Error on Carnet
 

My wife and I have been on the road for over a year (the americas) and the time had come for us to get a carnet to continue from Belgium to India. So we went thru the process and our new carnet was sent to us here in Belgium.

Upon inspecting the data that was entered I noticed a small error. Under the heading "vehicle weight in kg" the issuing agency (CAA) wrote 243 KM rather than 243 KG. Do you think overzealous customs agents will use this typo as a way to extract a bribe or give us a hard time? (we have never used a carnet before so therefore have no way of knowing how closely they inspect the document).

Hi B+M,

Good to hear you made it to Europe!

Carnet mishap: I reckon 99.99% of the cases it will not be a problem, border officals normally just do not even check the weight (Carnet no., owner data, Chassis & Plate numbers are more important), and even IF their eyes do stop on that number, even the most stupid official should understand the minor non-important mistake, kilometer and kilogram aint the same thing, especially if you explain, especially if your bikes is 100,000+km now :) . IMHO it has to be a REAL hardcore bastid-type of officer to make it worth messing with such a pointless thing. I would not worry about it (the hassle sending it back and return again is just not worth it).

Ride safe, Margus (& Kariina)

Bonjour Brian,

Shouldn't be a problem at all. The details are checked more closely at certain crossing more than others, but I highly doubt even the more rigorous ones would catch such an insignificant error. The weight is precise.

In the very small chance that someone pointed this out, I would have some semi-plausible answer along the lines of that is how weight is depicted in Quebecois:)

If it really bugs you, you could just send it back to the CAA. Also, if you do end up leaning in that direction and you think you will be riding longer than a year, you could also use the opportunity to courier the carnet back a little later in your trip from a non carnet country (eg. Turkey) and that will restart the one year clock on it's expiry.

Hi Margus,

Good to hear from you too. Thanks for the reassuring words. I won't bother sending it back.
Have fun in SA!

Thanks for the offer Caminando. Right now we are trying to sort out the whole visa thing and might be in Belgium for quite some time. Not sure which way we are heading down just yet but will PM you if we decide to go via France

I like this idea MountainMan!