hello there friends,

i have flight taking me out of santiago in about a weeks time, and i´m a little concerned as to how it is to leave the country without the vehichle i entered with. i have yet to sell my motorcycle or transfer it to someone else´s name, and i noticed at the border they seemed to have my lisence plate number written on nearly every little slip of paper. a bit more thorough than the latin american border crossings i´m used to...

if anyone has any information on leaving Chile with a foreign vehicle registered in your name, or any tips on dealing with a bike in my name, it would be greatly appreciated. also, if anyone is interested in taking the bike, it is up for donation in the wanted-forsale forum. i would rather pass it on to someone who will enjoy it than sell it to a mechanic for parts

Listen, you ought to get this double checked but as far as I know -

When you fly out you don't deal with the aduana. To my knowledge if you arrive with a vehicle it is not stamped on your passport so I don't think you will have any issues flying out? As for transferring it, it really depends on where the bike was registered. You can get a POA for another gringo and that should be enough to leave Chile with though I'm not 100% sure of the technicalities or procedure. If you are never going back to Chile I wouldn't worry that they will coming looking for you! This is all guesswork, however.

Good luck and let us know how it pans out?

Many countries issue a visitors 'permit' which has to be surrendered when you leave so as well as checking your passport for record of a vehicle, you should check the visitors slip as well.

Many borders are computerised and given that you normally present your passport and vehicle documents to Aduana and passport number is often entered on the TVIP, it would be surprising if all this information was not combined in a database somewhere.

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Tony
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I have done this a couple of times now and it's not too hard but still a hassle. You need to (or at least supposed to) "sign" your bike over to an authorised person/autorizado, preferably a Chilean, just before you leave. Then when you return, you remove them as an Autorizado. You can authorise someone at the Aduana office in the Stgo airport and you'll need the autorizado to come with you with their ID card. Then when you come back, you see the Aduana again and they will remove the autorizado. The entrance to the Aduana at the airport is on the ground floor, near Salida 4. Ring the bell and knock and hopefully eventually they answer. You can access it on your return easily from near the baggage carousels.
That's the correct way to do it all. Just make sure you come back before your 90 day TVIP expires...

thanks for the tips! but what if i were not coming back and hoping to transfer the bike´s ownership and papers to another traveller who would be leaving the country with the bike before the 90 given days is up? i´m trying to make sure this other person doesn´t have problems travelling in other countries, has all the legal documents and whatnot. i´ve been to notory offices and the registro civil but they tell me it needs to be registered in chile before authorizing anything. from what i gather, that process would be expensive and take about 3 weeks... which is time i do not have...

You have to sell it to another foreigner in a notaria in Chile.

Maybe it works if the new owner gets the ownership transfered to his name in the country of registration, but that might be too confusing for the customs officer at the border.

That isn't ever going to be possible. Best you can do is to use a PODER to get the new owner out of the country. Trouble is after that, not all countries will accept other's poders, and then there can be a problem when the new owner re-enters that country still using the poder and the customs official does a bit of digging in the computer and finds (ie decides) that the vehicle WAS actually sold and confiscates the vehicle.

I've got the official documents relating to one vehicle confiscation so it can happen.

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Tony
Click here for Travel Photos & Travel Map

In my head, the options are really only:
You both go to the Chile border, you check the bike out of Chile and the new owner checks it into the next country. You can then split ways after but you need papers for the new owner though (real or fake ones is your business).
You could speak to the Aduana in Stgo Airport to authorise the person to take your bike out of the country. They might authorise that person on the spot or you might need a poder like what Tony said above. But I agree with him, there'd be problems in other countries unless they have papers (how again is your business).
Hopefully you figured it out as I imagine you have already left Chile...

I'm planning to leave my bike with a friend in Santiago then come back in 6 months to do some more riding. Do you think there will be a problem with that?

I think this was the most relevant part of his instructions

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Tony
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I think there is a way to leave the bike longer than the T.I.P. duration. It would involve getting permission to leave it under seal at an private aduana house. Of course, there is a charge for this but the facilities are very secure. I know of a guy who got his bike confiscated in Santiago after he had a wreck and over-stayed his TIP. It was extremely difficult to get that bike back.

If you have to leave from Chile, one possibility would be to ride to the nearest town in Argentina and find somewhere to leave the bike and then take a bus back to Santiago and fly out. That will usually (but depends on the border crossing) get you 8 months TIP and leaving the bike in Argentia=na is not reported as being a problem

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Tony
Click here for Travel Photos & Travel Map

You're on to something there Tony. Surely there's someone willing to store your bike in Mendoza at least.
There is a possible solution to leave the bike for longer than the 90 days in Chile but not sure if it works. You can get an extension, or Prórroga, by filling out a form for the Aduana, best bet is in Santiago Airport, with photocopies of your docs/licence/title. You need a reason they deem as valid to extend it and you need to do it at or close to the expiration of your TVIP. You can definitely get an extra 90 days, unsure if you can get more.
Assuming you can't get more than 90 days and for the 6 mth departure question, you could email the Aduana explaining your situation, close to the expiration of your TVIP when you're out of the country, asking them for an extension with justification and see what they say. This one is risky though of course without ageeing it with them before you leave...
Otherwise, private aduana house suggestion could work. There is an Aduana office at Beauchef 1489 in Santiago, near Parque O'Higgins with plenty of cars impounded. Not sure about bikes there and not sure if that offers a solution to appease the Aduana by leaving it there.
Christian at Hostal Casa Matte in Stgo is getting quite chummy with the Aduana so he might have an idea if you contact him. You can contact him on Facebook.
If you're outside of Stgo, not sure what you can do...