Dylan,
I had the same plan until I arrived in Santiago a week ago. I thought i would buy a used bike, and if I couldn’t find what I was looking for I would just buy new. I quickly changed my mind after running into 2 people at the hostal (one Belgian, one US) who had a lot of problems with their Chilean plated bikes.
The American had the poder/ ownership papers in his name, and he has still been denied exit at 7 border crossings (but he did get through some...not sure which, but I have heard the company Suzi Santiago has pretty up to date info on that)
The Belgian bought a new bike in Puerto Montt, filed his ownership paperwork, it was lost, he filed again, it is lost again. He cannot leave Chile and he cannot sell the bike. Even if he were to have received the paperwork its not certain he can use every border crossing and it also can take 30-some days...assuming it is not lost.
I cannot speak to buying a used bike with another country’s plates while in Chile.
Jess
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