Hey
What's the deal with buying a bike off a fellow traveller in South America ie registration documents and crossing borders etc?

Well, I've never done it, but the two questions I'd have are:

1. Is it possible to register the bike in the country of origin from abroad? No registration means no insurance etc.

2. Can you get it across borders with no registration papers and stamps in your passport or papers to say you brought it into the country?

Just seems like a pretty bad idea to me; also, I wouldn't necessarily listen to the vendor as they have a vested interest in selling you the bike.

Sean

Hmmmm.......read lots of conflicting advice on here about the ease/difficulty of this. Anyone reading this actually done it? - ie bought a bike of another foreign traveller and used it for further travel in South America??

well, i`ve done it but i`m also selling a bike and the other guy said not to listen to people who sell bikes so..

I think you'll find that this thread from 2006 is still as valid:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...fer-bike-21226

Last year, I bought a bike from a fellow Brit in Bogota. He left me the relevant part of the V5 registration document, returned to UK and posted the transfer off to DVLA. My sister posted me the new V5 about a week later, and voila.

Bear in mind that most authorities in Latin American countries will accept anything with enough words and stamps as proof of title

__________________
How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
For a week, or several centuries?
How long does a man spend dying?
What does it mean to say “forever”? - Pablo Neruda

Fingers in ears - "la la la la la la la la la"................... !

well, if to be mature and try and help-
it`s probably the easiest if you and the seller (or the bike) are from the same country.
in this case you can usually make a legal ownership transfer according to your country`s laws.

if you can`t do this transfer (the country that the bike is from in origen does not allow or you don`t have the time/don`t want the hussle) than you can travel with photoshoped papers..
i know quite a few people that did and are still doing it. i`m one of them.
for most of us, western-thinkers, it sounds absurd. it would never work.
well, fortunatley, this is SA we`re talking about.
as someone else said- show a credible enough paper with some stamps and a signature and no one would ever bother you..
my papers are photoshoped, a friend did quite a good job and they look exactly like the original ones. the original ones, by the way, look like a joke. they are from british columbia and it`s a plain A4 paper with some writing on it and on the back.
i`ve been crossing borders between chile-argentina-urugway for the past almost 3 months. it`s very easy and works like a charm.
some friends i travelled with, even had the original papers and were waiting for the new one to arrive from the states while having the approval of a notarion and still prefered to travel with photoshoped papers! it was safer and led to less questions every time.
moreover, what happens when your bike registration ends? are you going to take it back to it`s country, renew it and come back down?
it`s easier to just change the date.
i probably sound like some kind of a con, hussler or just someone who gives a s#$t about the law but that`s just not the case.
i could have well tried to change the registration of my bike to my name but by the time it would take i would already be after the end of my trip and with a big hole in my head..

so, those are my two cents..
and yeah, i am selling a bike.

cheers,
asaf.

Exactly. And Possesion of a foreign bike in a far-flung land IS 9/10 of the Law. Maybe even more...

__________________
How much does a man live, after all?
Does he live a thousand days, or one only?
For a week, or several centuries?
How long does a man spend dying?
What does it mean to say “forever”? - Pablo Neruda

Seems as long as you've got some sort of 'official' documentation the authorities aren't too bothered?
Don't get me wrong -Im not that hung up on the legal niceties of buying a bike, I just dont want to be prevented from crossing borders coz my name's not on the reg document (do you have to show this at the border?)

Anyway, judging by SA bike prices (I could buy a new Ducati over here for the same price!!) looks like buying off a traveller is the way to go.

Cheers for you advice guys

"gimp" works too...
just gimped the title and last years import docs on my suzuki, changed all the dates etc, got a poder and insurance signed on it ...
now it "always was" owned by the new owner.......and he has a poder or power of attorney should he ever want to officially change it over

cheers

Zig

for us dumbwits, (well, only me..) what is a gimp?

does the same miracle layer thing so you can forge all your docs, change dates, names etc - just like Photoshop but free and small.....
we just did my Suzuki papers here in colombia.....sold it to an Alaskan who is going to just keep it here and update the DIAN and Seguro as needed every time he returns here

google "gimp photoshop"

Zig

I bought a car from a traveller which was exported from the Netherlands and nowhere imported, it was stateless... Travelled up and down Africa and South America with it , no trouble at all. Thing is that no custom officer knows (even French Guyana and Suriname) what the documents look like in the homecountry.
Have also travelled with dutch registered vehicles. Stopped the yearly roadtax (houderschapsbelasting opgeschort). This can be done by a third party if you first have to cross Europe. You just take a copy of the registration documents.
If you want/need insurance outside Europe you can buy it localy, cheaper than in NL.

sometimes (often) you CAN get insurance with someone elses papers depends on country Colombia for sure - the most important paper for the insurance is the import papers from the border - if you can get it in you can insure it.........I think, we did anyway........

Zig

You guys are right.. The people here have no idea about how does a paper should look in each country (neither do I..).
I got an insurance in Argentina, and the most important paper for it was the customs import form..

This way it`s kinda easy to travel-
Need a new valid date to your papers? Make a new one..
Lost your papers??? Print new ones..
Want to sell it to another traveller? Change the owner name and print a new one..

I sometimes get a weird look at customs because of the look of my papers, since they look so simple. I must say that I had the same look when I first saw them, but apparently that`s how they look in British Colombia.
If you put mine next to the original ones, you wouldn`t know which is more real since they both look exactly the same.