Drop-off and pick-up motorcycle in Central America
 

Hi travelers,
new to this forum but not new to traveling the world (I traveled solo with my motorcycle around the world five years ago).
Now I do the Panamericana with my motorcycle in stages and went with it through Alaska, Canada and USA already.
As I have to do the rest of the trip also in stages, I have to drop-off my motorcycle (US registered) in a country of Central America and pick it up after a certain time (up to 5-6 months) and go further. The same procedure will hit me in South America again, but first I have to get there.
I know about the import-export procedures and the holds on the motorcycle-import but I'm not sure about leaving the country by plane (to the US where I live but I'm German) without my motorcycle and then return by plane (again without the motorcycle) and leave the country with my motorcycle on the road into the next country.
Any country of Central America is a valid candidate for me for this process.
If you have recommendations to store securely the bike for some months in one of those countries, please let me know. So far I always rented a small secured storage unit for a few bucks but I'm happy to take any other recommendations.

Chris

you're gonna have a problem with this. central america is not friendly to temp imports and is quite strict in applying fines and forfeiture laws--none of which make any sense to the developed world.

to complicate matters, the CA-4 countries start counting your 90 days from the time you enter the first country. so, for example, if you enter guatemala on 1/1 you have 90 days to exit nicaragua to the south. each successive country will note the dates of prior entries.

sure, some may have avoided this problem, but don't count on it.

you also may be able to use bonded warehouses to "export" your bike while you are gone, but i'm not sure if and how these work if at all.

Quintana Roo
 

I don't have first hand knowledge but these older threads may assist.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...otorbike-83338

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-central-57279

The aduana at David in Panama will allow you to store your bike while they suspend your TVIP. They charge storage fees though. Supposedly 6 months maximum and according to a recent report, their security isn't very good so theft of stuff left with the bike is a real possibility