Travel advisory: carnet problems in Chile
 

Hi all,

Just to advise the community that I am currently working in Chile and that I applied for my carnet in March and was issued the R.U.T number, which is needed to buy a motorcycle.

However, as I bought new I also need to register and plate it. You have 5 days to legally drive on public roads before you must do this. Registering the moto, I am told, cannot be done without the actual card itself. It's been almost two months now, and the office have nothing better to say than 'come back next week'. Luckily I am not intending to travel until August, so hopefully they will be able to issue it by then! Though I am not best pleased about having my brand new XR gathering dust in the yard :/

So to cut it short, maybe it would be prudent to wait until you have your actual card in your hand before you buy the bike, unless you are certain the delays will not affect you directly (other foreigners are reportedly encountering long delays). Doing all the paperwork in Santiago would probably quicken things, at least.

¡Suerte!


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Are you confusing the carnet and RUT ? No carnet is needed for Chile (or anywhere in South America). The RUT is the similar to your National Insurance number but is used for all major purchases. (And TAX).

Double check the registration, a group of UK bikers bought some new bikes in Jan this year (2014). Registered them and then sold them.

I hit similar issues myself when buying used, but it was my impatience that caused me trouble. A lot of things can still be done without the card, the number is all that is needed. The paper work may take some time and be posted to an address, and not handed over immediately.

Go and talk to a bike dealer, have a look at some of the threads in this section from January (to see the brit bikers) and check with them.

Bruce, the carnet is what they call the RUT. I think the terms can be used the same way around. I was told by multiple sources in the office of registration that the physical card is essential to register the bike. However, this being Chile, you sometimes wonder if civil servants just make it up as they go along. If anyone managed to get a vehicle plated without the actual card, I would be very interested to know.


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To clarify terms:

1. The carnet is the card. Or more correctly, the Carnet de Identidad, abbreviated CI.
2. The RUT is the number. RUT means Rol Único Tributario.

These days just about any time that you represent a RUT as being yours, you will have to present a carnet with that number. Local Registro Civil offices sometimes make up their own practices or exceptions but in general it is getting harder for nonresidents to register motor vehicles.

In the end the card arrived and I was able to continue the process of registering the motorcycle without issue. That said, before I even consulted a notaria and a lawyer who both said that it was to their understanding one ought to be able to register with the RUT without the physical card (carnet). The card took around 8 weeks to arrive. The problem being without registering the bike you can not do anything with it after 5 days from the point of purchase. This could be frustrating if you had planned a three month trip and had to wait two for the card to arrive!!

*ding* which is sort of what I walked into with a 2nd hand bike :-)

A notorised LOA got me into Argentina and Bolivia, but not Peru :-(

The cautionary tale here is wait until you have the physical RUT photo ID card (the carnet) before you buy. Normally, it shouldn't take more than a week...

Nope, it was 6-8 weeks. It was ready for collection on my return. They may have improved the system since I was going through it in Nov 2012.

I failed to take up option 2, which was process the name change in Santiago and collect the paperwork in Arica (posted by a friend). As I was not intending to go to Arica until the return leg.

My impatience cost me Peru, and we ended up in Arica after all :-)

There was a flow, I went with it.