I recently changed the plates on my bike from Californian to Zona Franca Chilean. I did this in Coyhaique, Aysen (an extension of the zona franca in Punta Arenas) to sell the bike legally. It's relatively simple and quick process, unlike actually selling the bike but thats another issue. Hopefully this information will be useful to someone and imagine it also applies in Punta Arenas and Iquique.

First you need to get a ROL from SII. I think this has been spoken about at length in other topics. Anyway, it's super easy and quick once you have a Chilean to be your sponsor. I was in and out in 10mins with a ROL. They give you a piece of paper which is fine for 90 days but you need to pick your card up before then.

Second, you need to find an Usuario to do the paperwork with the Aduana. I have a few numbers of people in Coyhaique who do it so anyone needing this, message me. You need to give them copies of your TVIP, Title, ROL, Passport and a Declaration of the value of the bike (Declaracion Jurada del valor de la moto). For the declaration, I went to a Notaria and they can provide this. You give them the details of your bike plus a value and they put that in an official document. Cost me 3,000CLP I think. The usuario can then use all this to do the papwerwork, plus calculate the tax. The tax is 2.83% of the value of the bike (so you could put a really low value in the declaration to pay less) plus you'll have to pay the Usuario's fee, which will differ between Usuarios.

Third, once the Usuario does the paperwork (it was next day for me), you accompany the Usuario to the Aduana, along with your bike where they impound it until the process is complete. This was just one night for me. The next day, once the Aduana processed their part, I went to the Zona Franca office to pay the majority of the taxes and get some papers stamped. I then went back to the Aduana where they gave me temporary papers for my bike, which are valid for 5 days, plus my bike back.

Fourth, within the 5 days, I went to the Registro Civil to get my papers and new plates. I took my ROL and the temporary Aduana paperwork, paid something (I can't remember how much but not a lot) and they gave me new temporary paperwork and my plates. The permanent paperwork gets sent to the address for your ROL after some amount of time, again can't remember.

Fifth, go to Revision Tecnica to get your bike approved for the road. His cost about 20,000CLP and was pretty painless. They check emissions, lights and brakes more or less.

Then it's legitimately a Chilean bike, albiet Zona Franca. Therefore, the bike cannot be in Chile but outside of the Zona Francas of Magallanes, Aysen and Iquique for more than 90 days per year. You cannot pay more taxes to get the bike liberated/for normal plates suitable for all of Chile. Used bikes (and cars) can only be imported under the Zona Franca rules apparently. But the bike can leave Chile no problems, and stay outside Chile as long as the owner likes.

The whole process took about 5 days for me and that was during the New Year period. Hope this is helpful to someone out there.