researching for trip to Central America from mid-July to early September. Fly in to Guatemala and out of San Jose.

From what i can gather, buying a second hand bike (around 400cc) in Guatemala should not be too complicated if we are patient with paper work. does anyone have any idea of a rough time/cost of this for a British passport holder (can't imagine nationality makes a difference)? or anything i could do in advance to make the process easier?

also, it seems that selling the bike could be more complicated
is it right that import tax in costa rica can be as much as the cost of the bike itself? if so, is it even worth trying to bring it in to the country, or would we be better selling in nicaragua and then getting busses for the last section?
:confused1: :confused1: :confused1:

any suggestions??

If the seller has all his paperwork in order(clean title,no outstanding tickets) than you can have the bike registered in your name in 48 hours .

to sell the bike in nica you will have to import it. i believe, but may be wrong, that smaller bikes generally are charged a lower rate. standard is 35%. selling it will not be a quick process unless you plan to sell for near zero. the market is filled with bikes in that category.

you will also have to register and insure it. this takes time. there are people taht do the running around for you and can get it done in 2-3 days. they charge about 75-100 US.

thank you teevee.

do you know how different this is to Costa Rica? 35% does not seem to bad - especially if i have enough time in Nica to do the running around myself. although, in my experience these things have a habit of being more complicated than they seem...

in theory we could get to Panama and get a bus back to San Jose - again does anyone know a rough comparison in terms of selling bikes there compared to CR/Nica (both import taxes, and also market saturation) ??

or even better ---- does anyone want to buy a bike in early September? this is a whole new level of forward planning

Hello,
I'm living in Nicaragua and I will ask for you how is the paperwork procedure for a small bike.
If you come from Honduras you can normally buy an insurance for the bike at the border.
About the import-taxes I have to ask at the customs.
But don't buy Suzuki or Kawasaki. They are really rare in Costa Rica and Nicaragua - at least the bigger ones. Here they have Suzuki AX 100 or sometimes DR 200 - but the Suzuki DRZ 400 you won't find. So no Spare Parts and no buyers.

And chinese and indian bikes - it's up to you...

I have only Hondas, especially XR 250 Tornados. If you come with a Tornado in good shape I will buy it from you - may be

saludos Josecito

i know that CR has much higher import duties on vehicles than nica, but not sure if they apply to smaller bikes. also not sure if 400cc counts as small.

selling the bike will not require much running around. it's the importation that will cause you nightmares. you could hire a customs agent (aduanero) for around $125 US and that would lighten your load considerably.

Mexican bike i would like to sell after about another month as my trip ends there.... If anyone is interested pm me ! Thanks !

i will PM you now with more details. not long now so keen to sort out a bike as soon as possible.

luke

Hi Luke,

Come see me once your in Antigua, I will help you find a bike.

David

http://www.motorcycle-adventure-guatemala.com/

I sold a yamaha 250 from Mexico for a friend last year, let me know if you are still doing this & what the bike is, I am in Panama 30 mins from Pasa Canoas.

DO NOT EXPECT TOP PRICES if you are doing this & remember you can very quickly spend $500 waiting for a better offer which may only end up being $300!!!!!

Hi,

I'll be in Costa Rica in a couple of weeks, I was stopped by a nice gentleman in Antigua Guatemala who inquired about buying it in CR and I have a couple of questions.

First, it's a 2014 f800GSA, US registration.

1. What is the process for transferring ownership?

2. Can anyone suggest a good way to transfer the money safely (escrow)?

3. Any other concerns I should have?

If I don't sell it I need to ship it back, so I'm pretty motivated - and he's making me a very good offer.

Thoughts?

Hi, its very easy:

You need to give to the buyer the title, the temporary import permit and go to lawyer in CR in order to make the paperwork, if the buyer is costarican, he may know it, so you can leave the country without problems.

If you have any doubs feel free to contact me here in CR and I will contact you with a good lawyer and I will show you how to to the sell.

Cheers.

Oscar.

I am in Costa Rica with my 2009 750 Honda Shadow which i rode from Florida to Costa Rica. I decided to nationalize (permanently register) the bike in Costa Rica because i will be living here for at least part of the year. The tax in Costa rica is very steep. About 50% of what they feel the bike value is. My bike in the US is worth about $4000-5000. I paid a tax of about $2200.00, however that is not all. The process is roughly this:

1. You need an agent that knows what he is doing (agent $225.00).The bike must go to a broker and bonded warehouse (Broker $150.00) to be inspected and have the mileage confirmed. This can take days to weeks depending which broker you choose. In my case, one week and ($125.00 warehouse).

2. Next when the bike is released from the warehouse you must go to Reteve to have a vehicle inspection. Lights, exhaust, tires etc. $20.00. You can then take it home but not drive it until you get plates and pay the Marchamo.

3. Your attorney will get the plates and pay the Marchamo. Attorney $258.00
Marchamo (registration) $495.00. This takes about another week and believe me that is fast. It can take much longer.

4. Once you get the plates you must go the the Marchamo office to get 3 stickers that must be displayed on the bike.

All told i paid $3400.00 for a bike that would sell in the US for maybe $5000.00. Not good math, but i need transportation here and it was my best alternative. I new this coming in so no big deal. You may be able to do some of this for less if you are willing to run around, but it is complicated and i didn't want to wast my time for a couple hundred bucks. Not to mention the frustration dealing with government offices here.

Good Luck

Thanks Oscar, I'll be in touch.

So, should I expect that any buyer will have to pay this import tax as part of the transaction?

I had heard this before and figured I may be better off selling in Panama - but my the person I spoke to from CR said this was not an issue, that I should be able to sell the bike for as much as I paid in the US.

If the bike is registered in the US an the buyer intends to keep it in Costa Rica he will have to pay the tax to get a CR title and plates etc.