Hi all,

I bought a bike in Santiago, Chile.

Plan A is to end up my trip in Chile, try to sell it and unregister it.

Plan B is to keep riding to Mexico or USA.

Now, in case of plan B, the Chilean Permiso De Circulation ends in March.
I take it that I will not be able to extend it outside of Chile.
In order to register it in another country I'd have to import it first (?) incl. paying customs, right? (I am not a citizen of USA but I guess a way out could be to sell it to an American friend.)

Then in order to unregister it in Chile I shall probably show that it was exported/sold.
Are there any legal consequences of dumping the bike somewhere along the road (give it to someone) without unregistering it in Chile?

How did you handle that?

Thanks
Michal

Michal,

I have the exact same two plans as you! I am not sure exporting it will be financially sensible, and if one rode it to the US or sold it along the way, I think one would lose resale value as any sale would be on the download, so to speak. If you sell it to another foreigner, used a Patron - could they then ride back to Chile and have the bike transferred over WITHOUT the original owner present? I have no idea. I thought both the previous owner and the new owner had to be present to transfer the titles in Chile, but I could be wrong on this.

So all the paperwork accept the bike title is for Chile only, I think as you long as you have the title you could travel around with it indefinitely, but obviously returning to Chile on the vehicle would probably raise official eyebrows and result in fines and/or confiscation. People ride Chilean registered bikes to the US every year (not Canada though, due to emissions), but not sure if they then just sell them as scrap or sell them to ranchers, etc? Who knows, they never come back and tell us! Could one just drive around indefinitely on a chilean plated bike in the US? Maybe if you were a foreigner, but probably not as a US cit as presumably you would then have to register it, and then get into the issues of import/export fees, etc.

I think by far the cleanest way is just to buy and sell in Chile, which makes sense if you have bought new, maybe less so for a second-hand CGL you bought for 400 USD, i.e. just write it off as part of the cost of trip. I was thinking about selling my XR250 in Chile, buying a US plated bike and then riding up to Mexico/US, but who knows, gotta get to the Tierra del fuego first!

Rtw