Carnet for an American on a UK bike purchased in Thailand.

[theoverman83]

Hi,

I've read the stickies but can't find anything that fits my situation written in plain English.

I'm an American whos planning a RTW trip. I will be buying a 2003 Honda Africa Twin in Thailand. The bike is registered in the UK will soon be in my name. What do I need to do to obtain a carnet?

I plan to loop SE Asia without a carnet, and then begin travel through India, The Stans, Russia etc in a few months time.


Thanks,
Andrew

[mark manley]

You will need to contact the RAC, I am not sure how you will get on being an American but I would not mention that unless asked, you will need the bike registered in your name at a UK address and do not mention that it is already in Thailand either, have the document sent to the registered address and have it forwarded from there.
I am not sure how you or the seller will get on leaving Thailand either, the bike was recorded in your passport when I was there although that was some time ago. You might be better off conducting your deal in Malaysia where there is no need for a carnet and it is not recorded in your passport.

Carnet de Passage | Application Form | RAC Driving Information | RAC

[theoverman83]

To anyone's knowledge, is the RAC my only option?

Thanks for the info. Apparently, we will ride to the Thai boarder and exit using the old registration, make the transfer, and enter with the new documents which are in my name, hence it will be stamped in my passport under my name.

[jordan325ic]

I am also an American considering a similar conundrum. Interested to hear what your outcome is.

[bad babba]

iff yuo ned a carnethepassage then contact the atomobilasosiation in the country yuo are in the whil asist yuo i hade problems in usa leaving the country but the americanatomobilasosiation helpd mea same thing in australia neaded a new carne i whent to the australian atomobilasosiation and the help mea geat a new one 1 time in india i made a carne and the sweden embasy help me whid the contakts that dam carne is a pain in the ass but in india and nepal yuo nead one pakistan and iran i have traveld many times in the past 15 years and never had a carne some time att the indian border whid pakistan the can argue a bit but in general after some time the leat yuo out off india the pakistanis dont give a shit about carne good luck

[pecha72]

Originally Posted by theoverman83

To anyone's knowledge, is the RAC my only option?

No real knowledge from me, but I´d ask their German counterpart ADAC as well.

In SE Asia, your bike should not need a carnet for Thailand, Cambodia and Laos... Malaysia´s kind of in-between, but common consensus seems to be that they´re relaxed about it at the land borders coming from Thailand (my own experience was the same). But Indonesia requires the carnet. Philippines, I have no idea.

[mark manley]

Originally Posted by theoverman83

To anyone's knowledge, is the RAC my only option?

Thanks for the info. Apparently, we will ride to the Thai boarder and exit using the old registration, make the transfer, and enter with the new documents which are in my name, hence it will be stamped in my passport under my name.

As far as I am aware yes, for a while UK registered vehicles could get them from the ADAC but I read here somewhere that option is no longer available. It sounds like you have a good plan for exchanging ownership.

[theoverman83]

Ive emailed the RAC, Paul Gowen at RAC (though I heard he no loger works there), AAA, CAA, and one other entity that offers carnets (ATAcarnet.com).

Weeks later, and only ATAcarnet got back to me to tell me I need a different type or carnet for personal travel. I'm travelling in Myanmar, so calling is out of the question for the time being.

I'll try the ADAC today, but so far its not looking very promising.

[theoverman83]

I did find an English carnet de passage application on the ADAC site, hopefully available here:

ADAC Reise & Freizeit - Carnet de Passages - Englisch

or here:

http://www.adac.de/_mmm/pdf/Carnet%2...isch_18337.pdf


I read it over briefly, and it looks like I will be good to go at a reasonable cost. It addresses many of the concerns I had. Horray for efficient Germans

The devils are in the details, but this is a clear starting point.

[theoverman83]

Success!

The RAC finally got back to me. They apologized for the delay, stating they had to "read the email a few times in order to clearly understand the situation" (and this take one business week?).

Anyhow, they said they could provide me with a carnet afterall. I emailed carnets@rac.co.uk

hope this helps