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How to take bike out of Morocco after an accident
We have met a couple of German bikers who have just arrived in Morocco. Unfortunately one of them had an accident today and is unable to ride, so I have offered to ride his bike back to Tangier Med and take it on the ferry back to Spain (my husband and I are already booked on the ferry to Barcelona with our trike). The injured chap will probably fly home, whilst his friend will come with us on his bike, and organise his mate's bike recovery to Germany once we are all back to the Spanish mainland.
The problem is that the bike is linked to the injured chap's passport through the temporary import docs, so I understand that normally the bike would be impounded until he returned to take it out of the country. The guys who run the guest house where we are all staying in Chefchaouen will check with the police tomorrow to try and find out what we need to do to allow the bike out of the country with me instead of the owner, but this is Morocco.... Does anyone have any experience and/or ideas/advice on how to go about this so that we have the best chance of success and lack of hassle at the port? Any information gratefully received. I'm guessing that this will not be the first time that something like this has happened! Many thanks. |
All things are possible in Morocco, some just take longer.
It's the customs you need to speak to, rather than the police. The nearest to you is Tetouan. The important thing from their viewpoint is that the bike is being reexported out of the country. If the owner isn't going to be with you the very least you will need is a letter from him giving you authority to take the bike out of the country. Please let us know how you get on as it will be useful when it happens next... |
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I can't give you any advice that is specific to exporting a motorcycle from Morocco, but I can give you some guidance based on 30+ years of work exporting aircraft and aircraft parts from many African countries. The key issue for you is to understand what the Moroccans are trying to accomplish with their control of vehicles in and out of the country. I believe that they have two objectives, in this order of priority: 1) To ensure that vehicles temporarily imported to the country are actually exported again - in other words, to ensure that the vehicles don't remain in the country without the appropriate taxes and duties being paid. 2) To a lesser extent, to prevent stolen tourist vehicles (that have been temporarily imported) from being exported. If you understand what the Customs folks are trying to accomplish, it then becomes much easier to figure out what you need to do to allow them to accomplish their objectives. Based on the above, I think that the perfect solution (if it is possible) is what Tim suggested above: Speak to Moroccan customs officials at an inland office, ideally with you and the owner of the bike present, and explain what has happened and what you want to do. If you have all passports present, vehicle ownership and the vehicle import documents present, and all the associated people (you, the rider taking the moto out, the owner of the moto) present, then hopefully the Customs officials at the inland office will be able to verify that all is proper, and write an internal memo that you can then show to the officials at the Tanger Med port when you arrive with the bike. If the inland customs people are not willing to write a memo, perhaps you can get the name and phone number of the Customs official you speak to and give that to the Customs official at the port of export. Regardless of how the above turns out, I suggest you have the following documents with you when you show up at the port of export: 1) Photocopies of the data page of the passport of the owner of the bike, and also photocopies of the page in his passport that shows his most recent entry stamp to Morocco, and (if he has been to Morocco before on that same passport) photocopies of the page that shows the 'number' assigned to him on his first entry to Morocco. 2) Photocopies of a medical report or police accident report sufficient to prove that the owner is unable to ride the bike out of the country. 3) A letter from the owner authorizing the designated rider to take the bike out of the country. Ideally, all of the above documents should be notarized by a person authorized to notarize documents in Morocco. Failing that, get those documents stamped by the inland Customs officer that you speak to. Lastly, once the bike has been formally exported at the port, it would probably be prudent to scan and email a copy of the export document (the copy of the three-part form that you get to keep when you export the vehicle) to the owner, so that he can show that to Customs when he leaves the country without his moto. That will enable him to prove that the bike has been exported. He should also have copies of the three documents I mentioned above with him on his way out. Hope this helps, Michael |
Great info, thanks guys.
We've decided to go with what we think is the easiest option: we've booked the injured chap, his mate, and their bikes on to the same ferry to Barcelona that my husband and I already had booked for Wednesday. The injured bike owner will take a taxi to Tangier Med, with us following the taxi. He'll then hobble in with us to customs, or possibly go on the back of our trike if he's up to it (it's his knee that's injured). That way he'll be there to deal directly with customs, and will be with the bike in question - I'll just be riding it. Should work, we hope - can't see any reason why not! Once we're all back in Spain he'll go to hospital and get a proper diagnosis so that he can then use his ADAC cover to get him and his bike back to Germany. |
That plan will work fine, however if he has ADAC cover then he is covered in Northern Morocco. ADAC cover is valid in all counties (that's counties or departments not countries) that border the Med.
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When we booked the ferry I had secretely the hope to ride on after some rest in Barcelona. But now I´m not confident any more, so the option with the ADAC existed already in Morocco. But to get them into action you have to see a doctor. So I prefer my second option make it to Barcelona and instead of driving on my own, hopefully the ADAC will send me and my bike back! Thanks to Jan my compagnion on this travel, Sarah and Tony the two crazies on their self built Trike, and the our hosts from the daar Scotlandee.Without them I would be lost. The gatherings and discussions what to do next where really most helpful to me. The atmost thing to learn for me ist, to let lose certain things I can´t change. What Iwill Change ist definetely the protection of the bike from underneath.doh If you like you can have a look at the viedo of Tony, he made of e while flipping off... KurvenfiebersReisen.blogspot.de |
All went well!
Quick update for any interested parties: we had no problem at all at the port. The guys at customs had a good laugh, congratulating Tony on swapping his wife for a BMW.... I didn't like to point out that actually he had the injured chap, and I had the BMW! All very easy, not sure how it would have been if the bike owner had not been with us, along with a pair of crutches so it was very obvious that he was injured.
He is now safe and sound back in Germany and we're waiting to hear the verdict on his injury. Fingers crossed it turns out not to be too serious. |
If you are have problems in the Chefchaouen area, Dar Scotlandee is definitely the place to head for, Terry and his wife and son are great folks. And probably the highest altitude hotel in town. It's not easy to find, though. Stick 'N35 10.727 W5 16.255' into Google Maps for the location.
The site of the accident looks so simple, but I guess that's what caught you out. I spent a lot of time in Böblingen, never heard the term 'Schwacko' before. I guess it's not polite? :) . |
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Weren't quite as happy with the little scrotes that live nearby and hang around outside though - they'd played with the throttle on the trike so much that it was sticking when we came to leave, then the cable broke yesterday. Tony would normally have been more on the case about checking it, but we were a tad distracted at the time. All good now :thumbup1: That's the downside of travelling by trike and all the attention that it attracts! |
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Two weeks ago i exported four vehicles (one big car with 3 bikes inside) wich were all linked to someone elses passport alone without any problems from Marocco. I just passed the arabic import paper to the customs guy, he looked into the car, then i got the stamp and two minutes later i was on the farry: Saharacamp vom BMW GS Club in Marokko Teil 2 Other people used the ADAC insurance who organized the return flight for them and a transport for the bike. Good luck (in Africa you never know) Tobi |
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And I`m happy that I`m not the only one who was pretty annoyed about the roadside stealers in morocco... Surfy |
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