Glasswave, thank you for the extensive answer, really appreciate it!

My goals is to start my South America tour on a new honda xr125 in december 2011 or januari 2012. If there is some money left in my wallet (time is on my side), I would like to extend my SA tour to CA-->North America, Asia and back to europe and have the freedom/feeling to do that without worrying about fines and export permissions.

To do so, I think that buying in a less organised country like Bolivia or Paraguay and a lesser intend Peru and Chile, I would reduce the change of getting into trouble when realizing the tour mentioned above and perhaps not returning. You are right, in the end it is pother (I googled it, didn't know what it meant) so I will see what will happen in the next months. Chile is still on top of my list of countries to start from.

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Another thought - bikes in Bolivia seem to be more expensive (even than Chile). If I were you I'd go for buying in Chile.

I'm currently in Bolivia on a Chilean-bought bike - feel free to PM me if you've any questions.

Matt

Last year I was warned at the Argentina border that Chilean bikes need to come back into the country every 6 months or they might be confiscated....not sure if it was a real law or not, or if all border crossings will enforce it....

Peru is fairly easy to buy in and they don't have this law, bikes are a tiny bit more expensive..


Zig

I have over stayed my Chilean export twice. it is a real law & they give you an export permit on exit. It can be extended for an additional six months as a matter of course. If you are over due, fines mounts quickly, $400 for about 9 months for me, but can be reduced to 10% fairly easily. I think only scofflaws would risk impoundment. YMMV

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

That is correct. Simply having a RUT does not make you chilean, any more than having a social insurance number makes you a canadian. A RUT is just a number, not an indicator of immigration status.

Amazing thread mate thanks so much for the time and effort you put into it. Im sure that myself and many others will benefit hugely from your contribution! pura vida

Thanks for your wonderful post, this is unbelievably helpful!

I have a trip of just 3 weeks and I'm hoping to see some of Chile and Argentina, perhaps even a bit of Peru. I was hoping to buy a bike in Santiago and go from there. Is this even plausible for a 3 week trip? It sounds like waiting for the paperwork might take up my whole trip. Is there any way I can do this?

The previous owner of my current bike just left with al the temporary papers you get with the bike within a day. I traveled Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and now back in Chile with these papers without too many problems (except one policeman in Ecuador fishing for money).

So you can leave Chile with the temporary papers.

But or a 3 week trip... you also have to sell the thing!

Hi,


It was a while ago when I first started this thread, and I still remember the doubts I had before I went to Santiago to buy my bike and the doubts I had every time I crossed a border leaving Chile. All these doubts came from all the information I had read on HUBB. For someone planning a trip, who has never been to these places, it is very hard to know what information is useful, what information is crap, what is speculation and what is fact. Anyone planning to go to another country, buy a bike and do a trip will have to take a leap of faith at some point that everything will work out fine.


Everything did work out fine for me and the point of starting the thread was to try to give people the confidence that it would also work out fine for them if they are willing to give it a go. I know there are lots of people who have gone to Santiago, bought a used or new bike and had fantastic trips. I know this from people I have helped in Santiago, emails people have sent me and posts to the HUBB Santiago Community.


But what tends to happen when everything works out fine is that people don't post on HUBB after they have finished their trip. Or at least they don't post in the same place where they raised all their doubts.



If you have gone to Santiago, bought a bike and then left the country you would be helping other people who want to do the same if you just post it here. For every person who says “ I went and did it and didn't have any problems” any reader who is thinking about doing the same will be inspired with confidence that everything will also work out fine for them.

Hi,







I did not know that. What will happen when i come back after 7 Months? Are they going to charge me right at the boarder or send a bill to the „real“ owner or what???


Where and how?



How is the procedure for this?






Story:
When i bought the used Honda CGL 125 November 2012 and went with someone who lives in Chile to apply for the RUN they refused it scince i did not have a visa in my passport (as a german i dont need one. Do people from the USA need a visa for Chile?) so i registered the bike on my friends name. To get a visa would have taken another month. Also i have tried before at the Embassy in germany but no chance. We went to Notaria where he got a paper for me where he allowes me to travel through southamerica on „his“ bike.


With this paper i could successfully enter Argentina. They just wanted a copy of it at the boarder and typed everything into the computer. In Bolivia they did not realize the wrong name and in Peru the officer wanted to send me back because you are onely allowed to enter Peru with your own propetario. I had to bribe him to enter the country with my bike registered on someone elses name. Later on i faked the papers. Now they say my name. We will see how this workes in Ecuador and Columbia.


Greetings, Tobi
http://www.adventure-travel-experien...report=en_peru

You will be given a citation of infraction at the border port of entry. I think the fine will be calculated based on the value of the bike combined with how long you have over stayed your temporary export permit (TEP). It will be your ticket and the fine will have nothing to do with the previous owner. The fine can be reduced to 10%, it seems this is a matter of course. I hear this is done by Chileans all the time. They will not confiscate your bike and you can re enter Chile, but you will have a ticket that needs to be dealt with.



It is done with aduanas. I think it can done by mail/phone but I am not sure. As I have simply let my TEP expire and the returned.


Apparently the wording on the Power of Attorney (POA) is important. Mine listed every country to which I was allowed to take the bike to. PocketHead had problems with his POA at certain boerder crossings (Arica/Tacna), but I did not at the same border. The listing of specific countries is the only difference that we could ascertain was different. It could be the person on the given day, we don't know. I entered AR, BO & PE on my POA, by the time I got to EC & CO, I had a padron.

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

Hi everybody,

Am planning to arrive in Santiago early October 2012, buy a new bike from a dealer and travel through Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and back to Santiago where I intend to sell the bike before flying back home. All up, about 4 months on the road.
The reason for buying a new bike in Santiago and selling it at the end of the trip is that it would be A LOT cheaper than buying the same bike here in Australia , ship it to Santiago and back to Australia.

After reading as many posts as I could find, and some people have made a terrific effort to help, I am still confused as to weather or not :
. i can obtain a RUT as a simple formality (without a visa of any kind)
. cross into Peru or Bolivia from Chile (crossing into Argentina does not seem to be an issue) on a Chile registered bike

It certainly seems that some people have done it without any problems, but the recurent theme seems to be that there is no certainty about the feasability of this. I am obviously not very keen of this particular uncertainty given that the whole project hinges on it !

So... what is the last word guys ?

Itinerary : Arrive in Santiago by mid-October, head North into Peru, back south into Bolivia and then Argentina, all the way to Tierra del Fuego for Christmas and New Year, back North zigzagig across the national parks and the Andes to Santiago.

Format : as many dirt roads as possible, mountain passes etc.. smelling the roses, lots of pics, occasional treck, meeting the local people.

Anyone interested in joining up for parts of the ride ?

How may I contact the local HUBB communities ?

Thanks all ,
cheers,

Yes, you can obtain a rut in Chile as a matter of course, it takes about an hour & half, but you might as well plan a day for it or at least a full morning.

If you have a padron (title) getting in/outta any country is no problem. Traveling on a power of attorney (poa) seems a little more inconsistent, but as a new bike owner you'll have a padron from the start so, "No hay problema." I think it takes about a week from the purchase to get the padron on a new bike from a dealer. Insurance will likely be required to drive away on your new bike, I don't know the process, but I'd guess all you need is a rut #. You'll likely need insurance in each separate country, if you want the bike to always be covered.

The last word will be written by you after the completion of the deal. The laws are changing quickly down there, but the Chilean process is as straight forward as anything you could expect.

The HU communtiy links are on the left, look for the orange link header below planning's gray header.

I would not worry about feasibility, your plan is solid and can be implemented easily in Chile. If you need accessories (esp boxes), I'd plan on getting them in Oz where prices and selection should be vastly better. Make your accessories look slightly used to aviod customs charges.
cheers,
n

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

Hi N,
me gusta mucho cuando no hay problema.
Thanks for your answer and tips.
So if I can't obtain an RUT to have everything in my name, the fallback position would be to do everything in a local friend's name who would them give me a POA...
I'll try to talk the dealership into helping me with fitting the accessories. If that fails, would you know a place (for example perhaps a bike club ?) with a bit of a workshop where I could do it (30l tank, fork springs and oil, centre stand, panniers.. nothing to complicated) ?
Muchas gracias,

I have never heard of someone ever being denied a RUT. Many people from Oz do it all the time. You would have to be in the country illegally or be a Chilean felon or something to be denied.

Generally, your rut will be written on the POA. Your RUT is a Chilean tax ID that allows you to conduct any type of business in Chile. I suppose a POA could work with out a RUT, but it would need to be a temporary poa and the original owner would still be responsible for taxes relating to the vehicle. So yes, I do believe that a POA could be written to allow you to travel on someone else's moto. It may take a full lawyer rather that a notario to produce such a contract.



Do you know what kind of bike you plan to buy? Anything larger than a Honda Falcon 400 ($8000 us) will be super pricey. A TransAlp is $16000 us. There won't be much available as far as boxes other than perhaps givi. Extra tanks and springs and such will likely be difficult id not impossible to find and super duper costly. I'd bring as many accessories as I could from home. You could always have a rack fabbed up like I did. (see below) By the way, it's for sale.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...nx-400-a-51344

How you will transport the money to Chile is another concern if you plan on buying a big bike. I don't think you can carry more than about $10,000 cash and you will be limited to certain daily ATM withdraw amounts.

buen suerte

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo