "need" insurance here and it is hard to find something that would actually cover you if you did want it. It is not required and I can't remember the last overlander that came through that purchased it.

If you're heading South, the next country that requires insurance is Nicaragua. $12, you buy it right at the border.

[dstehouwer]

my experience during the RTW trip, is that it doesn't matter for the police wheter you need it or not!

For the countries where you don't need it by law, fake up a nice insurance document... worked fine for us! Make sure your other paperwork is correct, because the police will ask for other stuff next.

For the countries where you do need insurance, this fake might work too unless you have an accident... but that's up to you!

As for all the other documents, on my next trip I'll copy all docs expet passport properly, so that it looks original. Makes you way more relaxed when they don't want to give it back and this results in a different discussion!