Thanks BruceP, yes I am swaying toward that although I have heard from one of the shipping companies that you cant get used bikes into the country. Apparently you can only ship brand new bikes in... this seems unlikely - any thoughts on that?

There is a hostel in Valparaiso, Kunterbunt IIRC. They deal with shipping bikes all the time. Have you contacted James Cargo about flying?

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I was staying at Villa Kunterbunt last november and had them helping me with shipping my bike in to Valparaiso and so where several others too both bikes and cars and all vehicles were used/second hand and it wasnt any problems with that whatsoever (except that the custom staff were on strike and it was difficult to get the bikes through customs)

So unless there are some brand new rules or regulations about this I think it should be no problem to ship a used bike to Chile.

Buy or Ship
 

Thanks both, I have got a quote from James Cargo, Motofreight and Gravel Road, also waiting to hear back from Hostels Villa Kunterbunt and Casa Matte. Between all of them I should be able to get enough advice to make the decision. If anyone has any other contacts or recommendations in Chile please let me know?

It looks like the cost of shipping to Chile is roughly £2k once you include cost of getting through customs etc, this is a big chunk of our budget so I am still exploring the option to buy the bike in Santiago and try to sell it on at the end of the trip in Central America. Recognise this will probably have to be at a loss based on the illegality of selling outside of Chile now, but it may still work out cheaper than shipping in.

Does anyone know if I will have problems getting over borders as I get closer to the 6 month limit?

You can't take bike out of Chile anymore.
 

Hi,

I have been traveling around SA on my bike which bought in Chile for sometime. During my nearly 9 months long stay in Chile I went in and out to Argentina. The last time I wanted to do though I wasn't allowed due to the recent change in the law - unless you have a permanent residency you can't take any vehicle out.

If you have already bought one I advise you to try to escape by Passo Roballo in Patagonia. There is just one lonely looking border worker who does not care. At least did not 2,5 - 3 months ago. May have changed even there. Also heard that paso Agua Negras in the mid north was safe to leave. But better avoid buying there all together. Every time I cross the border I get questioned and have to play silly.

V.

Please keep us informed on this as the issue develops...

Any updates?
 

Does anyone have any recent updates on this issue? I will be there in October and still debating what to do.

2 options I have been given are :
- buy a bike from ridechile and ship it back to them at the end of the trip for an agreed cost - driving as a rental therefore eligible to leave the country.
- make sure that you purchase a non Chilean registered/plated vehicle, then you are good to leave with it.

Has anyone tried these options or similar?

Update on taking bikes out of Chile
 

I have spent the last two months trying to deal with this problem, I will give full details of what i have done below but the short version is that it is no longer possible for foreigners to take any vehicle out of Chile by any means.

What i have done:

Firstly i purchased my bike new in Santiago with a local friend helping me get my RUT. Once i had all the paperwork back i attempted to cross the boarder but was turned back because of the "foreigners cant take bikes out" rule. That was the end of that!

Following this i went back to Santiago a little confused so i called the Aduana (boarder patrol guards) They told me that it was possible to take the bike out of the country if it was registered in a Chileans name. He can then make me out a poder (Which allows me to use the bike and take it out of the country). So another week passed while i transferred the bike to my Chielan friend and got all the paperwork back. Eventually headed back to the boarder, turns out (according the the Aduana at the boarder) That what i was told by the other Aduana inst true and that only Chilean residents can cross the boarder with a vehicle and they refused to let me out, i tried three different times at two different boarder crossings and was turned back each time.

This is the end of the trip for me, i am now heading back to Santiago to sell the bike and get out of dodge.

From my experience it is game over for Chile, there is no way to do it. I have spent more than two months in total trying to no avail.

Note for Rrichardfrost: From my personal experience unfortunately neither of your ideas will work. The issue is not with ownership, it is with you being foreign. So it doesn't matter if you rent or buy (i have effectively done both) the issue of being foreign will still stop you crossing.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news for anyone reading this, just trying to avoid someone else wasting all the time & money that i have!

It will be interesting if someone was to check with Ride Chile. It is part of their business to allow foreigners to rent and go to Argentina

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Thanks for the message Daniel - sorry to hear that the end of your trip has been affected by this law change but I appreciate your advice to hopefully save me and others the same trouble.

I had spoken with Ridechile prior to your message about shipping back to them at the end of the trip, they were confident that a rental would be possible to get over the border but now I am not so sure based on what you say. I will speak with them again as I guess people are only just starting to get used to this change.

If not, the only option will be to buy a non Chilean registered bike at the start of a trip although I imagine they are relatively hard to come by.

Thanks, Richard

Not sure if this helps, but I'm trying to sell a US registered KLR in Chile in Sept 2017. Could you take that over the border?

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...650-sale-92375

Hi fatmouseworldwide - i am interested, just responded to your other post.

I tried to visit that web page, but:

"This page can’t be displayed

• Make sure the web address http://www.susisantiago.com is correct."

Perhaps you have the address spelled incorrectly..?

Google is your friend. It is Suzi, not Susi.

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Ah. https://www.suzisantiago.com/