January Carnet Sales: 66% off?
 

Hello!

I have been looking at a different route to avoid the 800% carnet deposit required for Egypt, however the link below may have saved the day (http://www.gonewandering.co.uk/What%20we%20learnt.htm). It says that no-one actually checks the value of the vehicle, they will go on what you tell them it is, therefore you could, if you were that way inclined, undervalue the vehicle and save on your carnet. :thumbup1:

Chris

carnet value
 

Hi ,you need a written value from a reconised dealer.I took my bike down in as untidy a condition as possible,this saved me considerably.

In the UK you don't need a dealer to value your bike and submit something in writing. I revalued my £6,500 KTM 950 as £2,000 for the purposes of my Egyptian carnet and had no problems at all. I think as long as you are not blatantly taking the piss (Valueing your Harley Fatboy at £1.50) then you will have no problem.

That's great news thanks! Should save me a fortune as well as letting us take the preferred route though Egypt. Has anyone else succeeded/failed in this?

*Edit* It's clearly late at night as my post made next to no sense!

I would have thought £1.50 for a Fat Boy was a bit over priced myself:whistling:

J

Chris,
thanks for the invaluable tip. The carnet has been a big deterrant in my planning. Now, it will be a bit easier to come up with the $.

Hmm... the TCS (Swiss RAC) seems to handle this a bit different, at least for swiss residents. You value your bike and you pay the deposit according to the countries you want to visit which is 50-100% of your bikes value, but at least 3k swiss. You only SIGN you would pay up to xxx% in case something goes wrong.

In my case, I have a CDP for nearly all of the world, including Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh (the "worst" countries). I valued the bike at 4k swiss which leads to a CHF 4000 deposit (aprox. 1500£) and I signed for CHF 18'500 in case something fails.

The TCS is issuing carnets to non-swiss residents but the rules seem to be different. On their application form they state

"The amount of the deposit will be fixed by the department for customs documents, Central office of the TCS in Geneva"

For more info look at (German/French/Italian):
Zolldokumente

The application form for non-swiss residents can be found here (English):
http://www.tcs.ch/etc/medialib/main/...demande_en.pdf

You'll find Mrs. Siekierskis e-mail address on the application form for any inqueries. Please keep us updated if any of you tries this out.

Save rides, Jiri

Unfortunately, if you're American and have to get a Carnet from the Canadian Automobile Association...they do check what the average used value is. So you can't get away with that.
Another reason being an American on tour is painful and expensive!!
And don't get me started on the Euro to $ exchange rate...what a crock...

Hi Chris
How has your carnet worked out? Did you value your bike low? Did you have any problems with doing so? I am doing the east coast (Egypt) and my bike i would guess to be about the same value as yours.
Cheers George

There are different ways of valueing things...

If you HAD to sell it in thenext 60 minutes .. how much would you get for it?

If you could wait years for the right buyer to come along .. how much would it be worth then?

Oh NO!!!! You just shattered the pleasant daydream i was having? I live in Chicago and bought my '05 Suzuki dl650 recently for 5k. By the time i am ready for the trip, it will still be worth 4k. That means a bond of $12k?!!! say it ain't so!!!

Any evidence that you can get away with a bill of sale for a lower amount if using the CAA?

A bill of sale or a valuation by a dealer of a lower value will carry a lot of weight. They're reasonable - remember they're not stupid, and they have a job to do, so make the value reasonable and tell them how hard it's been used and crashed... and be prepared to back it up.

Re bond for Canadians and Americans - it's a BOND - not necessarily cash - the CAA just needs to have full legal access and control of the amount, they don't actually take it - unless they need to.

READ the Carnet section on the left under paperwork.

Give her a call and ask your questions. She's a very nice person.
Just don't ask her how you can 'cheat'...:)

Grant, Lone rider,
thanks for the insights. The carnet has always been the number 1 puncture in my zeal for world conques t:cool4:
. Your insights give me much courage.

I posted about this dilemma on ADVrider.com forum and got a really helpful tip from there - sign up for one of the 0% for 12 month credit cards and pay for the carnet with that. Set up an automted withdrawal for the minimum
amount monthly, and when you return in 12 months, you get all your $ back safely. Pretty neat?!