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

No you do not need one for the americas.
Have travelled more than half a million kms allover SA in the last 20 years and never needed one.
Some borders will try, esp Peru but this is more a way to scare you and get some extra $$ or to save the official some work as it is easier than filing out the duplicate form.
All crossings are free (not the case in Central AMerica though).
Also for the Guyanas you dont need a Carnet (last trip 2007).Just the original vehicle documents which should be in your name and a proof of insurance was enough.
This year the borders I was asked for the insurance also was needed at the borders of Argentina, Peru and Colombia, but you still need it everywhere else too.

Carnet not needed in the Americas!
 

Mick is right. We rode around south america last year unil may this year (arriving by plane to Bogota) and crossing Ecuador, peru, bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Argentina and Uruguay. No carnet asked ever.

One execption may be if you airfreigh your bike to Ecuador. Arriving by air, I heard they still require a carnet. Better check with the embassy, but only if you arrive by air!!

But I presume from Panama you will get to Colombia? Stunning country well worth it!
Enjoy your trip and dont waste your money on a carnet!

At border crossing you will need for custom: the (bike) ownership document, passport and sometimes International driving licence. They often ask for photocopies of these docs so ensure you have a pack of them, as photocopying at the borders is more expensive! Never been asked for insurance at border crossing.
It is normally very straight forward and fast. Easier if you speak some spanish of course as useful to fill the forms.

thanks for the reading
 

cheers LB and sir fries (!?), your compliments on our blog do make us feel warm and fuzzy! we are pretty happy with the writing, enjoyed putting it down on 'paper'. just bummed that we are now at home, with nothing more to write for the time being.

regarding insurance tho, we paid for two months in Bs As, about $10 per month as bruceontheloose says. i just kept quiet as the chick who processed the payment gave us an expiry date twelve months out! sorry can't remember name of company otherwise would recommend them!

only once ever did anyone ask for insurance papers, and this was just some twerpy traffic cop kid.

email me at andy_longmire(a)yahoo.com.au if you want to have a yarn about our trip.

Whoops! I stand corrected.

Mick

Carnet, what carnet!!!
 

Hi all,

I'm in Peru at the moment travelling on my KLR. I can safely say after many many border crossings, (Arg. Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Peru and so on....) that there is no need for a carnet de passage. I can also add that most of the officials here wouldn't know what it was if you showed it to them.

The border between Peru and Bolivia i have just passed thru was the first time i was asked for insurance. They said my international insurance was no good in Peru and i had to buy the national SOAT.(Seguro Obligatorio de Accidentes en Transito).

Its expensive, about 70 euro for the year, and you can't buy it for a portion of the year. Its up to you whether or not you want to purchase it. As of yet i haven't been stopped by any of the local annoyances.......

Hope that helps,

Arthur

Excellent!
Thanks so much for the info!
:-D
Its is muchly MUCHLY appreciated!

LB

Has anyone ever had to provide a Carnet for entry into Canada? It's on the list!

Trust the travelers, not the carnet list makers. They never traveled anywhere - they just push paper.

No carnet required in Central America
 

I live in Panama and have done two trips through all of central America (except Belize) in the last year (as recently as last month). The carnet is NOT required anywhere in central America. AAA is wrong about Costa Rica.

Every border crossing requires original title document, drivers license, and passport. You will need copies of everything, and sometimes a copy of your passport showing the immigration stamp.

Insurance is required in a couple of countries (Costa Rica for sure, don't remember which other), but is cheap and available at the border.

I usually used a "helper" if I wasn't familiar with a particular border crossing (I'm fluent in Spanish). I would just tip them about $3 (only had one complaint). I would pay a bit more if there were long delays and they worked hard. It was worth it just to have them show me where to go, and to get the rest of them to leave me alone. NEVER give them your documents... just follow them from place to place. Agree in advance that they will work for a tip.