Hey!

So I had a beautiful Kawasaki Super Sherpa that I drove from Canada down to Argentina but unfortunately due to covid I had to leave my moto at a friend's house in Buenos Aires and fly back to Canada in April this year.

I would love to be able to fly back down to Argentina and finish my trip to patagonia but I imagine it will be a long time before we could do that again?

So say hypothetically I waited until September 2021 to go back. Would I even be legally able to drive my moto then? The TIP for the moto is already expired. Would Argentina be making new exceptions for foreign vehicles given the covid situation?

My other option is to sell the bike for scraps to my friends cousin for a couple bucks. Kind of a sad end for such an amazing moto but I feel like there's not really any other option now.

I was wondering if anyone else has any clue as to what is going on concerning the logistics of the situation. Did anyone else here leave a moto behind in a far away land?

Chances are, the Argentinian authorities and border guards will be understanding of the situation and either pass a specific regulation exempting people from fines over expired TIPs when exiting the country, or just quietly telling the border guards to look the other way.

But we have to get to the point where people can actually fly down easily again...

Have you been in contact with the authorities at all? I would expect that it is better to talk to them and get clarification and information at this stage then trust to luck / kind border guards. They may tell you how long any extension would be granted for and how to apply for an extension so removing doubts and allowing you to make informed decisions.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

I imagine there are a fair number of folks in the same boat.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

We have the same problem here. Our two bikes are also stored in Buenos Aires. We paused our TIPs, so it seems like, they could stay in the country forever. However they can't be moved like that.

Shipping them back to Europe is not worth anymore. Selling the bike is not possible. Somebody said, that there might be a way to get rid of it legally, by passing it to the officials and they will scrap it. That would be extremely sad though.

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www.rtwriders.com
www.instagram.com/moto_miri and www.instagram.com/rtwriders

So I'm looking like I'll just sell the bike to my friend's cousin. At least he might have some fun with the parts.

I guess my only problem would be if I ever go back to Argentina and I run into problems at the border when they see I left a vehicle there? I feel like the aduana wouldn't really notice or say anything about an old TIP if I went back to Argentina again years from now.

Yes, that is for sure.

My motorcycle (Honda ST 1100) is currently in storage in Tunisia - I left it there at the beginning of April 2020 when I repatriated back to Canada at the start of the COVID pandemic.

The Tunisians had already announced that they had suspended the normal rule that foreign vehicles had to leave the country with (and at the same time) as the owner who temporarily imported them for touristic purposes.

I suspect that most jurisdictions in the world will be quite forgiving and quite understanding when it comes to vehicle overstays caused by COVID repatriations - I doubt that Argentina will be any different, in your case particularly because the bike is from so far away (Canada, not simply a neighboring country).

You might consider writing the Argentinean consular representative in Canada and describing your situation, and ask them if there is anything special you should do when you return to pick up the bike.

I do suggest you take with you the passport you used to enter and exit Argentina (in case you have renewed your passport in the meantime) - that will enable you to show officials when you left the country, and that you did not do any other travelling between leaving Argentina and returning to Canada. That would support your position that you involuntarily left the bike behind, and have returned to collect it as soon as you reasonably could.

Michael

In 2013, I knew two guys that left their motorcycles in Buenos Aires and returned home to New Zealand. They thought they could make arrangements remotely to have the bikes shipped, but later learned they needed to present the paperwork in person. That meant flying back to Argentina for the sole purpose of organizing and managing the shipping. It's been 7 years and the rules may have changed, so it's only possible the owner will need to return to Argentina to ship a bike home. On the positive side, Argentina is a nice place to visit.

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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