Shipping new motorcycle - importing or not?
 

Hi everyone,

I am currently working in Sierra Leone. My contract ends in February 2014 and I am planning to ride back to France by the west coast.

I will be buying and shipping a motorcycle end of October during a 10 days leave in France, receive it in Sierra Leone in November, work and train on it for 2 and a half months then leave early February.
The bike will most probably be a fresh out of the box 2013 KTM 690 Enduro R. I don't really want a used motorcycle as this is my first big trip and I want to avoid surprises as much as I can. Plus I will be using this motorcycle for commuting and hiking in France for a few years so I want to start with a clean machine.

The big question is: under which tax arrangement do I buy and ship the bike?

For now I can see two solutions, alhough I don't know the details and feasibility:

1) Buying the bike normally in France, paying VAT there, register (and insure?) it there, then ship it to Sierra Leone under temporary import. The bike will have a French License plate, it should stay in the country for less than 90 days before I leave, and when I get home there is no additional paperwork to do.

2) Buying the bike for export, not paying VAT in France, but pay it here, then at the end of the trip import and register the bike in France but this time since the bike will be used, pay a lower VAT according to a used bike price...

Any advice, personal experience or suggestion is welcome. Bureaucracy here in Sierra Leone is pretty hopeless, I cannot really expect anything from them.

Do you have the following information?

VAT in France?
Import duty for France?
VAT in Sierra Leone?
Import duty for Sierra Leone?

VAT in France is 19.6%
import duty in France is 6%

VAT in SL is 15% I believe
import duty would be either 5% or 20% I am waiting for confirmation

I have learned earlier today that to achieve temporary import in Sierra Leone, I would have to lock up in a local bank a higher amount of money than what the machine costs, which is pretty scary knowing the banks here...

I think the easier way will be to buy the bike for import, pay VAT + import taxes here (although if I end up paying 40% taxes I might consider something else) then import it again when I arrive in France.
But then it could be a mess to import it again in France since I will be trying to import to France a motorcycle bought in France!

How do people usually enter Sierra Leone with a bike when passing through?

Considered buying local?
 

Hi, good idea to ride back North!

I've been through something similar some years ago, bought a 640Adv in Canada for export to Haiti, rode the Island for a few years and shipped the bike up to Canada after before shipping it again elsewhere. I have in Switzerland now, still a fantastic bike!

Tax-wise, I did save some bucks because the bike had been registered in a foreign country for more than a year, but I had to demonstrate that. I also got very lucky because I could normally not have imported the bike in Canada if I hadn't bought it there in the first place.

One thing that really got me nervous in the process is the impossibility of insuring the bike for shipment to Haiti, no insurance company would do it. In addition to some import taxes and administrative fees I had to pay in Haiti, I also had to face unexpected charges of all kind, and not the kind I accept to pay for by nature. It took almost 2 months getting the bike out of the port, time during which I chose to pay protection for the crate. Let's just say that I got very nervous at some point, and frustrated. Local authorities seemed to believe that if I had the means to import a bike like that, I obviously had the means to support their children education.

The bike revealed to be an interesting choice for Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The bike draw attention, more than I thought initially, and way too much in any case. Apart from being lucky not to get injured in various situations, I guess I was very lucky not to get it stolen, but it required a lot of attention on my part. I'm mechanically inclined so could do maintenance on the bike (initial comes at 1000km on a 690R), drain the fuel system and clean, fix punctures, etc. BTW make sure to find quality oil locally. My 640Adv could deal with very poor quality fuel -- to some extent -- but my more recent 690R (2012) does not, so I suggest you be careful taking that bike up the West coast.

I can understand the urge to ride a great bike and discover this area you've been working in. Beyond the fiscal issue, you might wish to consider other factors as well. I'd suggest considering sparing yourself some trouble and find a decent XR, DR, XT or maybe a 640 Adv) with papers in order locally and ride that one bike up to France (or at least to Morocco if you have difficulties getting it into Europe). You'll find plenty of spare parts and the risk of getting it stolen or damaged won't be that significant, I think.

As far as a safety deposit, you'd probably gain ensuring this is done using a Carnet de Passage en Douane (CDP) that you'll get from France if you buy the KTM there. Otherwise, I am not aware of any particular difficulty for temporary imports in that country but it's worth digging in. From my understanding, without a CDP, you'll be required to leave a deposit with the responsible authority upon entering the bike in the country, which deposit you'll normally get upon getting it out. Make sure to check the duration limit, and seek an extension if needed.

I'll follow your story, this is where and when adventure begins! Good luck!

Thanks for you reply Squire!
The 640 seems like a great bike, a friend of mine will be joining me in Dakar with one. You must have had a lot of fun in Haiti!

I've been desperately trying to find a good bike in Sierra Leone or Guinea but it is virtually impossible to find anything above 125cc, hence the import... It would probably be easier to import a cheaper, older bike, but if I'm gonna go through the hassle of importing in and out and up and down, might as well be worth it and do it with a sweet bike... I know I went a little overboard with the KTM, I was initially set on a Yamaha XT660R, but when my mate told me he was taking a 640, I thought what the hell :tongue_smilie:

I actually work at the container terminal, so port processing should be okay. I could even keep an eye on the bike while it goes through customs!

Do you know if the CDP is now accepted in Sierra Leone? I read people have been using laissez-passer, do you think this formula could work for an extended period such as 3 months?

What about warranty? Would it be easier to get something fixed if you get the bike from a dealer in France?

Squire has it right IMO.
Years ago, when I imported a car to the UK, it was necessary for that vehicle to be overseas for 6 months so as not to be liable for paying VAT in the UK - I would expect France to have similar rules; probably of the same duration, 6 months.
You hardly have that time between now and Feb 14, so buy in France and ship to SL seems the simplest option - do the latter after the first service at a dealer in France for the subsequent service record/warranty purposes.

Hhmmmm I guess I could put a quick 1000 Kms on the bike when I go back to France in October and get it serviced right before I ship it. I'd like to do maintenance myself after that though... How much of the warranty does servicing yourself remove? I mean, if the bike shows an obvious factory defect, but you did your servicing yourself, they can't tell you to **** off? Right? Right?

I don't think either that I can bypass completely French VAT, but if I purchased the bike for export without paying French taxes and then brought it back with 10K extra Kms, I suppose I would only pay customs and taxes on the value of a moderately used bike, which would be cheaper... Anyways with this solution, I couldn't do the 1K service in France, and I'd have to do the import mambo twice, so I think I'll pass.

As for temporary import, leaving a huge sum of money in the hands of an official in what was recently described by Transparency International as the most corrupt country in the world kinda puts me off. I'm looking into getting a CDP but nobody really seems to know if this would work in Sierra Leone and for what maximum lapse of time...

The hand book for the 2008 990 Adv clearly states that if anyone other than an authorised dealership does an oil change during the period of the warranty then the warranty is void (changing the oil on that engine is a complicated process however) - outside of that, you could always rely on European legislation - whatever is equivalent to the UK sale of goods Act - if you really like to get involved in such legal niceties.

Good news everyone!

The motorcycle has been purchased in France and the registration paperwork is in progress. The dealer is very cooperative, he even proposed to put the first 1000Km on the bike himself and service it if I can't find the time to do that myself... :laugh:

After much hassling about, it seems that Sierra Leone is signatory of the agreement that governs the CDP:

TREATIES OFFICE DATABASE

But talking to everyone possible around here, nobody has ever heard of it.

HOWEVER, I just talked to someone from the National Revenue Authority here (not the same as the other NRA) who told me about a grace period of 3 month extendible to 1 more month for temporary import of private vehicles... Hallelujah!
I might have to register the bike here, which could potentially be a problem at the Guinean border since I will at one point have to put back my French plates...:huh:

If you get Sierra Leone registration I'd ride that all the way to Morocco. You might swap plates (if that is what you're thinking of) between the Moroccan and Mauritanian border posts. Those border posts are about a mile or so in between with no real clear line of sight in many areas.
Having said that, we drove from Sierra Leone to Europe on Sierra Leone plates without problems so it might be wisest to simply do that.
When you get to France you simply produce your French registration if they ask for import duties! That worked for us once when we drove a vehicle we had originally in Canada, registered in Guatemala while we were there and then came back to Canada.
Confusing??

Thanks Cruiser guy, that seems like a good idea! The VIN should actually be enough to dissipate any confusion anyway...

One question on the side:
I was counting on converting my Sierra Leone driver's license to a French one before setting off, but that was without taking into account the fact that French administration is a mighty Pain In The Bottom, and they basically make it close to impossible to do that kind of stuff to force immigrants to pass their driver's license test again in France.

In the probable event that the procedure does not work, the only way I can see is to use my Sierra Leone Driver's license (plastic card type) for the trip. Would I get trouble at checkpoints or border crossings in your opinion? Will it even be valid in my home country?
AAaaaaaah why do I have to go through so much paperwork hassle, why can't I just hop on my bike and cruise on.... I guess I'm far from being the first one saying that :laugh: