Buying a tourist bike?
 

i`m right now in chili and looking for a bike to ride from south up to bolivia and brazil. i`ve been reading a lot about buying new bikes as well as used ones, esp. here.
after searching for a while i`ve to say that the one sold here are expensive as hell or there are no used ones around (e.g. south).
on the other side it seems that a lot of bikes are sold at the end of the trip, obviously without sound paperwork. how is that done?

please please help me with some info!

some questions:

1. is it posible to buy and ride anotherones bike? how can you register the bike properly if it`s registered in the states or another place (i guess not at all)?
2. is a power of attorney enough to ride for a while? i think you can cross the border on rented bikes as well! if you keep the plates, what is about the insurance?
3. does the photoshop-story still work? and how?
4. can you buy bikes as foreigner in areas like punta arenas (tax-free), register and ride it through chile and other countries?

any info to one of the questions is welcome!!! i`m running out of time (and patience...)!

thanx
nick

Everything you need to know about buying a motorcycle in Chile is here:

Steps to Buying a Used Bike in Santiago Chile
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...santiago-45637

Buying and registering a motorcycle in Chile
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...le-chile-45175

thanx brclarke for the fast answer!!!

question 1 - buying a bike from a tourist: impossible. but what are the people doing then at the buy/sell thread?

question 2 + 3: ?

question 4 - buying in a zona franka: you have to return after 3 month. what happens if you never return?

really complicated, or you buy really expensive arround santiago (other places you don`t get a used bike)...

Yes, you can buy a bike from another traveler. You need him to relinquish all rights to the bike to you. This is done through a POA. You would have to go back to the states/other country to cahnge the registration or get the title transfered. This is not needed. Expired foriegn registration is no problem in S Am.


With a correctly written POA, you can travel indefinitely on the bike you purchase. Make sure the POA lists all the countries you want to take the bike to specifically. I was never asked for insurance in CL, AR, BO or EC. In PE I was asked a few times, you can fake a card. In CO, you need it.


It seems to, just change the registration/title to your name. They don't really seem to concerned with gringos on foriegn bikes.

I belive that you can, but I am not sure you can leave Chile, plus it is not suposed to leave the zona franca for more than 90 days in year.

klr 650 2010
 

I wanna sell my klr 2010 25000km with 2 hardcase sw motech. 45 liter each

With all my stuff...

7500$usd neg

I can be ythere in 2 weeks or less

Price a bit high there, buddy.

A new one can be had in the States for around 5k....

Just sayin'.

some answers
 

glaswave, thanks a lot!

i guess u are in most quotes right. i guess it´s easy and cheeper to do it that way, but should only be done with cheep bikes because of the hassle you can get into when you never get it registered properly into your name.

i tried to get hold of a bike, but there were only a few around and i seemed to miss them all.

In the meantime i bought a klr 2010, chile-registration, fully equipped, for 7000$, looks brand-new :) the registration in chile is really easy, u just go to sii (tax-office), ask for a rut (tax-number) then go with the seller to a notaria and they do all the paperwork, done in 3 hours. costs approx. 200$, depending on the value of the bike. i guess the sale after my trip (approx. 15.000 km) will be not that difficult either.

for the zona franca: as far as i know now, you can buy a bike there but as extranjero u are not permitted to enter chile outside the tax-free zone where it´s registrated. i guess there is now checkpoint inside chile (iquique in the north and arsen in the south), no problem as long as u don´t run into a checkpoint or want to leave the country at a bordercrossing outside zona franca. and u are not permitted to leave the zona for more then 90 days...

if someone is interested, there is a great bike down in puntas arenas right now, fully equipped, for 5000$, chile- (zona franca) or us-registrated. it´s in the thread bikes sell/wanted. the guy who sale it is really nice and helpfull. but u have to ride it back or to the us (or sell it on ;) ).

if anybody is in argentina (medoza.salta)/bolivia (uyuni-cusco) right now, i´d be happy to meet for some bier and some news!

Glad to help.

You are right about the value of a foreign bike, it should sell for well under it's USA value since it can only be sold to another traveler.

Congrats, that's a great price for a very capable bike. You should be able to sell it easy upon your return.