temporary import papers in Argentina
 

hola,
till now it seemed to me that its not a big deal to stay a little bit longer in Argenina then the import parers allow. This was reported by several travellers.
But today I had a problem to leave the country. The last export date was the 22.02 and I tried to leave the country on the 23.03. The bike was confiscated, I had to go (without the bike) to the capital of the province and pay a fee to the aduana office. Unfortunately the Banco National, where I have to make the payment, was closed at that time, so I have to wait until Monday to get the bike hopefully. Im not sure what the fee will be finally but it depends on the value of the bike, declared on the importation. The guy said something about 150 Pesos (about 50 EUR).
Im not sure if I just had bad luck with a very intent officer or if they strengthened the law.
It happened at Passo the Aqua Negra, Province San Juan.
I hope this information will be useful for other travellers since I know a lot of them store their bikes in Argentina to return home for some time.

Have a great journey!
Patrick

***
www.weltreisebuch.de

Update on this issue:
In the end we waited 1 week to get the bike back and I had to pay 1.800 Pesos (about 500 Euro). We checked with a lawyer (thanks Karl-Heinz!) but there was nothing we could do. It seems that they take a closer look at the moment. So be warned and invest your money rather in beer and fuel then in custom offices ;-)

Patrick

www.weltreisebuch.de

Hi Patrick,

Happy return on the road!

I'm coming to Buenos Aires to leave my bike there for 6-9months and go back to Canada! I don't like that news

Do you have the details of the 1800 pesos fees? Is it base on the value of the bike?

Thanks,
Patrick

Hi Pat,

The import paper says something like the fee can be up to 5 times the bikes value but not less then 30%. I declared the value of my bike as 1.000 US$. So they fined me about 60% of that amount. Thats ridiculous but as far as I could find out according to the law. I wish you better luck then we had!

Have a safe trip.

Patrick

---
www.schweizer-ing.com

And criminal charges too
 

If you don´t pay the total amount in time they will press criminal charges too.
This means prision! At least that is suposed to happen.
On the scanned document from Onkelkarle you can read that as result of quick payment of all fees,the bike would not be confiscated and criminal charges droped!!!!!
So do not take more then the first 8 month!
Winds of change?????
KH

Pat
Patrick was very unlucky, he try to cross a new border crossing, all the officers there was new and I suppose was trying to fallow all the laws and custom rules, but you know that is unusual here. This is the first time that we ear a case than this.
When you get here we will chat about and give you some tips!!!

See you in few days
Javier…
www.dakarmotos.com

This whole issue raises a few questions for a trip my wife and I are planning on our GS1150. We plan to fly into Santiago with our bike, travel into Mendosa, Argentina then go north up Ruta 40 before heading into Peru, Bolivia Paraguay, Argentina (to Ushuaia) then back up to Santiago.
As far as I was aware, we needed to make sure we had copies of our Australian bike registration papers, my international drivers licence and get third party insurance at the borders.
Where and how do we get temporary import papers?
Do we need them for Chile & the other countries?
Are there any other requirements I have missed?
Cheers,
Cords & Aash

Hi Cords & Aash,
you get the import papers at the border. Its just a paper that says that you imported the bike into the country. Its for free. In Chile its valid for 6 month, in Argenina for 8 month and Urugay for one year. Make sure that they give you the full lengh at the border.
If you leave and reenter the country you get a new one. So its no problem if the bike doesnt stay longer then the papers allows.

Greetings Patrick

www.weltreisebuch.de