American with a bike registered in the Philippines going to Australia
 

Hi,

I am an American expat living/working in Manila. I own a 2010 BMW F800GS that I bought here locally and it is legally registered in my name. I do plan to quit my job and go to Australia. I want to ship my motorcycle and travel for several months around Australia. I know I need a carnet to enter Australia. My question is where do I get one? It seems that you are supposed to get the carnet from the country where your bike is registered. However, after looking around on-line, I can't find anything about getting a carnet issued from the Philippines.

To complicate things further, I will probably ship the bike back to the US after this trip. I will register it in the US. I don't plan to ship the bike back to the Philippines.

Anyone know who I should contact?

Thanks,
Frances

Bike in Manila
 

Frances,,
Why on earth, would you want to bring the bike out of Philipines?
As you know it costs at least 50% more than the states.
Sell the bike in Philipines,, buy a new one in the states then ship it to Australia or rent one there.
Both countries,, price of the vehicles are very expensive.
If you insist on using the one, from Phillipines ,, contact the automobile club of Manila.
See also,,
ATA Carnet System | ICC - International Chamber of Commerce

I've toured in Australia ,, lot of emptiness, but great scenery and nice people.
Enjoy.

I live in the Philippines and I already own the bike. It has been lowered and fitted with everything I want/need for a big trip (lights, hand guards, panniers, bash plate, crash bars, etc). The plan is to ship it directly from the Philippines to Australia. Selling the bike here is not practical. Very few people can afford them and it might sit here for a year unsold (tying up my money). I would probably loose thousands if I sold it anyway.

Renting a bike in Australia costs usually $100+/day so renting is out for a long trip. Buying and then reselling in Australia is also a hassle and I waste time in country that I could spend riding. Also keep in mind that I am a short woman, so any bike I buy I will need to spend a lot of time and money lowering so I can safely handle it. Plus I would then need to buy panniers, etc.

I have no plans to go back to American. I don't want to waste the time and money to fly there, buy a bike, then pay to ship the bike and fly myself and the bike back to Australia.

Right now all it will cost me sea freight to Australia. The bike can get a head start from Manila and I can meet it when it arrives in Darwin. Saves me time and money.

I have tried contacting the Automobile club of the Philippines. The person on the phone was useless but I emailed them as well. Still crossing my fingers on that one. I have also contacted 3 different shipping companies to see if they can give me any help/advice.

Thanks for the ATA link, but unfortunately, the Philippines is not a member of the ATA carnet system.

As for the emptiness of Australia, I am looking forward to it. I have to go commute home in a city of 15+ million people right now. I am tired of the congestion.

Philippines is not a member of the ATA carnet system.
 

Indeed because Phillipines does not require a carnet to import a vehicle ,, that only it is over 5 yers old and that you owned the vegicle for the past 5 years
Australia will recognise the ATA or Royal Automobile Club of UK or ADAC of Germany ,, you have to write to them..and possibly post a bank bond in equal amount to the valur of your bike. Also ACC in USA issues the carnet,, since you have an USA passport. I've also noticed some requires you to get the carnet in the country of your residence. Can you claim US then push in the Phillipine plates?
Let us know ,, a hubber here asked same question while back ,, never found out the results.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...sia-moto-66768

Good luck.

>Also ACC in USA issues the carnet,, since you have an USA passport. I've also noticed some requires you to get the carnet in the country of your residence.

Actually....no.
The (US) AAA does _NOT_ issue any flavor of Carnet. US Citizens needing a Carnet need to go through the Canadian Automobile Association.

Because the OP is a US Citizen, yet an expat in a whole 'nother country (with a vehicle purchased & registered in her own name in that country), this will (probably) come back as some form of "You can't get there from here".

Frances, I wish you a LOT of luck. Please keep us all posted as to your success/failure.

Ok,

You don't have to use a Carnet for Australia .. but it is usually easier to go that way. If not using a carnet then you have to pay the gov something like 10% of the value of the bike to them.. then when the bike leaves you should get most of that back. You'll need to sort it out before you leave with OZ customs.

Sea freight .. if you can .. don't leave home until the bike has almost arrived in OZ... The shipping company should tell you the boat it leaves on, the boat it is arriving on (sometimes they swap boats - usually Singapore.. but that may not happen). This way any delays in it leaving can be dealt with without having to fly back!

Frances,
Along with the OZ Carnet issue (much easier to use the method Warin suggests),
you should know/ be reminded that you canNOT import your R12GS into the USA--"permanently," to eventually re-register it there--UNLESS the 12GS is/ was originally manufactured to USA (DOT safety, and EPA emissions) specifications.
I don't know whose/ which vehicle specifications are required by the
Phillipines, or used by the BMW importer in Manila. But you definately need to check in advance.

US government vehicle specification "conformance" is identified by an embossed metal plaque on the motorcycle frame installed at the time of original manufacture in Germany. The plaque will actually use the language to the effect that the particular bike VIN was manufactured in accordance with US government "FMVSS" (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards), etc.
If the Phillipines uses USA standards, and your bike has this USA standards plaque, no problem to import it into the US.
If the Phillipines uses different vehicle standards, e.g. Euro, OZ, or its own,--and you attempt to import the 12GS to the US by seafreight or airfreight--US Customs will either seize the vehicle, or force you to reship it to OZ.
There is technically a procedure available to "conform"/ change non-US vehicles to US standards, but this procedure is practically speaking unworkable and would cost you more than the 12GS is worth, even if could get through the US legal/ bureaucratic hoops.
For the sake of your overall plans, you MUST check on which national standards your 12GS was manufactured to, and if not originally US standards, give up plans to bring your bike to re-register in the US.
Good luck.

After reading through this site, I did find a contact person for the CAA (Suzanne Danis) and I emailed her directly. I explained that I am an American expat with a bike registered in the Philippines. I got a prompt response that said, "We can issue you a carnet because you are a US Resident". So that solves the first issue!:D

Not that it should matter, but I have a BMW F800GS (not the 1200). I will check and see where it is manufactured. I can check with the dealer and see if they import these from the US or Europe. Thanks for the tip.

Frances,

If this issue is still current (i.e. you have not yet departed the Philippines for Oz, and you still have questions) please PM me.

Peter H

Well I did find out that the bikes here in the Philippines are made to European specs, not US specs. So you are correct, it is not worth the hassle to try and bring the bike back to the US.

Lucky for me, my sister lives in Germany and she works for the US government. She is able to import the bike for me without having to pay any additional taxes and duties. It will get registered and have a US Army Europe licence plate on it.

Since I live and/or travel internationally for work, I will just keep the bike there and plan trips to Europe to use it. After looking at the costs and hassle to bring the bike to Oz, I think my preference is to offer my motorcycle in Germany (or my other bike in Denver CO, USA) in trade to borrow someones bike in OZ. Besides the issues of the carnet, I have discovered that because of the corruption issue in the Philippines, no one likes to do shipping business here. So far the cheapest quote to ship the bike from the Philippines to OZ is $5000 US.