Advice on Argentina border crossing for license plate swap!
 

Some background: I bought the bike from another HUBB user who rode his bike down from Texas. I was able to title and register the bike in my name in WA, so I've got the paperwork and license plate with me here in Argentina. The TVIP is in the previous owner's name and expires in a week, but I have a notarized letter authorizing me to drive the bike out of the country with the purpose of returning to the US. I tried to get a new TVIP today with the notarized letter and previous owner's paperwork at Aduanas in Cordoba, but was unable - however, the customs official told me I should have no problem leaving the country with my notarized letter.

My question is: where would be best to cross the border out of Argentina in order to switch license plates and paperwork in between countries? I want to 'sign out' of Argentina with the previous owner's paperwork and plate and 'sign into' the next country with my paperwork and plate (so that I own the bike).

My plan was to go into Uruguay somewhere, but I've been told that the officials of both countries sit at the same desk along this border (making the plate and paperwork swap impossible). Is there a crossing into Uruguay where there is space between both borders? Or does anyone have other recommendations where I should cross?

Any advice is GREATLY appreciated! I've been searching the forums, but haven't found any uptodate info for this. Cheers!

Take the ferry from B.A. to Uruguay. Easy.

Crossing at the Falls have posts on either side of the river

That easy?
 

I had definitely considered taking the ferry from BA to Uruguay. However, I was told that others had tried this and failed (not sure why). I had also heard that it's incredibly expensive to take the ferry to Uruguay.

I'll have to look into the ferry more. I'm guessing it worked for you? When?

Tony - 'the falls' is Iguazu?

You heard wrong....but it sure pays to shop for a cheaper day, time and boat.

Mark - well that's definitely good to hear. Is there a specific location or ferry that you would recommend?

$140 USD for your bike and $70 USD for you, that is spendie.

The bigger problem is soon as you load you cannot stay with your moto making the swap difficult.

Go to Puerto Iguassu and enjoy it, between Argentina and Brasil you have a couple of km to stop and stretch and if your number plate fell off and you had to put it back on ... easy as, also Brasil has no TVIP so a clean swap, back to Argentina after spending time at Foz Do Iguassa, well worth it.

Not many falls on a border in that part of S America.

When we went through the Argentinian side, I had to stop and walk back to find the man who is supposed to stay awake to take the TIPs off the drivers as they drive through. He was relaxing in the shade at the time and I only went to the trouble so that the previous owners wouldn't have an outstanding TIP against their name if they ever returned. Didn't need to show him the Poder so I wasted 700 pesos on insurance that wasn't required.

"back to Argentina after spending time at Foz Do Iguassa, " -- might be pushing your luck a bit if their computer system is any good at flagging VINs and matching them to owners.

Maybe ... or go around the block to Uruguay or Bolivia or at worst Paraguay.

Just throwing ideas to help the man.

As you rightly point out sometimes the system is in place and other days you wonder WTF.

I was told that on the ferry, both country's formalities were completed on the same end of the trip - but of course I've heard of others doing the plate swap during the voyage so either the procedures have changed recently, or what I was told is wrong.

$210 for me and the bike is definitely expensive!

Perhaps the drive to Iguazu is warranted. I'm currently in Cordoba, so it's definitely a bit of a drive. Plus, my plan is to head to Ushuaia as soon as the bike situation is in order. But if the border is as lax as you say it could be the perfect place to cross for this sort of thing. I hope I have no problems returning with the same VIN but different plates the next day (possibly at a different border crossing)!

Do you guys know how difficult the Brazilian visa is to get as an American? Ie, how long does it take, how expensive?

I appreciate all the advice!

There are three ferries. Prices vary widely by date, time, phase of the moon, advance purchase, etc. My information about fares is several years' worth of inflation out of date, but you can research as well as I can--better, I presume. It's not expensive if you're paying with black market pesos and you choose your boat wisely. It's fiendishly expensive if you try to travel on short notice during a popular holiday weekend at the same time of day as everyone else.

I think there's a Brazilian consulate in Cordoba. I think I heard it's an easy one. My memory is highly suspect, so again you'd do well to run the information down yourself. But it's going to cost you about as much as--or more than--the ferry fare, so you might as well be prepared for that.

Of course there are dozens of other options. Think about taking one of the passes into Chile, where immigration facilities are sometimes a hundred miles apart. Those are more interesting routes anyway, since you're heading for Ushaia. You'll just miss the fuss and bother of the Dakar racers, who tend to jack all the prices skyward as long as they're around.

All this information is available via search on this site.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

All transport boats are owned by Busquebus which in Brasilian owned by Randon the truck trailer maker.

All boat payments are USD only and in hard cash, no Credit Card, you pay your USD cash at the official rate not the blue dollar rate so at a Peso rate of 8.5 not 13.7.

So they have closed the door on any advantage.

If it were me with Ushuaia in mind hightail across to a Chilean mountain border, Paso Vegara could be a good choice or Paso Seco north, trouble is you are in the system with Arg and contrary to popular belief 99% of the time you pop straight up on their system so you are going to have to have a well rehearsed story or they WILL ask for beer money .... but some beer money at the blue rate might be your cheapest option over all.

We crossed at Paso Sico the first time - where the border posts are widely separated (the Chilean Agricultural checkpoint counts as one of the posts because they record your details there and supposedly pas them on to San Pedro dA - and we definitely needed the PODER to satisfy the army people in the Argentinian post..