Carnet For Sth Am - Current/Recent Travellers Experience Needed!
 

Hi Everyone!

Hope all of your travels are happy and safe and ridiculously exciting!

I am hoping to get some up to date information on the requirement of carrying a carnet for travelling throughout South America.

I am also hoping to get some up to date information on the motorbike insurance requirements for travelling throughout South Amercia.

There is so much conflicting information available over the internet - some of which is quite dated - and we are due to leave Australia in less than 3 months now!!!

Can some current or recent travellers please clarify the situation!

Thanks very much for your time!

Lady Burger

This year I rode from the US to Argentina. I did not need a carnet. I heard a rumor of someone being asked to show a carnet in Ecuador, but from what I heard, it might have been an attempt by a corrupt cop or border guard. You might want to check more about the Ecuador situation. Otherwise, no carnet needed.

Central America borders can be a bit of a pain, but South America borders are easy.

Have fun!

Not required, other than in the Guyanas, which you probably won't be visiting.

You can buy insurance for the Mercosur countries in Bs As; can't remember the broker's name but I'll dig it out later if I remember. Not sure about the other countries. A good search of this site should give you more.

Regards, Mick

I am afraid I will have to disagree with you Mick

You will need a Carnet for some SA countries. I am sending my bike in the new year and have started prep. This is what the AAA say about a Carnet, I just took a print screen of the PDF document I downloaded from the RACQ site

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/h...CarnetinSA.jpg

You can download the PDF from here, I am sure other states motor vehicle associations have a similar information section on their websites


Cheers
TS

According to the German ADAC (http://www.adac.de/images/L%C3%A4nde...tcm8-83881.pdf) a Carnet is required for Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. It is recommended (i.e. unnecessary) for Argentina and Chile and not required for Uruguay and Brazil. I'll find out who is right in a couple of weeks...

Having ridden from Argentina to North America, I would confirm than no Carnet was needed. I did hear that if you fly in to Equador, you may need one though. I went through Arg, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Equador and Colombia and was never asked for one. All the countries use their own temporary import forms which are pretty straighforward.

Hope that helps!

Mick is 100% right, believe me he is an old hand at South America...
Do a search and all will be revealed.

I had special insurance for Mexico, but other than the government-required liability insurance they sell at the borders of a couple in Central America, I was uninsured.

My US insurance company 'American Family Insurance' has a special program for US residents taking their own vehicle out of the country. Basically they promised to cover me for damages I caused to anyone else.

The international-rider-specific insurance I found was way to expensive for my tastes.

You could try asking this same question in the latin america section of advrider.com. It gets asked there every few months. The answers are always the same- no carnet required, and not much insurance required.

Ta very much everyone!
Lovin the super quick replies!
Ta!

:-D

What paperwork do you generally need to show at border crossings then?

LB

what carnet?
 

g'day lady.

into arg by ship, then chile-arg-bolivia-peru-ecuador-peru-chile over the last several months, no carnet required at any time. would have been handy once only, as per this post:
peru-ecuador border, panamerican hwy
but who would want to carry one?

at borders, be ready to present rego, licence, passport and the document the customs mob will have given you as you entered the country you are about to leave. very simple in most cases. i kept my insurance docs handy in case anyone asked but they never did.

i think you will find there is plenty of info on this subject on the hubb.

cheers,
andy.

Ta ta and ta some more!

May I be so bold as to ask how you go about getting your Sth Am bike insurance DD?

:offtopic: - I have been ABSOLUTELY LOVING (!!!!) reading Out For A Spin! Oh the warm fuzzies it gives me - seriously seriously entertaining and inspiring reading - so well written! <<Ahhh I hope you and youre lady are feeling the love of the blog right now!>> Im up to March at the moment I think! And I can not wait to read more!

:-D

LB

:stupid: Cheers for the info guys! I'll be travelling with Miss burger and appreciate the input.

Just a reply to TS:

I did a fair bit of searching on the web for this info too and have you noticed that it is primarily the RACQ / AAA / AIT/FIA that claims that you "need" a carnet for South America and that they also happen to be the people who sell them. Personally (and considering our already overstretched budget), although it would be nice to have the piece of mind of having one, if we can save $2000 or so by not getting them and still manage then I think we will take that path.

Thanks for the info though! Appreciate you taking the time to post.

PS - Andy (DD), have also been greatly enjoying reading your Out For a Spin blog.

Hmm, some interesting points of view here.

Mick, it looks like you could be right after all. I was primarily basing my info on documents provided buy the AAA and as it has been pointed out, they are biased as they have a financial interest.

I will have to do a bit more study I guess. I would hate to fly the bike in then find out I cannot clear customs for the lack of one, if I choose to go that path.

I will be gone for a few years and when I get into east europe/asia etc I wil probably need one. I would then have to try and arrange one from overseas, that may make it harder to do.

Like I said, more study required, I have only just started.

Cheers
TravellingStrom

my experience, more of the same..
 

I am travelling through South and Central America at the moment (Currently in Panama and heading North so no info on Central).
Before I left I was a bit nervous about not having a Carnet but have had absolutely no need for one. Never been asked and all the borders (including the Peru/Ecuador border) went very smoothly.
I don`t know about Queensland but in West Aus you don`t get a Title Deed for your bike. All I have is one document which I got from the Licencing department which has all the information concerning my bike.


Insurance - I needed insurance for Argentina (about 10 dollars a month) to get my bike out of the port/customs.
Insurance is mandatory in Colombia though I didn`t end up getting it and was never asked for it (not recommending not getting it, you make your own decision)

Carnet not needed nowhere...
 

I am not sure where you got the info from the ADAC or the Australian AAA, but you definately do not have to carry a Carnet de passage. This is only required if you plan to leave i.e. from Buenas Aires to Africa. By the way, French Guyana is actually Europe... So no extra papers needed. There it is regularly asked for and a must.
If you are approaching the borders in Central America you will be hunted down by the little helpers. Its up to you to trust them. For a little money aside (5 to 8 dollars) they will organize all paperwork for you on the boarder. You will need your original passport, the bike papers and the driver licence. Even an international one is not required. On some borders they will ask for insurance coverage and mandate one.
I tried to manage all myself, with basic Spanish it is possible. Only from Salvador to Honduras I needed 25 papers stamped and I asked someone to help me... But I know people that also managed this border in 2 days...
By the way, the last tip for the border crossings. Inform yourself prior to it about the money / currency exchange rates in the internet. Other wise they will srew you on the border. Do not change more than 40 bucks, never show your cash and be careful with the notes. Most people will not accept notes with any damages... Not even dollars...
Have fun,
Ras