Hi,

I´m in Guatemala and someone has stolen my Canada, British Columbia license plate.

I cannot cross borders without it (plus we are in quarantine for 14 days cause of corona).

What are my options?

Am I supposed to report it stolen?
How do I get a new one?
I was supposed to head to the Honduran border this morning to try my luck despite the country wide quarantine.

Thanks

>I cannot cross borders without it (plus we are in quarantine for 14 days cause of corona).

Maybe. If you have a police report, they might let you across the border.

If you are indeed required to be under quarantine, then enjoy your time in Guatemala. There are worst places. Lodging and food are both inexpensive.

General suggestions:

- Contact the Canadian embassy or consulate. See what guidance or assistance they can offer.
- Check-in with friends/family in BC and ask if they can request re-issue or replacement
- Have someone call or leave your bike in your hotel and show up at a police station to file a report. Request a copy of the report. This might backfire if police decide to impound your bike because it doesn't have a license plate...you never know what will happen in Latin America (Central Ameria is the craziest part.)
- Fabricate a facsimile license plate. A well-equiped copy shop will be able to make a color print. Mount it and seal it so it holds up in the rain...
- Leave your bike on the northside and walk into Honduras. Ask if you'll be able to import the bike without the original license plate (show the police report.) If they say "No!", then walk back and you won't have to re-import your bike back into Guatemala...

I will be following your story. I am keen to know if the quarantine applies when leaving Guatemala.

PS: Forget El Salvador. "El Salvador’s president has imposed a national quarantine that prohibits any foreigners from entering the Central American country for 30 days to try to keep out the new coronavirus."
https://apnews.com/57d413557858077d861f846670ca3515

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Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

I don't remember anyone actually looking at my license plate at any of the Central American borders. Certainly, this does happen from time to time (Cuba stands out as an extreme example), and I may have forgotten or not noticed. The general rule is that I go up to a window or inside with my paperwork, leaving the bike with the other vehicles.

I'm always hearing about people who've lost plates and substituted something handwritten, even crudely. This seems to work in at least a lot of cases.

Given all of that, I'd not be inclined to draw anyone's attention to a missing plate. If they noticed, I'd smile and wave my arms around a lot, protesting about los ladrónes in wholly incompetent Spanish. Probably everything will work out from there, although it might be necessary to negotiate a very small bribe.

Hope that's helpful. All usual caveats apply.

Mark

PS: Per the above, it's my understanding that entry into El Salvador is totally shut down at the moment. If you're headed south on the PanAm, divert to enter Honduras thru Copas Ruinas, which is a much friendlier border and route anyway. If you're prone to anxiety, arrange to transit Tegucigalpa during the daytime and you'll wonder what all the fuss is about.

In much of the world, plates are NOT government issued, you get them made for you at a bike shop or sign printers. They're plastic letters laminated to the back of a piece of clear plastic, and a coloured - usually yellow - layer laminated on the back. You end up with black letters on a yellow plate.
As long as the correct numbers/letters per your registration is there, no worries, no one will care. And it certainly won't be the first time someone has had a plate stolen.

And CERTAINLY follow the number one rule of border crossing - NEVER ask for information on procedures where you might not like the answer!!

Hope that helps!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

What Giant Johnson said ...


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+2on what Grant says , just make certain you never lose the documentation of ownership , now THAT would give rise to problems .
.
Further to the suggestion by Markharf , which has a spelling slip-up.

The border crossing he recommends is FLORIDA COPAN , which is straight east of CHIQUIMULA ,GT on highway CA 11 . That crossing gets a regular stream of tourist going to the Copan Ruins close to the border .


And are you sure the plate was stolen ,or did it just rattle loose and fall off not being double nutted on ?

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http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93

either way it's gone.

went to a metal shop and they're banging me out a new one as we speak!

This: Fabricate a facsimile license plate. A well-equiped copy shop will be able to make a color print. Mount it and seal it so it holds up in the rain.

You could ask the local transitos if they "found" your plate. The police in San Miguel Allende, MX have taken my license plate twice when I was parked in a "prohibited" area. I went to the police station and paid a small fine then they gave me my plate back. Buena suerte!

OP,
Had my plate swiped in Panama many years ago.
Police report & letter from Canadian consul (Nice lady) in spanish & english.
I fabbed up a replacement plate out of plywood..White background with neatly hand painted black lettering.
Made it all the way to Oregon on the way home before stopped & questioned about plate.
Nobody cared prior to that. Letter from consul with a bunch of fancy Gov. of Canada stamps/pressings worked it's magic!
Pawlie

Did finish my Transafrica with a self made laminated plate in the rear.

Not one question about. I was even able to enter switzerland (homecountry) later

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All these descriptions of the ease with which fake plates can be fabricated and used makes me wonder why anyone would steal a plate in the first place. Surely even a very lazy thief could find a scrap of paper or plywood and some felt pens....?

I think the “ stolen “ license plates in many cases are just plates that rattled off and were discovered missing later or they were indeed stolen or they were removed legally by the police for parking infractions . Also it might have been taken by kids looking for a cool kind of souvenir to trade or hang in their shed ..The folks are rarely interested in foreign plates to put on their vehicles, anyway it is easier to use those coming in with the used vehicle , like NY , WA or TX plates with stickers that expired a decade ago , or go “ nude” no plate at all.
I Stop occasionally to pick up a dropped plate for souvenir value myself and I have found a GERMAN plate along the highway in HONDURAS , some German RTW four wheeler must have lost it . I am disappointed with the scarcity of lost , colourful Mexican plates . Lost US plates are more common there .... or were those discarded from stolen cars illegally brought in? One never knows.

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http://advrider.com/index.php?thread....207964/page-5 then scroll down to post #93

I had an extended peak with over 164km/h in the namib desert in my GPS Log. Mine was ratteled off for shure. But hell, it was so nice to drive through!



Too the road quality was nasty till 120km/h - the topup was just fun!

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Trans-Africa over the west coast