Away for more than one year?

[italihurr]

Riders or drivers away from their home country (or country where your vehicle is registered) for over a year, and especially those who are away for longer than that (like several years in some cases), I would like to ask a certain question:

How, specifically, in your own particular case, do you keep getting your vehicle relicensed (given that a licence usually expires after a year, I think, and you're not there to do it yourself)? Maybe the internet can be used in some cases, but this isn't always possible and there must, I guess, be some of you out there with vehicles registered in "unusual" countries, maybe a country you've started from on your trip (where you were working, or living in for some other reason) but are never going back to.

Please share your experiences. How do you do it? What difficulties or problems have you faced? How have you overcome them?

[Tony P]

For UK registered vehicles the method is becoming clearer - as in this thread
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...g-term-39472-2

particularly the second page.

[quastdog]

I've been on the road almost 3 years now - my bike registration expired in 2007 and so far nobody - police, customs, insurers - has noticed or cared. I think the only ones that care are the folks in your home country (the revenue authorities).

[markharf]

I think that's right. I had a (Washington State) USA registration lapse but rode around Europe and North Africa for many months without anyone noticing. In fact, I'm still riding around (currently Mexico), and I can't remember whether I put the little updated sticker on my plate or not. I guess I ought to check, since I'll be back in the States again soon.

Under other circumstances I've had updated insurance, registration and other paperwork forwarded to me. Surely everyone's got a friend or agreeable relative who can take mail and deal with the occasional bank or credit card foulup while you're away. Those in charge don't need to know that you're not actually physically present at the address you've given them.

I assume that this will continue to work, even in the face of national ID cards and implanted chips. All the banks, insurance companies and governments are really interested in is your money. Keep sending it in and they'll keep responding with little bits and pieces of essentially meaningless paper.

Hope that helps.

Mark