Carnet and Someone Else's Bike
 

Hi Folks,

Ive done a fair bit of looking around here and am left with a couple of small questions that I need to ask just to clear this all up for me.

My plan is to get an Austria citizen (friends) to buy a bike for me, register and insure it in thier name. Then give me all the paperwork along with a letter stating that it is thier bike but they are loaning it to me for a period of time.

I am going to be touring southern Europe and it from what I can see, I wont need carnets in any of the countries.

I wonder though, in place of a carnet may I have to pay taxes or something? Will this happen in every country and what approximate cost will I be looking at? Will it be easier to get a carnet?

Also. It seems Romania and Turkey may be my only problem areas. I am Australian and so I think both those countries will give me a visa and bike entry for just a couple of months at the border. Can I expect large costs for these?

Lastly, I can find no information on visa's or carnets for Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Andorra, Switzerland and Lichtenstein (please forgive my spelling). I assume they will be similar to the rest of Europe, is that a fair assumption?

Thank you very much for any help you can give.

My main worry is that although they say "carnet not needed" does that mean I can freely enter with this bike (registered by an Austrian citizen) or will I get hit with costs that could be avoided with a carnet?

Thanks

1) the loan document ... see if you can get it isuued as a 'stauatory decularation' - the more official looking the better, more stamps = good.

2) Visas - on the left side you will see a menu - under trip planing - visas - click on that and it has a link for Ausie citisens that goes to a comercial site to advise you on what visas are required by us OS. EG Romainia has "Romania Visa required. The itinerary must state entry and exit dates and places. Must also provide proof of accomodation, travel insurance and financial support." Click on 'more details' to see teh rest - cost, validity etc.

3) carnet. Been a lot of talk on this ... another thread - http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000671.html

that has a link to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnet_de_Passage

Also under HU Trip Planning too.
Basicly if it is regoed in Europe you are right for most of Europe - look at the insurance for exclusions (Andora, Morocco are usual exclusions).

Thank you Frank. I had been through those links and searched this site, the questions I had in my first post were those that I either still couldnt find or were a little ambiguous.

I was hoping someone had been to some of these places with similar circumstances as I and could offer some help.

From my own experience I can tell you that ,yes you can get your friend to buy the bike for you but it is better that you insure it under your own name. In the past I have gone back to the Netherlands , my place of birth, a number of times and bought used bikes there and got them registered and insured under my own name . However in recent years with the advent of new EU regulations requiring a resident status of the owner, in order that they can keep a lid on illegal immigration AND so that they will have a known address ( read bank account ) to which to send any fines for traffic infractions. This has now has made such registration by foreigners tourists a practical impossibility .
However as you have a trusted friend in Austria you can do what I do now. As you suggest , you by a bike and have it registered in said friend´s name. You buy the insurance under your own name , and get the green card for all of Europe. I have had no problem buying such insurance for myself in the Netherlands at a local agent there. Any fines which you may be assigned for having sped through a photo-radar trap for example will be mailed to your friend, and of course you will pay them.
Using this method I have bought used vehicles ( sorry to say old cars because for a while used bike prices were absurd) several times and travelled all over Europe , form the Balkans, through Eastern Europe both before and after the fall of The Wall,and Scandinavia. This summer I intend to go back and buy a BIKE again.
The only additional costs are related to the annual(?) vehicle inspection and change of ownership papers and road taxes due.Regulations probably vary some between countries, but in the Netherlands it is a pretty annoying set of rules, they even assess a tax for a vehicle if it is just being stored and never touches a road.
Don't know about all the requirements for visas for an Aussie , but I suspect there are very few demands .
Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Sjoerd Bakker (edited 09 February 2006).]

[This message has been edited by Sjoerd Bakker (edited 09 February 2006).]

Thanks for your help Sjoerd. That eases my mind a lot. Ill look at purchasing my own insurance then, that makes good sense.

Cheers