I am looking at traveling overland to Australia and then on to NZ from the UK. I want to then leave my bike with friends in NZ, return to Europe to work for a year before returning to NZ to pick up the bike and return via South AMerica to the UK. How does it work with the carnet as it seems from what some people say, I wouldn`t be able to leave NZ without the bike

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Geoff, the problem is not that you can't leave - you can, the carnet is on the bike, not you. You just have to renew the carnet to keep it in effect, otherwise you will be in deep...

The point of the carnet is that if you do abandon or sell the BIKE in a country, the government gets the carnet money in lieu of you paying customs duty as you should have. They don't care about YOU.

When you finally return to the UK you can discharge the carnet no problem as long as you have matching entry and exit stamps. That's it.

You must keep the carnet document with you, don't leave it with the bike when you return, as you will have to give it to your carnet supplier in order to get it renewed at the end of the year. (In our experience Carnet must be renewed annually)

You may want to confirm wih your carnet company and NZ customs that a stay of one year in NZ won't be a problem. It may, thats a long time.

Note that you don't actually need a carnet for NZ, and in your case you may not want to use one.

From the Shipping page in Tripplanning:
"At the customs office - a five minutes walk from the air terminal at Christchurch - the custom's official will ask for the value of the bike, then take 12.5% (NZ GST) of the amount and that is the amount that will be asked for and kept in an account that is established and held until you depart."

Contact NZ customs for clarification, they're easy to deal with, and it's not like they were one of the "more difficult" countries.

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Grant Johnson

Share the Dream!
at: www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Geoff,
If your bike is going to be in New Zealand unused for a year it is possible to place the bike in a rental fleet for the summer and earn a bit of money.

This may not appeal to you at all, and of course there are limited risks, although the bike would be fully insured of course.

Just a thought. Te Wai Tours in New Zealand, in which I have an interest, has been running since 1987, and has over 50 bikes in the fleet and does this quite a bit. We run the Beach Motorcycle Adventures' tours of New Zealand for Beachs of New York. And German tours for the German ADAC.

The bulk of the fleet is BMWs 850Rs and F650s, but we have small numbers of many different bikes from small trailies to Harleys.

You could specify your bike to be used on tours only.

As mentioned by Grant, New Zealand does not care about imports much as long as you pay the 12.5% GST.

If this idea interests you at all, let me know some possible dates and I will check with the guys in Christchurch.

cheers
Peter