Can a Chilean guy buy my Irish registered truck?
 

I have a guy in Chile interested to buy our truck, but as far as I know it's not possible to import second hand vehicles to Chile. Anyone manage to do this?

Merv.

Alas, Chile doesn't want older vehicles, so are very strict about this. But if the Chilean is handling it, and you hand it to him in another country, why not?

Lorraine
PS You can always stay at my house though!

Iquique
 

You could sell it to him in the Free Trade Zone (zona franca) in Iquique, if you want to drive this far down from where you are now. Just an idea, I dont know if this works for him, but he could find out.

Saludos desde Bolivia
mika

Of course! Then you can take the bus down to my house, dog sit, then take the plane from Santiago. Just like last year! :-)

Yes
 

Yes, and on the way to Iquique you stop by at my house and give me all the beer that you carry around all of SA for me ... but drive fast, as I will go to Europe in the end of May. un abrazo mika

Lol, great ideas!

You can sell them legally in the 2 free trade zones in Chile ( Iquique and Punta Arenas)

Anyone can buy your truck. The problem is in "registering" that truck and getting it out of the country before the temp-import permit expires. If the truck is not going to be registered in the Chilean national system, it's pretty much just a permanently foreign product subject to removal from the country.

If the truck were imported on a 90 day temp import permit then somebody has to get that vehicle out of the country before the end of the permit period or it can be seized. An overdue vehicle staying in Chile is considered by aduanas to be contraband.

Non-residents (not residents of Chile) have historically been able to buy and sell non-chilean-registered vehicles, provided that the 90 day permit is respected and the vehicle does not overstay that period. Some travelers have continued to use such vehicles for years after the original registration has expired.

If you want to work through a Zona Franca then bear in mind that a legal "importation" of a vehicle already in Chile can't be done by individuals. It has to be done through a registered "usuario de Zona Franca." Aduanas can help you find the list of registered usuarios. Their fees can be considerable. A vehicle imported in this manner also has to meet the Dept of Transportation "Sello Verde" requirement for emissions controls. Normally a motor vehicle imported via the ZF is not supposed to be more than 10 years old. There are lots of other fees involved in the importation process as well so if the vehicle to be imported via ZF is not rather valuable, this may not be a useful path. A person who is not a legal resident of a ZF region cannot take advantage of the exemption from 19 percent IVA (tax) -- so a non-ZF resident buying a specially imported ZF vehicle can be subject to that additional 19 percent on top of all other fees and costs.

Once a foreign vehicle is imported into a ZF region, it remains a ZF-region-only vehicle. The legal/registered owner can apply for permission to travel into non-ZF Chilean territory for up to so many days a year, but only the legal owner can use that vehicle during that time out of the ZF region (which is called "zona franca de extensión").

There are actually more than two Zona Franca importation sites in the country, and these are technically known as Depósitos Francos (these are considered by Aduanas to be extraterritorial, meaning that these ZFs/DFs are not considered to be within Chile). However, most people are only aware of the two main ZF locations.

Yes, you will hear stories about things being done differently at times.

I am a permanent resident of a ZF region and I have imported and registered a number of motor vehicles here through the years.