Insurance shakedown in Colombia!
 

Just over a week ago, Dirty and i left Cartagena and proceeded south to Sincelejo. We encountered a police check, which was no big surprise. The police wanted to see our seguro (insurance). "No tengo seguro!" He took our licences and registrations and asked us to follow him to the "office". We drove for about 20km. to the next town and the bikes were impounded in a tireshop. The cop said when we produce the seguro, we can leave with the bikes. It was Sunday and nothing was open, so i started to argue, in a friendly way, that nobody told us at Aduana that we need the insurance, and that if you enter the country from the south, it´s not required! Why here? How much is it? $250!! No way! We can´t afford that! Why?? This went on for about 10 minutes, and in the end, 100,000 peso bought our freedom (about $25 each) Who said the policia in Colombia were´nt corrupt? So, my question is, what really are the rules about insurance in Colombia? And, if it is required, how much is it? We were warned by our customs agent this would happen, but only around Cartegena. Any other experiences like this?

I heard almost the exact story from ktmdave.smugmug.com but in bogota. he was taken to impound place where everything was close and couldn´t buy insurance. however, if i remember correctly he didn´t have to pay anything he just told the cop that he would return and buy insurance the next day which he didn´t :innocent: . i didn´t buy insurance but also never got stopped by the cops while in colombia.

I was in Colombia last October and the customs officail at the airport wasn't going to let me take the bike till I could show proof of insurance. I paid about $40 US for it in Bogota. I have never read of this in any of the travellers blogs I have read but it happened to me. She probably did me a favor, because I got stopped at a military checkpoint in the south of the country and was asked for passport, bike permit and proof of insurance, which I had, so no problem.

Phew!
 

Somehow we made it all the way up to Cartagena without any insurance despite being stopped by police/army a tonne of times and was never asked for it.

But maybe they did ask for it and I just didn`t understand them - I remember being stopped by police on enroute to Machu Picchu in Peru and being asked for my bike documents (V5 registration and import aduana etc) but as I´d stupidly left them in the hotel in Cusco, I just smiled and handed him a laminated copy of my driving licence which he seemed happy enough with.

My own view is that they don´t always seem to know what they`re looking at and would probably be too embarrassed to ask you what a V5 document is anyway.

Seguro Obligotorio
 

Yup, we were asked for the same thing. Only heading South from Cartegena. I think we were asked to produce insurance twice out of about 6 stops as you leave the city. Not once after that.

Thier uniforms were shady, no guns. One of these guys was not in uniform and still flipped through my documents, acting like I raped his cat, I was not happy. One of the older guys was pretty insistent with me. He couldn´t stop repeating "Seguro Obligotorio", a little bit like torrets. I would not speak spanish and refused to pay anything. The younger guy was cool, got bored, and let us go. I´m not sure what the deal is exactly.

Everyone else in uniform through the rest of the country were great. Nothing but smiles.

Uh, what's a V5 doc? The DIAN paperwork for the bike?

-ted (Cartagena)

Dudes

an update : stopped today on the Pan Am just north of Manizales heading south by military checkpoint.

All documents were required, & I was told seguro obligario. I told them that the Aduana in Medellin airport said I didnt need it & repeated this often, apologising. I changed tack & asked them where I could buy insurance, and they were unsure on this, so I said that I would buy it in Pereira where I was heading.

After 15 tense minutes my Liverpool background came to the fore & the talk of football & Liverpool being the greatest team in the world caused much amusement, as obviously Caldas was the best.

10 minutes later & I was on my way.

I wanted to go to Salento but got p1sh wet through so stopped in Pereira & tried to get insurance but all the companies I rang only sold annual policies for around $250, so sod that for a game of soldiers & I´m running the gauntlet again.

Scouse
ps Liverpool ARE the best team in the world, it works for me :)

Hey guys, I was just in Colombia for 3 weeks and heard many similar stories. A Swiss motorcyclist that I became friends with gave me a good tip. Show them your American insurance and tell them it is your insurance for Colombia. Be friendly but do not back down an inch if they question your insurance paper. The Swiss guy was showing them his insurance in German, but they shouldn´t be able to read English either unless you are very unlucky.

Always wave to the soldier/policemen when you come up to a checkpoint. Tiberio (retired BMW mechanic who lives in Colombia and is a member) gave me this advice and it really works I think because it doesn´t give the guy a chance to think you are bad.

In Southern Colombia I hear there are a lot of these insurance checkpoints and a goodway to hopefully avoid them is to meet up with a Colombian motorcyclist riding at a similar pace and follow him as far as you can. I did this and it worked great. The Colombian guy waved at every single checkpoint we came up to.

Seguro Obligatorio de Accidentes de Transito (SOAT)

Motorcycle Insurance (Poorbuthappy in Colombia!)

looked it some seems like many places in SA have this but at $250 its a bit steep.

Insurance & Police
 

I have ridden approx 8000 miles so far in Colombia..........This country is so phenomenal I can't bring myself to leave on the rest of my S.A. trip.

SOAT insurance ( Goverment insurance) is required here. It can be purchased in most ordinary gas stations. My experience is that it can only be purchased for the complete year. The cost for me was 230,000 C.Pesos or approx $110.

The law here is, if you do not have the SOAT, your bike can be confiscated and will be returned upon presenting the SOAT and paying a fairly stiff fine. I understand the fine is around $200.

There are regular checkpoints in the cities checking for insurance alone. Typically it is the Transisto police who check for it. They are all extremly nice, however if you happen to come across one that takes his job a bit too seriously, and you do not have the SOAT, who knows what might happen. They are very courteous, especially to foreigners and a smile instead of the SOAT usually works.

I have been stopped dozens of times at Police or military checkpoints in various parts of the country. On EVERY occasion it has been a pleasant experience. Be they Police or military, they are absolute gentlemen and love to welcome you to their country. Yes, in most occasions a few dollars will will fix any problem you might have. Their salaries are pretty small.

No trip to South America is complete without Colombia. The motorcycling is incredable here.The atmosphere and the friendliness of the people is unbeatable. The roads and the staggering beauty of the countryside is breath taking.

And thats coming from an Irishman.........and we think Ireland is beautiful.

Viva Colombia.

Ray

Colombian police
 

I was stopped in the same place and put through the same nonsense by the transito police. The first trick is to pretend that you do not understand or speak Spanish. This immediately frustrates them.
The second thing that I did is flagged down the national police who got me out of there very quickly.It is common that in any country different police forces do not cooperate, and it worked fine for me.
I never did buy SOAT or a vest.

My trip from Santa Marta to Opiales was terrific and the military and national police were terrific. Most times they waved me on.

Man most of the time its in the attitude. I was stopped i guess 6 or 7 times in Colombia, and was never once asked for any documents.
Key : turn off the bike, get off, take off the helmet, shake the guys hand and be prepared for a chat. How big is the bike, how fast does it go etc.. same everytime.. once they see you are just passing through there is never any problems.

Attitude
 

I have almost 90,000 kilometres that I have placed on my bike in both North and South America. I put nearly 200,000 km. on a previous bike in both North America and Europe. Never before did any police try to jack me up for a bribe.

I gave my account of my experience in northern Colombia because another biker had disclosed that he coincidentally had a similar occurrence in the same area. What urged me to post the details of my encounter was that it may be of help to other unsuspecting travellers.

It had nothing to do with my attitude.As with many previous trips, I am batting 100% on this one.

It`s actually cheap!
 

One of the agent`s at Seaboard Marine (the company that ships most the cars between Colombia and Panama) gave us directions to the SOAT office in Cartagena (near Historic centre, but i can`t find a map on net now), and for 15 days it was COP11,000(USD6.17) for a KTM 640 Adventure, COP18,000(USD10.10) for a 1987 Toyota Landruiser, and COP21,000(USD11.78) for a large campervan!
Funny enough i never buy insurance, or even pay road tolls etc, and for this once i was insured but never once stopped by the police or at the regular roadblocks in Colombia! Admittedly i rode through all road blocks fast as i couldn`t be bothered stopping, so you could try that if you can`t find a SOAT office. I`d expect there is a SOAT office in most major towns though.

Hey guys, what happens if you don't have insurance and you get in an accident? would you be thrown in jail? I would much rather one more day in the office than a week or month in a Colombian jail! Also are you sure there's no way to cash the remaining insurance in when you leave? It might be worth investigating.