I know it's a no-no to travel with a bike registered in someone else's name. Even the Turks caused us a minor problem.

However, there will be three of us travelling overland Europe to Egypt - Iran - SE-Asia. For various reasons we would like to register two bikes in my name with my partner riding one of them (obviously ;-) ).

Is this possible? I will be present at all border crossings, i.e. we are not planning to split.

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Salut from Southern France, the bikers' paradise,

Peter.

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

I strongly advise against having two or more bikes under one name EVEN IF THE OWNER IS PRESENT.

For various reasons we were in this situation going through Jordan, Syria & Turkey this summer.

The Jordanians would not let the second bike out of customs. I had to grovel in front of a succession of officials right up to the man behind the big desk at the Ministry in downtown Amman. Luckily my Arabic is good and I'm charming but it still took about 3 days and cost more money.

The Syrians didn't notice the issue of ownership but I suspect it might have been a similar story if they had.

At the border from Syria to Turkey we were delayed all day. Their attitude was "one man - one lorry, one man - one car, why do you think you're special?"

The bike owner was forced to travel to a nearby Turkish town, find a public notary who witnessed that the bike was handed over to the person riding it, and then had to find a teacher to witness this fact before returning and completing more paperwork. This is the shortened version of how much hassle it was.

You might expect similar idiotic bureaucracy at borders around the world. (Europe after Turkey is fine. Once you're in the EC officialdom doesn't care who owns the bike.)

As I said, if you decide to go with two bikes under one name, even with full correct documentation, you will probably wish you hadn’t!

Hi,
I have a bike registered in joint names. Will this cause a problem at the borders?

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“… all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men (and women) to do nothing ...”.

Thanks for the advice. One thing I don't understand:
Trucks and buses are not normally registered in the name of the driver. The drivers must therefor have a piece of paper authorising them to use the vehicle. Could this be the way around it?

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Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10

My motorcycle is registered in my wife's name (always has been) - I have shipped it by air, by boat, been all over Western and Central Europe, and never had a problem of any kind.

I carry notarized papers that clearly indicate I have permission of the owner (my wife) to travel with the motorcycle to the places I plan to go, during the date range (year) I plan to do the travel.

French customs looked at the papers once, when the bike came off the plane at Paris CDG airport - they seemed satisfied enough and released the bike without even looking at the bike itself.

Pan European, I think your case is different because you are only dealing with one bike. Having notarised documents obviously helps to prove that you have permission to ride ‘your wife’s’ bike.

However, the situation Beddhist described is with two bikes in one person’s name which is the situation I described in my original post. The main issue for the Jordanians and the Turks was that there was one person who had the temerity to own two bikes. Basically, we discovered it is illegal in Jordan hence the grovelling needed to carry on the trip. If anything, the Turks were even more bloody-minded.

So, yes, carry notarised documents if you are riding someone else’s bike but I advise against one person trying to get two bikes across borders at least in the Middle East.

llanelli,

IF both persons are there, or if you have as PanEuropean says, notarised permission, you will PROBABLY be all right - but I would change it if at all possible just to eliminate the risk of hassle.

In Europe and North America and Aus should be no problem, but elsewhere...

Who would have thought it was illegal in Jordan to own two motorcycles?

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Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

a little idea
we had the same problem(1 name, 2 bikes) on the mexican boarder. luckily we have a handwritten international paper for the motorcycle (from the atomobileclub of austria). we only wrote the second name beside the first. so the bike belongs "official" to both of us.


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I travelled by car from California - Panama, and return, during 2007. My title listed my name, and my friends name. We were present for every border crossing, police check etc. No probs whatsoever.