Carnet Insurance cost

[Matt Cartney]

I'm trying to work out roughly how much it will cost me to get a carnet and indemnity insurance for India, Pakistan etc, countries that require a 500% premium security for my bike worth about £2500.
Looking at my RAC form it would appear that the cost is:

£85.00 (Carnet de Passages en Douane)
£350.00 (RAC refundable deposit)
£1250 (10% of 5x2500 or the bikes value)

This means my premium will be £1685! Thats an enormous portion of my total trip funds! OK so I get £975 back (the RAC deposit and half of £1250) but only when the trips over! Add travel and bike insurance to this it takes the total cost of bloody PAPERWORK for my trip to over £2000! Somebody please tell me I've calculated this wrong as it looks like I'm going as far as Turkey this summer!
Matt

[bathmeme]

Yes, sorry I can't help in terms of giving you a yey or ney as to the accuracy of the cost but it does seem about right.

This concerns me as I have come up with a very rough budget of around 8 - 10k GBP for what i am hoping will get me down africa, up africa and over to, potentially, Mongolia and back to the UK over the space of a year. Im now feeling like this may be completely unrealistic!

Perhaps i need to go to the drawing board and have another go.

[MikeS]

Matt

I'm pretty sure you can use your property to secure a bank guarantee and thus not need to pay anything. I could be wrong but I'd double check with Paul at RAC who should be able to clarify for you.

That's great, so when are you doing the trip then??

[mr moto]

has anyone here gone down the bank guarantee route , when getting their carnet ? . i thought you could only get a bank guarantee if you had the full amount of cash in your bank account .

[KennyE]

Although the amounts we pay are different in Australia, I looked at getting the bank guarantee. My bank wanted me to have the full amount needed in a term deposit, then wanted to charge me a $500 establishment fee and 2,5% per year of the full amount. I ended up going with the insurance option which was about $600 cheaper. They weren't interested in using my property as collateral.

I had a valuation of $15000 on my bike.

Cheers,

Kenny

[bathmeme]

Unfortunately, I dont have a property to secure anything on so it's going to have to come out of my budget. The insurance option sounds best at the moment.

I'm going to be going on a less valuable machine than you Kenny - approx GBP £2500 so am hoping it's not going to destroy my budget too heftily.

I plan to go October/November '09 as I should have some shares which will be ready to cash in around then plus I will have spent a year or so saving.

[JoeSheffer]

Yes. Its a complete Royal absolute pıss take. Its such a joke ıt really ıs. Drop your bıke value to 1200 quıdısh ımmedıately. Nobody wıll questıon ıt. Its almost the status quo.

[bathmeme]

I guess on a more battered looking bike there is less to question if the value is very little compared to a pristine GS or something.

[MikeS]

From memory, my bank said it wouldn't be a problem for a bank guarantee with my flat as security, their only request was they wanted a letter from my boss at the time confirming he'd re-employ me when I came back! Given that I hadn't yet mentioned to him that I wasn't actually planning on coming back to work, I didn't follow it up and anyway, eventually settled on the Americas as you don't need a carnet. The RAC seem to be reasonably flexible when it comes to putting down a value on your bike but again Paul at RAC is the man to ask really.

[KennyE]

Originally Posted by bathmeme

I'm going to be going on a less valuable machine than you Kenny - approx GBP £2500 so am hoping it's not going to destroy my budget too heftily.

One of the requirements was that I had to obtain a valuation on my bike from "A Reputable Dealer". Fortunately the dealer was more than reasonable in the valuation- otherwise I would have been up for a lot more. Funny how new models of the same bike tend to force values right down!!

[Sparky]

Hi
When you contact the RAC and agree to purchase a carnet through them they are in effect selling you an insurance policy.When they ask for a valuation on your bike, its exclusive of any mods,luggage etc that way you get the cost right down.It then depends on which countries you want to visit i.e you really want to avoid India(400% tax,Iran 470% tax) as the cost of the carnet is based on the highest tax country you are visiting.On average the cost of the carnet should be around £500 (none of which is refundable)It is also worth considering taking out a further double indemnity insurance, cost is the same around £500,this gives you total cover should there be any difficulties with the carnet once you have left a country, and prevents the insurance companiy pursuing you (this is also non refundable)So for around £1000 your pretty much covered any where for a year (you can easily extend them for a nominal fee).You dont need a carnet in the EU or anywhere in the Americas (except perhaps Ecuador where no one knows wether you need one or not!)I would also suggest you invest $500 in Medical Assist ,they will fly you out of anywhere if needed,worth its weight in gold!!

[David L]

Originally Posted by Sparky

So for around £1000 your pretty much covered any where for a year (you can easily extend them for a nominal fee

So if you need to extend for a further year does that mean you don't need to purchase the insurance for a second year?

David

[panhandle1300]

Originally Posted by Sparky

I would also suggest you invest $500 in Medical Assist ,they will fly you out of anywhere if needed,worth its weight in gold!!

Hi Sparky ... I'd like to know who you contacted ref the above? I asked them about providing cover for non US Citizens and they told me that they couldn't supply me with cover. Bit of a bummer!!