Buying a US registered bike in Argentina
 

Hey All,

I've been reading the forums and getting more confused. I am a Danish citizen and want to buy a US registered bike off a non-US citizen in Ushuaia, and drive it up to Alaska, then sell it again.


I have two questions:

1. How do most people complete such a sale? With a bank to bank transfer (which means the seller pays tax on the sale), or Western Union, or some other method? The price is over 10k so quite a lot of money.

2. What paperwork do I need to make this legal, to be insured and to get through all of the countries back up to Alaska?

I hope someone who has done this can provide accurate and honest information, because there seems to be contradicting information in the forums.

Many thanks in Advance,

P

First questions.

Is the registration still current.
Is the TIP still current.
Can the registration be transferred officially to you without either yourself or the bike being present and can you get your new registration and title documents.

Has the seller bothered to suggest a foolproof way of doing it.
Can he warrant that there are no uncancelled TIPs in any other country
Does the seller want all his money upfront or is he willing to share the risk of what is essentially an illegal transaction and take part of the payment when you are finally clear of Argentina.
Some countries - Peru is one - make it very difficult to enter unless your documentation is fully up to date and above board and a letter of permission (Poder) may not be sufficient.

Unfortunately with 50 US states, all with different registration and inspection and residncy requirements, and maybe 20 possible nationalities of the seller and 20 of the buyer and 10 different countries in S America, there are just too many variables to set down a foolproof procedure that might work for everyone so the best you can do is get all the info you can find and try and extract something that might work for you.

Most get away with it, but some don't and I have a copy of a letter of confiscation from an aduana office to one who didn't. Owner wasn't too pleased to have to leave much of his gear behind and catch a bus to BA.

Xfiltrate may be along shortly to add his 5 cents worth

As far as money is concerned, I did an international transfer that went from my country to sellers country so there was no cash involved. On another occasion I got my son to transfer money from an account in the EU to the sellers account in the EU so fees were close to zero. Paypal is a possibility and I've sent money to people in Argentina that way but the fees are high and so it isn't useful for large amounts. If you send that much money to someone in Argentina you may run in to money laundering regulations and then the seller has to get it out of the country even assuming he can get it in a negotiable currency

Thanks for the feedback!!
 

Hey Tony,

Thanks a lot for the feedback, it's really helpful and I will bring this up with the owner and see what the deal is, maybe some things he is already working on, but for sure it is a bit concerning.

I'll keep this forum updated if anything good (or bad) happens!

cheers,

P

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...nals-can-58648 will be useful for checking if you as a non resident can register a bike in your name in that state (you can buy in one state and register in another).

Also check if it can be done remotely (with the help of the seller or a friend in the US) or if you/the bike have to appear in person at the local DMV office.

I believe it is possible to do it remotely in Washington state and Arizona.

With only a poder (notarised permission to use vehicle, but registration still in seller's name) you will have problems entering Bolivia and it's impossible (from my experience and reading what others have written) to enter Peru.