Scooter registration in Egypt

[Jeroend42]

Hey all,

Next summer I would like to buy a 150cc scooter in Egypt to travel through Eastern-Africa. Can anyone advise me on the paperwork I should get in order? Is it difficult to register a scooter as a foreigner (I'm Belgian) if I plan to leave to country after a couple of weeks?

To cross the borders it's important that the papers are in my name, so it would be very helpful to know how much time I should calculate before I can be on my way. I've thought about going there beforehand to arrange everything but tickets seem to be quite expensive.

Happy travels,
Jeroen

[andrasz]

I have not heard of anyone attempting to do this, but knowing Egyptian bureaucracy expect the worst and then multiply it by ten. I doubt that you would be able to get any papers in any language other than arabic, and that will be of little use anywhere south of Sudan (if you ever get that far...). To my knowledge you need a special export permit for any locally registered vehicle to cross any borders, though I don't now how that applies to two wheels... Good luck!

[Jeroend42]

Thanks, András. I drove a motorcycle which was licensed in Guatemala from Europe to the Gambia last summer and was surprised I didn't encounter any trouble on the way. All my papers were in Spanish, but noone asked me any questions, except to point them to the information they needed to fill in their forms.

Maybe east-Africa will be more complicated, but I certainly hope not. Anyway, it might still be a good idea to fly to Cairo beforehand. As long as I can get the papers in my name as a tourist, I can always have them translated.

It's just that I've never owned a scooter and I would like to find out if it makes a difference regarding paperwork. I've considered driving my motorcycle, but in West-Africa I had the impression it scared people off, and thus found it much harder to connect to them.

[andrasz]

I'm afraid the hassles and thwarting of practically anything by fine Egyptian bureaucracy, perfected over thousands of years, is surpassed by none...

I'm not saying it cannot be done, just observing that I have not heard of anyone achieving this, and by the lack of other comments nor did anyone else. If you make it out of Egypt, the rest should be a breeze.