Carnet/temp import rules Australia
 

According to this https://www.aaa.asn.au/international...-to-australia/ if I bring a bike in to Aus with a Carnet I must ship it out before I leave. It also seems to be saying that if I go to (for example) New Zealand for a couple of weeks leaving the bike in Aus I'll be in trouble and will get hit for various taxes. Am I reading it right, seems a bit of a PITA?

Interesting
 

I hope the Australian Automobile Association have no connection with the Australian Open Tennis Authorities in interpreting law, don't think they would!
What's your proposed route to Australia?

LHR-SIN-SYD on British Airways! I'll ship the bike over.

You are reading it right, but there might be a (legal) workaround, and that is to put the motorcycle into a customs bonded warehouse during the brief time you are out of the country.

Before you get too deep into investigating that, find out what the carnet is going to cost you. For what it is worth, it would cost me about USD $1,400 to get a carnet to enable me to temporarily import my Canadian registered motorcycle to Australia. That's a helluva lot of money.

The best person to speak to would be an Australian customs broker who is familiar with vehicle importation.

Whatever you do, don't take anything "for granted" with carnets, and be darn careful, because when carnets are involved, the individual customs officers have very little discretion in matters because of the paper trail involved.

Michael

Sounds like a sensible workaround, I'll look into that.


You're right about the cost of Carnets, my bike is under one at the moment which cost me about a thousand quid. It's all about the length of time you're travelling on your own bike versus the cost of shipping. Came unstuck on the trip we've just finished (South Africa and Namibia) but usually we save money.

Oz import rules
 

Hi , I attempted to import a bike from NZ with a carnet in 2020, It landed in Melbourne but it was rejected as I was not able to there to collect it because they shut the borders the day before I was due to fly in, It had to be returned to NZ (at my expense ) although I had made arrangements for collection and storage. I could have contested this but bonded storage was $200 per day while I went through the dispute process. As part of the import criteria they also required a "Asbestos Declaration" for my bike from the manufacturer (KTM).Needless to say they are very strict- just ask Novax! Probably easier to borrow or rent a bike there

Yes it is a hassle getting a motorcycle into Australia. Easy for me to take one out and back, done that 4 times but you must have someone who knows the ropes, try Brent at Bikes Abroad he may be able to help or Dave at Get Routed. Other than that ask an Aussie to buy for you, less problems and all insurances in place with an Australia Registered motorcycle. Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback. $200 a day for bonded warehousing clearly a non starter, we'd be in NZ for 2 or 3 weeks. We'd be using a shipper (eg Motofreight) and they have a good network of agents around the world so I'm pretty confident we'd get the bike in.

Reggie:

That's probably the price for storage at a carrier's warehouse at a port (air or sea port), and it's typical of port prices. For example, storage at Paris CDG freight terminal cost me $140 a day 15 years ago when I flew my moto in from Canada. It's kind of like airport parking, it costs a helluva a lot more than parking in a lot that is miles away from the airport.

Although almost all port warehouses are bonded, not all bonded warehouses are at ports. If you contact a bonded warehouse that is inland - something that should be quite easy to do - and make arrangements to store the moto there, the prices should be comparable to commercial warehouse storage elsewhere, perhaps a wee bit more expensive (10 to 15%) due to the additional security required by the Customs authorities.

Michael

Makes sense. I will be speaking to Motofreight some time soon as my bike is about to be shipped back from South Africa. Will post anything they can add here.

Our CdP (for a vehicle not a bike) cost us COP 720,000 (USD 230 at the time) and the deposit, which was returned, was COP 7,500,000 (USD 2400 at the time).

I left my norwegian plated bike in Australia twice during my RTW trip without any problems. I have also heard this was not legal and blablabla - so I contacted the correct Australian authorities (which I now have forgotten the correct name of) and asked what to do. I said Im doing a RTW loop and I am currently in Australia and since I now have been on the road for 1,5 years I would like to fly home and see family and friends for the christmas and new year holidays and I would like to leave my Carnet imported bike in Australia at a friends shed and would that be any problem?
They quickly answered me and said just let us know when you leave, for how long you will be away and the name and adress of my friend where the bike would be stored while I was away - and give us also a notification when youre back.

So it was as simple as that.

I also left my bike in Oz a second time when I flew over to New Zealand ans bought a bike there and rode it around for 10 weeks and sold it again and flew back to Australia and picked up my bike there again. I didnt inform any authorities about this though that time. Nobody knew - nobody asked.

Here is a copy and paste of the answer I got from National Temporary Importations & Securities of Australia when I had sent them all the information they wanted about me leaving my temporary imported norwegian plated bike in Australia when going back to Europe for christmas and New Year:

«Dear Kurt,

Thank you for the information. You have now met all our requirements.

We can only wish you all the best, and hope you make the most of your trip home to be with your family over Christmas.

Kind regards,
M*****

M***** C********
Senior Border Force Officer
National Temporary Importations & Securities
Intervention & Enforcement | Supply Chain Compliance
Regional Command Queensland
Australian Border Force
P: 07 3835 3050 I E: NTIS@border.gov.au I W: www.border.gov.au

Thanks very much for your replies Snakeboy, that's solid info. I have somewhere I can leave the bike safely in Sydney.

Snakeboy is right about Australian Customs. They are not as draconian as some make out. Often by people whom have little or no experience with them.

My garage is currently listed with Australian Customs as a "Bonded Warehouse". For 2 years now, an Italian overlander has had his motorbike housed with us, whilst this pandemic rages. Now, I wouldn't expect this all the time under all circumstances. That is Customs accept any old shed as a bonded warehouse for any old reason. But because of Covid, they were happy for our garage to be classified as such. So long as I made a solemn commitment not to ride it and if it was moved anywhere, that they were notified. Whilst Matteo returned to Italy, until such time that he can come back to Australia and continue his journey.

Mind Matteo has had to maintain his CPD for the duration of his bikes stay here in Australia. He has renewed it 3 times now and he has been told that this will most likely be his last renewal oppurtunity.

My point being. If you are honest and up front with Australian Customs, they will in many cases be most reasonable with you. BS like Novax, and chances are, that you'll on the first plane out of here.:yes: