What are Pro's and Cons of buying bike in SA
 

I'm completely new to the Hubb, in fact I'm completely new to motorbiking. I want to do something radical before my 40th birthday (don't we all!!!)

I've always wanted to visit the countries on the Pan American Highway. I read that a number of people buy a bike in S.A, one previous post had people stating purchase prices of as little as $2000.

I'm wondering if there is a disadvantage to buying in say Chile and then heading on into Central America or North America.
Perhaps there is a customs issue.

I am from England so for me it would be great to buy a $2000 bike, use it for a year then just give it away at the end rather than buying a vastly more expensive bike and potentially having it stolen.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

search answered some questions
 

After searching more deeply I've discovered it's not so easy to buy and register particularly in Argentina. Some of these posts were a bit old so if anyone knows of more up to date info regarding buying and registering in South America I'd appreciate their advice.

From what I have heard or read your only good option is to buy a bike from someone who has finished their travels in SA. Best if it is from your home country, even better if it is from the same state so you can easily get title transferred with out the bike being present. There have been other post about this option.

One thing to remember is that import fees in SA are very high (70 to 100%) so your best buy would be to pickup something in the States and ride it down. You should try to make one of the HU travelers meetings where there will be many who will help you understand what you need to know to make it all work out. Good luck on "doing something crazy before you turn 40" but you should be warned that it can be addicting.

Bob:scooter:

Thanks Road Hogg
 

Thanks Road Hogg I hope it wasn't too dumb a question. I'm definately going to look out for a HU travellers meeting in the UK and I take your advice regarding purchasing in the U.S.

Thanks once more

Hello there,

I am certainly no expert on this at all, but am planning a SA trip myself so did a bit of research, on this forum and elsewhere. It seems that most South American countries are protective of their high taxation on motor vehicles, so have various regulations in place to prevent bikes being bought and sold in the country without the relevant taxes being paid. The taxes also mean that the price of bikes can be surprisingly high, at least for larger bikes.

Many people have found ways around these rules, by using friends who are citizens as part owners, by exchanging ownership at the border, or simply by bluffing their way through, so it is certainly doable.

Our decision was that since we wanted larger bikes there was not much financial advantage to buying in South America, and since we have a finite time we wanted to get riding ASAP instead of spending the first 2-3 weeks dealing with paperwork and bureaucracy, we would buy and prep our bikes in the UK then ship them. However, buying a bike from a fellow traveller, especially one from the same country, seems to be pretty easy. Or, if you don't have to start in SA, buying in the states and riding south as stated above.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

I just bought a bike here in Bolivia (2nd hand) and I found the process very easy. If you purchase new you'll have the papers a couple of days so that would be even easier. Chile & Argentina are a pain in the ass.

I also have a bike in South America - in Ecuador. Registering a bike there is only a little difficult as you need a residence visa. Same in Colombia.

The good news is ANY residence will work. Sign up for spanish school and you can get a year long visa easily.

Hell, if you want, I will sell you my Suzuki 650. It's in Quito. I am looking for a bike with a bit more suspension. I just put new rings, bearings, tires and chain on it. Any little pieces that were missing when I bought it were replaced by looting a crashed bike. I'll give you the pelican case too!

The pros are that you can leave the bike in the country and return to ride it anytime. If you have a friend with a bike on another continent you can trade for a few months and see somewhere else on a bike with only a plane ticket. I will be doing this with a friend in Germany, Australia and hopefully Portugal. They will be riding one of my bikes - here in Canada or Ecuador. If you are not planning multi national trips, you will need only soft bags, a place for a camera and you gear. You won't need the fancy pannier system, extra tires/tools, probably won't be packing a tent/camping gear. It makes the trips really simple. It will only take a couple hours to pack! I do recommend it.

The cons are that you will have at least $5000 invested in a bike you only see once or maybe twice a year.

I bought and sold a bike in Colombia on a tourist visa without any problems. I was able to use my passport number as opposed to the cedular, the lady at the bike shop was very helpful with this although I wouldn't recommend buying second hand on a tourist visa though. Also in Bolivia I bought a Honda NX400 Falcon (2000 model) for $2500, though I think I was pretty lucky with this. No significant problems with it so far and I've put about 2000kms on it. Hondas really are built to last.

The residency visa is a newer requirement - within the 18 months I think. When did you get your bike? Great that they bent the rules a little for you. Colombians tend to be fairly clever. The officials in Ecuador were difficult to deal with even with all the appropriate paperwork.

Purchased in August (2009) and sold in October. I was told by a hubb user that two dutch guys had a problem (though they purchased used bikes) but we tried anyway and everything went very smoothly, we were given every paper required by the 5th day after purchase.

Buying from a dealer definitely helped, this way we didn't have to deal with any notarias or transit offices or anything like that.

The police asked to see our papers at least 15 or 20 times in the 2 months we were there as there is a lot of checkpoints however there was never even the slightest issue with what we were doing. I think we could have easily taken them out of the country as well however that was not in our plans.

Nobody I asked in Colombia when looking for a bike knew anything about that law (nor could I find anything on the internet) and all vendors I spoke with assured me it could be done. I wonder if this information is the result of only the above persons misfortune as I could find nothing else about it.

It's now my belief that it's not a law, just a hitch with the paperwork accepting the cedular, which cannot be obtained on a tourist visa. Convincing the vendor to put a passport number on there would be the only hurdle I could imagine when purchasing a bike in Colombia. Actually I do recall the vendor calling the transit office to ask about that and it was them who said to use the passport number.

Hope this helps someone as renting there is very expensive, especially since any bike above 125cc is quite suitable for Colombian roads, you could buy, sell after 2 months and receive most of your money back. I lost about $200 on my buy/sell which was done in a hurry, in Cartagena as well which has very few bike shops (Bogotá has a gazillion).

I've now bought bikes in Colombia, Bolivia and Chile, Colombia was the easiest and Chile was the hardest. In Bolivia though, I purchased 2nd hand, I think that buying first hand would make Bolivia the easiest as apparently the papers are ready in 2 days. Chile DOES have a law in regards to tourists leaving the country on their vehicles, though it's not impossible to get around, unfortunately you might not know what paperwork you're missing until you arrive at the border of either Argentina or Bolivia. Chile into Peru on a Chilean bike w/tourist visa is not at all possible either I have heard though Bolivia into Peru on a Chilean bike may cost you $10 or so :)