We left Australia in November 2004 with our bikes and carnet. We visited Sth East Asia and then onto UKand back to Thailand in feb 2008. We didn't extend our carnet, didn't know we could or had to. Just shipped our bikes back to Brisbane, Australia and got a quote from freight forwarders of $AUD 1320/ bike. To say we were stunned would be an understatement. Carnets have expired, customs not interested in them, will stamp so we can get money back from AAA. We thought it would be easy as the bikes were originally from Australia, so make sure you keep your carnets active, I guess this applies to all countries?
Below is an outline of the fees:

Port fees $450 / bike
Custom clearance $385 /bike
Quarantine clearance and fees $485/bike
Total: $1320/bike

Some of these fees are unavoidable:some port fees and customs/AQIS fees.

We have cleared the bikes ourselves today, with a lot of help from both customs and a company in Sydney,(details I will give in Transport forum).

Port fees: $450/bike
Customs Clearance: @$48/bike
AQIS: @$51/bike

Total: $550/bike

How do the companies justify charging such sums, customs clearance was 4 forms.

We used the customs office in Brisbane city, they were extremely helpful. We had had a not so good experience at customs at the airport.

BEWARE: Freight Forwarders

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