Carnet/temp import rules Australia

[reggie3cl]

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?

[anonymous3]

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?

[reggie3cl]

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

[PanEuropean]

Originally Posted by reggie3cl

...Am I reading it right, seems a bit of a PITA?

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

[reggie3cl]

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.

[Jedforce]

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

[Foxy V-Strom]

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.

[reggie3cl]

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.

[thisgarry]

hey everyone, I´ve been travelling on my bike for quite a few years now and the Registration has since expired, (can only be renewed in the uk with an MOT as far as I know) has anyone had any issues with expired registration at all? did they even ask for a document confirming if the registration tax was still current?

[Alanymarce]

Originally Posted by thisgarry

hey everyone, I´ve been travelling on my bike for quite a few years now and the Registration has since expired, (can only be renewed in the uk with an MOT as far as I know) has anyone had any issues with expired registration at all? did they even ask for a document confirming if the registration tax was still current?

Obviously it would be inappropriate to agree with doing what many do - put it on a SORN.

[thisgarry]

Originally Posted by Alanymarce

Obviously it would be inappropriate to agree with doing what many do - put it on a SORN.

can I do that when the rego is Lapsed? (sorry I am not from the UK I just flew there and bought the bike for the trip in 2020) it says in AU it must have a current registration in its home country 🤨