Iran carnet qualms. Options?

[mbdiain]

Hi all,
I’ve been in the process of planning a year long continent spanning ride from London to London by way of Russia and Central Asia for over 6 months now with the intention of leaving early next year.
While investigating the necessary paperwork required I did a little more digging into the Carnet de Passage rules, due to my route passing through Iran (which looks amazing).

Now the Carnet cost looks to be a bit beyond my means, and I’m worried about buying one in the UK since I’ll be flying directly in from New Zealand, buying a motorcycle and looking to leave ASAP. It looks like I have a few options, each with their own challenges.
1. Buy the Carnet in the UK (if possible, quick and cheap enough).
2. Bypass Iran entirely and take a freighter from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan with a Turkmenistan transit visa (anyone have any experience with this – seems like I would have a very short window).
3. Ship the bike from Turkmenistan and hopefully be able to pick it up somewhere in Azerbaijan, Turkey or Armenia while experiencing Iran via public transport (my concerns here revolve around having the bike out of my sight as well as the language barrier).
4. I’ve read about a character by the name of Hossein that may be able to provide informal Carnets, however some of the reviews detail scams and extremely short timeframes as well as there being two Hosseins which is adding to my confusion. I really don’t want to be trapped in Turkmenistan on a transit visa if I try wing it with Hossein.

Does anyone have experience with any of the above or any alternative suggestions on how I could continue my ride from Central Asia into the Caucasus in a way that won’t cost me thousands of dollars? Hoping I’ve posted this in the right place.
Cheers,

[fnormet]

Get the carnet, but I'm not sure UK is the cheapest and fastest place to get it.

Regarding Hosseins. There's the old one and the young one. I think the old Hossein is considered to be better but they really seem to be the middle men between the traveller and the fixers at the border. For the sake of less hassle, get the carnet even if it is a bit more expensive.

[mbdiain]

Cheers for the advice, looking at the ADAC website indicates you can get a carnet for a $3000 deposit which looks more reasonable than what I'd seen elsewhere.

[dooby]

Originally Posted by mbdiain

Hi all,
I’ve been in the process of planning a year long continent spanning ride from London to London by way of Russia and Central Asia for over 6 months now with the intention of leaving early next year.

Hi M,

Could you give more details of your plans and where are you from (kiwi?).

Plan is to get to UK and buy a bike there, ride it rtw in 6 months and get back to London?

We as a business that caters motorcycle community (Lobagola B&B | design bed & breakfast in the center of Zagreb) are working in Iran with:

Iran Overland :: Travel to Iran Tabriz

We can provide EU border insurance and soon we'll be covering Balkans and Turkey too.

If you need support in the area of Stans' and further, we can also direct you to our partners that are tried and trusted.

PM me for additional info or questions.

Cheers
Dooby

[mbdiain]

Thanks mate, still in the early planning phase right now but i'll be sure to note down your details for further on down the track.

[Tony LEE]

Problem with carnets is it seems as if provider-shopping is no longer possible and ADAC will just tell you to go to the one in your own country - which in this case might be complicated further by it being a British bike so maybe the UK provider will be the only choice

[Sol Revelations]

I could only get a carnet in the country my bike was registered in (Belgium).

They stated on their website that the deposit amount should be 100% of the value of the bike but after mailing a bit back and forth they were ok with only 50%

[duibhceK]

Originally Posted by Sol Revelations

I could only get a carnet in the country my bike was registered in (Belgium).

They stated on their website that the deposit amount should be 100% of the value of the bike but after mailing a bit back and forth they were ok with only 50%

RACB lets you specify the value of your vehicle yourself. If I recall correctly they only set a minimum deposit of 3000€ for motorcycles and 5000€ for cars.

[MaggieV]

I don't know if this topic is still "active", but I just came back from 10 weeks driving (mobilehome) in Iran. When entering Iran at Bazargan (Turkish-Iran border) we met up with an Italian motorbike-driver who had arrange everything EXCEPT a Carnet de Passage, (nobody had told him he needed one) and had tremendous difficulties. We had to leave him behind, but the "fixer" Hossein (who also helped us speed along procedures) told him that without a CdP it would cost hundreds of euro's and a tremendously long time. As we had to get a licenseplate, insurance etc. we had to move on and left him behind, not knowing what happened. My advice therefore is to always get a CdP. The only place to get that is the ADAC in Munich. Our experience was that they do not check the value of your vehicle, so you could always get a bank guarantee for (a little) less money than it is really worth.
Iran is a most wonderful country to travel round in by yourself, so do not miss out on it!