Selling our KLRs at end of trip (Argentina/Chile)

[roviffer]

Hello,

Myself and my girlfriend are about to relocate from Canada to France and decided to take the long way, by riding from Canada to South America. The trip will be done on 2 KLR650, 2008 model. Unfortunately, it seems we can't register these bikes in France due to emission regulations.

Is it possible to sell these bikes in Chile or Argentina? To locals or foreigners? I suppose it could be a hassle, but going with these bikes back to Canada to be sold is also a big hassle, so...

I searched the forum for info and didn't find anything recent. I think the easiest would be for a Canadian buyer to do the reverse trip, no?

Thanks,
Radu

[gpothoven]

Originally Posted by roviffer

I think the easiest would be for a Canadian buyer to do the reverse trip, no?

Thanks,
Radu

Absolutely. You cant sell it legally to a local, as the bike will be under temporary import. Not sure how the buyer would go about leaving the country with the bike, as the same person who enters the bike must take it out of the country.

It's a pretty common question, so I'm guessing someone will answer soon.

[ejhayes76]

Are you sure you can’t take the bikes to France?

They may require a little modification but it would probably be cheaper than buying new bikes? North American bikes are much cheaper than European ones, making importing a bike very economically, even if you have to pay a little to get it up to EU spec.

If you have a container going from Canada to France, it would make sense to throw the bikes in there with your household stuff. That would be a very cheap way to get the bikes there.

I imported and registered a 2003 SV650 (US purchased) in Nice in 2004. There was the usual French paperwork, but it was doable. I shipped the bike in the container with my furnishings. I think you have a year once you arrive to get the registration changed. It took me about 4-5 months to register mine. That was mostly waiting for Suzuki of France to send me some documents (certificate of conformity).

Unfortunately, I don’t live in France anymore, but I could go through my paperwork at home and explain the process I used to register my SV, as best as I can remember?

[pjmurf]

It is possible to sell to another Canadian to ride back.It would be best to find the buyer before you leave home and get a copy of that persons paper work(DL, Passport etc ) and have them included on the import doc's.(I think Argentina has a longer temp import peroid than Chile).

It's a long shot Thow.

Good luck with it and please post the outcome....

[roviffer]

Originally Posted by ejhayes76

Are you sure you can’t take the bikes to France?

They may require a little modification but it would probably be cheaper than buying new bikes? North American bikes are much cheaper than European ones, making importing a bike very economically, even if you have to pay a little to get it up to EU spec.

If you have a container going from Canada to France, it would make sense to throw the bikes in there with your household stuff. That would be a very cheap way to get the bikes there.

I imported and registered a 2003 SV650 (US purchased) in Nice in 2004. There was the usual French paperwork, but it was doable. I shipped the bike in the container with my furnishings. I think you have a year once you arrive to get the registration changed. It took me about 4-5 months to register mine. That was mostly waiting for Suzuki of France to send me some documents (certificate of conformity).

Unfortunately, I don’t live in France anymore, but I could go through my paperwork at home and explain the process I used to register my SV, as best as I can remember?

Well, I checked Kawi France and they don't sell the KLR650 (or the Suzuki DR650) there anymore - the new 2008 model is not on their web site. I can deal with minor changes on bikes that are sold on both continents, but when it has to be omologated from the ground up, well, that's just too much hassle for an unknown result.
I'm already shipping my VFR in a container.

Thanks for the offer,
R