China border countries (Mongolia/Kazakhstan/Tajikistan/Kirgiztan) to Germany
 

Hi everyone,

I live and work in China and I'm planning to leave the country back to Germany in Spring/Summer 2018 – overland, via motorbike.

As I don't want to be guided, I've decided to start in one of China's bordering countries. The plan is to buy a motorbike on site in respective country.

I've already researched about the route Nepal to Germany – and the only thing, which is bothering me is crossing Pakistan. It must be an amazing country but the current security situation in Baluchistan (and my mum's heart rate :)) make me think of alternatives. And unfortunately there's no ferry from Mumbai to Bandar Abbas/Iran.

Can anyone tell me how the situation is, if I start in one of the following countries:

A) Mongolia
B) Kazakhstan
C) Kirgizstan
D) Tajikistan

My questions are:

1) Is it possible to buy and register a motorcycle – and cross borders until Germany? Is there a market? What are the prices of motorbikes?
2) Is it necessary to get a Carnet?
3) Anything I've forgotten?


Cheers,
Flo

Mongolia is going to be your best bet - lots of overlanders go from Europe to Mongolia, you need the minimum visa support (just a double-entry Russian visa, everything else should be visa free with a DE passport), and you're likely to find a EU-registered bike in Mongolia that someone is willing to sell you for not much more than return airfare money.

No carnet necessary for the northern route. The biggest paperwork difficulty would probably be changing ownership of an EU-registered bike out of the country. One option would be to get a notarized authorization from the bike's owner, that should get you across the Russian border no problem. (Same kind of paperwork as e.g. driving a leased car across borders, where the owner of the car is the bank, and you're authorized to use it.)

Paperwork in Mongolia
 

Thanks a lot AnTyx! Very helpful – and Mongolia is indeed my fav.

I've got a few more questions regarding your info.

Do you know of any marketplaces or is the HUBB the place to find a bike in Mongolia?

Do you have any more information about changing the ownership of an EU registered bike? And about a Mongolian registered bike?

No idea about Mongolian bikes, but assume there's not going to be a particularly good selection on local plates. (What's the market for Mongolians wanting to spend money on long-distance adventure bikes?) Furthermore, bringing that bike into the EU - as an EU citizen - will mean full importation formalities, including the customs duties, certification (not necessarily EU-certified model), etc.

Change of ownership is really different in different EU countries. I was in a discussion with a German recently that made me look up the procedure for a German-plated bike, and it seems you definitely need to show up to a German licensing office and show the bike physically to get new papers in your name.

But in Estonia, it's much easier, because everything is done online, and foreigners can get access to the online systems with e-residency. So let's say you find a bike in Ulaanbaatar with an Estonian plate. And you've previously gotten an Estonian e-residency card (a hundred euros and a visit to an embassy somewhere). The current owner goes on the website, clicks "I have sold this vehicle to person number 111111", you go on the website and log in with your number 1111111, get a question "have you bought this vehicle? Please pay the change of ownership fee, here is an internet bank link", you do that, and boom, you are the owner. Nobody ever needs to visit any government office. (For borders, you can request a new paper copy of the ownership certificate and have it FedExed I guess. If they don't accept a printout of the website's digital certification.)

Out of curiosity did some digging, here's an English description of the German vehicle ownership change procedure (https://www.service-bw.de/en_US/web/...316-leistung-0) - says the licensing authority *may* ask you to show the vehicle. If they don't, you can give power of attorney to a friend in Germany to go do the paperwork on your behalf, and send you the papers in your name by courier. I guess in Germany it is also very regional.

OP, one thing you might consider investigating: you already have a residence permit in China and, I assume, a Chinese driving license. That may or may not allow you to ride someone else's bike across China. Given how expensive it is to go across China with guides for a foreigner's own vehicle, you may get a good deal where, for example, you meet someone in Laos, they sell their bike to you, you ride it across China into Mongolia and then across Russia/Kazakhstan to Europe, and they buy it back from you there. No idea if that would be possible from the Chinese paperwork side, but if it were, I bet you could find takers!

Wow! Thank you so much, AnTyx!

This clarifies a lot – and helps me in making decisions. Unfortunately I don't have aChinese drivers license (yet). And of what I've heard, guidance through China costs a fortune – plus, I've seen already a lot of places here and prefer to discover unseen territories.