Hey guys,
I just entered in Bolivia and got refused at 2 stations gasolina because apparently I don't have some paper, I can't really understand what they ask me for, with this paper they put a number in the computer they say, I have the temporary importacion paper but apparently it's another one although at the border when I asked 3 times only this paper? They said yes

When I was there a year ago they only needed to enter the license plate number, then you pay the expat price. ($$). However, some stations were not set up for that, and I had to beg and pay cash sort of “under the table” in some remote areas. And a few times I had to leave and find another station. Near tourist locations (e.g., Uyuni) was no problem at all.

All that said, it is possible something has changed and they have instituted some new system. I’m curious.


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As mcwhirtj said. Many stations just can't be arsed to fill out the paperwork needed to sell fuel to non Bolivian plated vehicles so will refuse. After being rejected from 2 or 3 stations and being told to go somewhere else, I said that I didn't have enough fuel left to go anywhere else and couldn't leave, they eventually sold me the fuel. My information is old though, and things may have changed.

Hi!
Try to park the bike outside the gas station and buy petrol in a jerry can or even a pet bottle. I've heard some people doing this, last year, and it worked out. Sometimes, the problem is to fill up a foreigner vehicle. But if there's no bike, it might have no problems



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It happens from time to time that bolivian gas stations refuse to sell fuel to foreign plated vehicles. Its because their gas is subsidised and a foreign plated vehicle need to pay the unsubsidised price. And if the gas stations dont have the codes or dont know what to write in their computers they might deny you to fill.

I travelled 3 times through Bolivia and it happend a few times to me as well. Ny impression is that it was most prone to happen in the bigger cities.

You could either just go to the next gas stations
Often there would be a guy with a jerrycan in the vincinity. You could park your vehicle outside the gas station and rent that guy to fill your vehicle with the jerrycan.

Or you could buy a jerrycan yourself and use it.

I often stopped my bike outside the gas station and asked the attendant what to do. Explain the situation and say that you really really need gas.

Sometimes you need to pay the gringo price - which is still quite cheap. Sometimes you can negotiate the price and sometimes you get the local price.

A few times they deny you to buy gas - but at my experience it was very seldom.

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

I rode in Bolivia in 2013 and was denied gas a few times, typically the attendant would waive his uplifted hand in a twisting motion, similar to the Queen of England, but the meaning is quite different. The attendant is saying, "I don't have any gas" and the Queen is saying, "Hello there all of you little people." =)

In my opinion, there could be two reasons:

• They truly don't have any gas. Waiting around for the next customer is sure to reveal the truth.
• In some gas stations, the attendant needs to calculate the non-national cost (~1/3 more) and then prepare a second receipt. Double the work. I was charged the extra amount and sometimes not given a second receipt, which means the extra went into the attendant's pocket. The pain in the ass step of producing a second receipt may be the reason an attendant is looking for a reason to not sell you gas.

I read somewhere that the extra charge should only be collected near the border, perhaps within 100 miles. No idea if this was ever true or if it's still a law if it ever was. On a couple of occasions I was not charged the extra amount.

__________________
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

I spent quit some time in Bolivia in the end of 2022
Almost all the time far away from large towns.

There are two prices
- For residents
- For tourists

The residents have a sticker on the license plate to show that they are allowed to buy at the lower price.

When I entered Bolivia. I met 2 Brazilians at the border. Coming from Bolivia. They told me that you needed a can to buy petrol. Bikes were not allowed to enter the gas stations.

This is what happened to me.

I was never refused to enter a gas station or to buy petrol.

When I entered, they looked at the license plate. I told them
a) I am not a resident
b) I do not need any paper (I assume that this was important to state)

I paid all levels

Many times I payed the low price.
One time, the attendant did no hang up the "??" after the car before me had filled up. So the meter was not set back to zero. She continued with filling up my bike. She pointed at the meter when she started and when she finished. And I payed the difference. And I asked why she did like that. The answer was: else you would have to pay the full price. (In some system, the petrol was counted as bought by the car before me). She did this without me even asking for this favor. I know that I should pay full price. And I was prepared to do that.

Several times the meter was running on the low price, but they added some extra to pay. On top of what the meter was showing. So in reality, I paid between full and reduced price.

I happened some times that I paid full price. But so what. That was still cheap and how it should be.

I was in one city, I do not remember which, out taking a walk in the evening. There was a bike (Colombian) standing just outside the gas station. Filling up the bike from a plastic bag. He was not allowed to enter the station with the bike. But that never happened to me. (Maybe some big city stuff ??)

One time out in nowhere, there was no gas station. But a small store. Where the lady was selling petrol in 2 liters plastic bottles. That save me that time. She charged more than regular price. But so what. She did extra work to provide something that the gas companies did not do. I was happily paying for that.

And also at some other small "stores".
=> Picture

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South of Oruro, Bolivia there is a little town called Poopo No joke, the town is across the way from the Lago Poopo. Anyway, I found gas being sold out of a barrel at a dusty general store. I don't recall the price. This thing is, ask around, gas may be sold in places other than a gas station.

__________________
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

jerrycan and taxi does the trick and always local price

Why use taxi and jerrycan ?
when you can ride into the gas station ?
Seems over complicated

In Bolivia there security cameras are common, so the attendants follow the government rules. Non-nationals don't enjoy subsidized gas prices.

__________________
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

Have you ever travelled in Bolivia with a foreign plated vehicle?

Some gas stations wont sell fuel to foreign plated vehicles AT ALL! (For example I remember 3 gas stations in a row in Cochabamba that denied me to buy fuel…)

Also there is a subidised system so that locals get to buy fuel at less than half a price that a foreigner get.

But a jerrycan can be the solution in both matters…from no to yes and from gringo price to local price.

__________________
In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

In order to get round the foreign/ locals price problem and to actually get served at all (at the locals' price), a Bolivian mate made me a Bolivian plate, that matched a green Kawasaki. I'd cable tie it over the real Arizona plate on my red Honda just before entering the fuel station. The attendants never cared. They sold fuel and got paid. The cameras saw nothing untoward At one station, I overheard one telling his colleague it was a fake plate on top of the real one. Neither cared, nor did they realise I understood Spanish.

Can you spot which one it is on my garage door, along with said Honda?

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective

My last Bolivian crimes and misdemeanors were in 2018, so I think I might have gotten away with it, just

I did once, in 2001, sleep a night in a Peruvian police station cell. Somewhere in the NE of the country on the way to taking a selection of boats down the Amazon to the Atlantic. I arrived in the village quite late in the day, in the rain and there weren't any lodgings. So asked at the police station. I was the only guest for the night, the cell door stayed opened while the policeman slept at his home. Not the most luxurious, but better than a tent in the mud in the rain. And free. Thanks for asking

Have you ever been to South America?

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CURRENT RR WITH REGULAR UPDATES: The Wife Takes on Chlamydia: A South American Retrospective