All,

Any recent experience on importing your vehicle to Indonesia?

I am after some information in regards to the Carnet and personal details you are supposed to send to Indonesian Customs before arrival in the country.

I have already sent my details but am yet to hear back from them. Now my worry is that I saw an old post on here that says you are supposed to receive a letter of invitation from IMI sometime after you send your details. From what I read you never get a response from customs and you should send to an old employees email who sends through a letter out of courtesy. This seems nuts but anyway that's what you do apparently.

The other thing about this is on the Australian Automotive Association website it simply states to send your details to IMI and if these details are not received they will not accept any vehicle with a Carnet into Indonesia.
It doesn't actually state you need to get a letter of Invitation back from customs.

So basically I am a bit confused as to the actual process at the moment.

If anyone with recent experience entering Indonesia can let me know what you did it would be greatly appreciated!

Ben.

I haven't entered yet but I've been told by IMI that I'm all good to go.

Procedure was mail imi@imi.co.id
Wait a couple days to get form to fill out
Mail back the form along with the following

- Copy of Carnet De Passage
- Copy of Passport
- Photo of Indonesian Visa
- Copy of Vehicle Registration
- Photo of vehicle

After that I got no response, but then when I checked I was told I was clear to enter, no formal letter of invitation or anything, so hopefully it works.

Thank you so much! How did you check that you were clear to enter? Email the same email?

Regards,
Ben.

Exactly. I'm not entirely sure how they'll know but I plan on carrying a printout of the email and the form just in case.

I'll be trying to pick up the bike around Jan 18th, depending on when the boat arrives, so I'll update then if it works.

There are lots of dramas going on between Customs (Bea Cukai) and IMI here at present. It was in the past Customs responsibility to get you in and out of Indonesia paper work wise. And IMI's responsible while you are here however as of a change in regulations from the ministry of finance , Customs big boss, IMI no longer has any say in what happens whilst you are in Indonesia. It is all Customs now and they are only concerned that you enter and leave on the same Carnet and DEFINITELY no extensions unless you request permission from the nearest Customs office first at least 2 to 4 weeks prior to expiry. They are getting very tough here now. I live in Medan Sumatra Indonesia so any questions happy to help. IMI and there "HELP" have cost me a fortune a major headache and maybe a bike.

Thanks for that Rick,

Sounds to me like I'll just be going to customs to get the import voucher ripped out of my carnet to get the bike in.

I have been in contact with Patricia from IMI hoping to get a response to whether my application to get the bike into the country has been accepted or not. I got a response from my original email telling me to directly fill the form out and send it through which I did and the sent another email yesterday to get them to cough up a confirmation with no response yet. Bike is flying to Indonesia tomorrow and so am I so sounds like I will be taking a bit of a punt on this one if I don't get a response.

Regards,
Ben.

So an update...

Been in country for two full days now.

No reply from IMI for confirmation however I got in just fine with only my carnet.

Bike came in on garuda Indonesia cargo. I went to go find the place according to Google maps and it wasn't there, just a building getting knocked down, further down the road from the airport is where you get to where you need to be.
After a bit of searching for the office and some help I found them to pick up the original airway bill to take to customs so they can stamp the carnet. I paid a fee of 50 cents to garuda (yes really) then customs inspected my bike after I explained to them how the carnet works and what they need to fill out as they didn't really know what they needed to do.
After this I paid a storage fee of around $80 AUD and the bike was released.
Shipper left about a quarter tank of fuel and disconnected the battery to gain purge certificate fyi and basically tool the mirrors and front screen off, and deflated the tyres so it fit in the box easily with all my gear included.

If anyone wants any further details let me know.

Regards,
Ben.

Patricia from IMI is a waste of breath good to hear you are here mate if I can help with anything let me know. Which airport did you come into from where? I have spent about 3 or 4 years travelling Indonesia and it is amazing to tour around I love it apart from the big cities busses and anything else on the road It is probably one of the most spectacular rides in SE Asia so enjoy.
Rick

Flew the bike into Denpasar from Sydney with the help of bikesabroad in Australia.

I have enjoyed the scenery I must say and yea agree, I'm not a fan of riding in the cities, not to my tastes! I'm enjoying south west Sumatra though, smaller populations and pretty scenery Make the riding really enjoyable.

The crazy thing I have found is the amount of soot from exhausts here. If I put sunscreen on in the morning I am covered in the stuff by the afternoon , it's wild haha

So update from my end. It seems someone forgot to transfer my bike from Singapore, so now it's not arriving until the 27th. On top of that the recieving agent had no idea what a carnet is. I'm hoping the 10 day delay will give some time for them to do some homework.

Maybe I should have shelled out for air freight. Sea seems much more difficult ):

(Ps, yeah this update does make my signature a lie. I got a bit ahead of myself)

__________________
2018: Indo to UK, 2020: ???
Instagram @improbablyadventuring

Sea freight can be tough which often equates to extra charges here but much cheaper than air. A few people have contacted me about IMI and there invitation ummm scheme. I will try to find out more about this and post it but from what I can make out Patricia Angel appears to be making things up on her own behalf here and not following through. I have found her to be very unprofessional in my longish dealings with her. However Indonesia is great to travel through. Entry is with a carnet for your, vehicle bike or car, through Bea Cukai (Customs) at any port of entry or International airport. The carnet must be valid and if for any reason you need to extend it you must request permission from the nearest Bea Cukai (Customs) office to the location you are at with at least 1 month prior to expiration of the Carnet. Customs is getting very tough on this matter. Do not think it possible to do a full import and if you have a force majeur, major accident, contact your Carnet issuer in your country immediately then Customs Indonesia next. IMI have been literally stripped of any power here by legislation brought out by the Ministry of Finance who is the governing body of Bea Cukai , regarding anything to do with Carnets, active as of June 2015 . It helps to be aware.

So I finally got my bike in Surabaya (long story) but not a single person asked about or mentioned the IMI. So definitely sounds like it's not needed anymore. (That being said, it still can't hurt to mail them, just in case).

__________________
2018: Indo to UK, 2020: ???
Instagram @improbablyadventuring

Hi Ben,

The "letter of invitation" was a thing prior to Indonesia fully ratifying the Carnet scheme in 2015. It is not required now. Even then, its utility was inconsistent.

I have shipped my bike twice by sea to Surabaya (2010, 2013). I did not have the infamous letter and didn't even know about it in 2010, although it might have smoothed the prickly crossing from Malaysia to Indo at Nunukan (Borneo). My bike was "held" for three days there, and they did ask for that letter.

On both occasions I obtained a "letter of authority" from the Indo Embassy. This is not a formal instrument, I made it up, but it worked a treat when country town cops tried to hit me up for a fine. It just says that I am authorised to travel with my motorcycle, and I am not required to pay any additional fees. I had been warned to expect minor blackmail and that was my protection. It's only an issue if you are going to remote places.

__________________
www.motoindo.com
One-way and multi-island rentals ex Bali

Good to see all these more recent details for the letter o invitation as currently in Australia you still have the details provided with you carnet that you must do the letter of invitation for Indonesia if traveling there. Clearly not.

Sounds like a remote place thing only, every single police roadblock I got waived straight through.

Ben.

As mentioned before I have been to Indonesia numerous times since 2010, currently here for 2 and a half years I had never heard of this invitation by IMI until 3 months ago when it was time to do another extension to my Carnet. Where did you all hear about it from?