Hi folks,

My wife and I have two bikes stored in Bolivia that need new sets of tires. I'm in the U.S. at the moment and would like to buy the tires here and bring them on the plane with us when we return to Bolivia in early October.

Does anyone know whether we will have trouble passing through customs on the Bolivian side with two new sets of tires that are for personal use?

I'm also planning to bring a small of handful of other parts (spark plugs, brake pads, etc), but I'm not anticipating any problems with those. Should I be?

Any help or experience would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Jay
Home - liveitrightdreamride

You can never tell with Bolivia customs!

Ride to Santa Cruz (motorcycle capitol of Bolivia) and I'm sure you will find some good tires for your bikes.

Toby

Who knows? They might try to charge you import fees. What bike is it? You can find okay selection in La Paz and decent range in Santa Cruz. Calama in Chile is nearby-ish and has an okay range too. Depends if you need something exotic or not.

I tried to find information on various Bolivian government websites about importing parts, all fruitless efforts. Here's how it worked for me when flying into La Paz, Feb 2013. I filled out the immigration/customs form on the plane and checked the box, "items to declare." After clearing immigrations (you may have pay a tourist fee depending on your country of origin -- www.visahq.com will give you broad outlines, but not exact costs if you don't use their service...) I handed the attendant my form. He glanced at it and put it on a pile with others forms, then told me to push the button by the archway. The light went GREEN and I got to skip the customs inspections. I had oil filters and a new chain for myself, a fender and some kind of pump for the guy who was watching my bike. I was ready to pay importation taxes on his parts and argue against paying taxes for the bike parts that were for my bike. All of this became moot when the light went GREEN and passed through without inspection.

Carrying tires into the country is probably going to be noticed. Who knows what you will be charged. If you are dead set on the plan, then bring the invoice, so it is clear how much you spent for the tires. If you have your importation papers with you (assuming you left you r bike in Bolivia) then make a case that the tires are for you bike and will not be re-sold. An official a short distance from the Panama border asked me for an invoice for the two spare tires I had on the back of my bike. I convinced him the tires were for my bike and he let me proceed.

The kind of bike, size or type of tire are important to know in order to provide advice. I looked for rear tire (more street than off road tread) for my F800GS in La Paz and didn't find what I wanted. I found it a Pirelli in Cusco, Peru that fit my last leg in South America, which was mostly highway.

Toby knows what he is talking about, so if you are stuck on a certain tire, go to Santa Cruz. Reach out to dealers in Santa Cruz for advice. Frankly, you are going to spend extra to get tire on the plane. Depending on your bike, tires may be easy to find and Pirelli tire are generally inexpensive in South America, as they are made in Brazil. Finding local tires is part of the adventure...

__________________
Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

Thanks for the advice everyone. I talked to a guy at the airport customs office in La Paz the other day and he told me it would be possible to import the tires, I will just need to pay an import tax of around 10% of the stated value. I'm going to bring them with me and see what happens. I'll post an update once we're settled down in La Paz to let you know how it went! Thanks again.

I wonder what you will be charged by your airline ship tires as checked bags. I doubt you will be able to take the tires into the cabin as hand luggage as chances are they won't fit in the overhead compartment or below the seat in front of you.



I was thinking of taking an electric guitar to a Couch Surfing host in Peru and it turned out the baggage fee would have been rather high. Best of luck.

__________________
Peter B
2008/09 - NJ to Costa Rica and back to NJ
2012/13 - NJ to Northern Argentina, Jamaica, Cuba and back to NJ
2023 - Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia...back to Peru.

Blogs: Peter's Ride

more like 30-40 percent in my experience. If you have your receipt that says you paid $35 for the tire on sale that will probably be the tax basis. Some of the more aggressive aduana folks will google it right in front of you and use the lowest retail price they can find no matter what receipt you show them. I think some items are now in a database with a fixed tax basis price.

I would not buy a motorcycle tire down here if I could bring them in with me. We get a lot of cheap Chinese shit down here, factory rejects, etc.

Interestingly last time I came in with a motorcycle tire the customs guy asked me what it was (it was in a box). I told him and he waved me through. I was near first in line, so I figure he didn't want to waste time doing paperwork on a single mc tire when there were potentially higher dollar items in the boxes and suitcases of people behind me.

I just carried a pair for my F800gsa in. I sewed up a custom duffle from Walmart material and put it on the bottom of my trolley. I think I checked nothing to declare (tiny print and long flight).

Breezed through after handing the guy my forms. No buttons to push.
As always, subject to change.

I had no trouble either Clark. I meant to post an update a while back, but I forgot. Thanks for the reminder!

Since the tires we were bringing in were personal in nature and under $1,000 in value, they didn't even check what was in our boxes. Nor did we have to pay anything in taxes. On top of that, it was free for us to bring them on the plane under American Airlines baggage policies. In short, it was no hassle at all. And once we arrived, the guys at Palacios Extreme in the Zona Sur area of La Paz were able to install them professionally and cheaply. I highly recommend those guys to anyone who is looking for help in the area.

Tried that in Egypt 5 yrs ago. Needed to prove I owned a bike there... Fun fun fun. Custom is kind of random there, but I recommend you take a copy of the papers with you to show they are for your personal use, just in case.

Think of a posted sign: KEEP CALM and DON'T FEED CORRUPT OFFICIALS!