Leaving bikes in PV, coming back and riding to Guatamala Questions
 

hi folks, doing some pre-retirement ride trip planning and not sure if our idea will work.

We plan the rid our bikes (KLR, Uly, Wee) to Puerto Vallarta (PV), then store them and fly home. Then fly back before the 180 days of TVIP expire and continue to buddies Hostel in Guetamala and then leave them there again and fly back later and use it as a hib to check out the neighbouring countries.

Will this work?

What do we need to do to keep the bikes in Guatamala and be able to ride them around later?

As we are not retired we thought this might be a way of experiencing that part of the world when we only have ~2 weeks off at a time.

I'm basically writing the Wee off in my mind once we get there given the unknowns.

Thanks.

What/where is PV?

Sorry, Puerto Vallarta MX.

I can't help with a place to store in PV but, your import permit for Guatemala is only 90 days IIRC. The vehicle then needs to leave the country for 60 days or something like that, Guat is the odd bird when it comes to this. What they will do is stop the clock on your 90 days when your vehicle leaves and they restart it when you return. So you could ride for 7 days, leave and go to Honduras and you will still have 83 days on your Guat permit when you return.
If you do not log your vehicle out of Guatemala when you leave and the 90 days expire on your vehicle permit you will not be allowed to re-enter Guatemala with another vehicle without paying the taxes owed on the original vehicle. That tax is based on what Guat thinks the bike is worth and I think is a 100% tax, $5000 bike = $5000 tax and they don't use Kelly Blue Book. :thumbdown: You personally may re-enter the country as long as you closed out your passport but you can not drive into the country.

You should get your friend to verify this information and do have a good time when you go.

Hi Slowriding, thanks this is very important information for us and it appears based on the 90 day limit that our idea of leaving the bikes in Guatemala, using the Hostel as a hub and coming back every 6-8 months or so to ride around some more is not going to work!


Another inmate told us for ~$200 we could purchase licence plates, I wonder if the fellow who owns the Hostel could "buy" the bikes from us and then licence them in Guatemala and let us "borrow" them when we come back?


We need to get this figured out otherwise it could be a deal breaker for our idea of coming back 1/2 times a year to ride down that way.

I can't help you with the $200 license plate BUT, I would assume if you are making the bike a Guatemalan bike you are likely to be subject to a hefty import tariff to make it so. The Central American countries are not receptive to people importing stuff, they want you to buy locally. It's all about collecting taxes/tariffs down there.

Ah I see.


So what about "selling" the bike to the hostel owner and then him licensing them and letting us "borrow" them? If it was that easy I suppose they would have found a way of stopping that, otherwise there'd probably be lots of larger sized (ie: >250cc) motorcycles running around.


We'll have to have a chat with the Hostel fellow to get his perspective on options for sure.


Thanks!