I guess this is more of a ride tale, but as it has to do with CDPs i thought it should go here. My friend and I did a hell of a lot of research for this and that plus our subsequent exprience may come in handy for someone in the future. I apologise in advance for the length

Quick intro: The two of us are Australian's (and EU dual nationals) and we purchased bikes in Germany which we registered and insured there. Our plan was to ride them from Berlin to Tehran via the Caucasus then back again via Kurdistan and Turkey. No hassles, except that we needed a CDP for Iran and given that we were on a pretty tight budget (and couldn't afford the bond) we needed to find an alternative.

Enter the HUBB! After some searching here we happened upon a gentleman called Hossein, a tour agent based in Iran who could organise a CDP at the border for a somewhat reasonable fee. We got in contact with him and he told us the fee was €400 per bike. We decided that while this was quite pricey it was nothing compared to what we would be charged by a CDP insurer (for the fee and the bond) so we went for it.

Our initial fears of it being a scam were quite quickly put at ease and over the next few weeks we were in constant contact with him via email. He assured us that it would be no problem. A couple of weeks out though he informed us that the fee would in fact be €500 per bike as he had to drive from his home town in Astara to Norduz where we were crossing. While we were a little annoyed at this, we had come this far and we were not going to miss Iran! We arrived at the Meghri-Norduz border crossing on the morning of the 20th of October and this is where the fun really started.

We went through the usual passport checks and waited for Hossein to turn up. When he did he took our documentation, passports and money and asked us what our plans were for Iran. We told him what we planned to see and that we were thinking of leaving via Kurdistan. Concerned he asked "can you get into Iraq and then into Turkey?" to which we replied "we think so". He said "Thinking is not knowing" then disappeared into the customs hall. We decided that maybe we should just give Kurdistan a miss and head into Turkey instead.

After a while he reemerged and told us that it would take about an hour to complete things and in the mean time we should have some tea and look at a map so he can show us some good things to see in Iran. For this he was amazing. Hossein is a very knowledgeable (and eccentric!) guy with a very good grasp of English, and his advice was invaluable. For anyone visiting Iran I would suggest getting in contact with him to get some advice on things to see.

After the "Iranian" hour (5 hours in the real world!) had passed and we had our documents in hand, we were able to leave. Hooray! As we were about to part ways he informed us that these "carnets" would only be valid for 4 days (!) and if we wanted to stay longer we had to pay an extra USD$20 per bike per day. Ouch. As well as this we needed to contact his "associate" once we got to the border with Kurdistan who would also cost USD$20 per bike as a service fee. At this point we had no choice and were stuck with this arrangement. We asked if the guy could meet us at one of the Turkish borders because we weren't sure if we wanted to leave via Kurdistan and he told us that it would be "impossible". We had said that we were leaving via Kurdistan and that we had no option other than to cancel the Carnet at the Kurdish border and get a new one issued to leave via Turkey (at a cost of €400!).

After some initial panicking then some lengthy internet research we decided that going via Kurdistan actually wasn't a bad idea and we would stick with our initial plan. We spent a total of 11 days in the country and headed for Piranshahr and Kurdistan. Here the fun started all over again!

We arrived on the 29th at around lunch time (we had pre-arranged that this is when we would meet the guy there) and waited for a while. We called Hossein who informed us that the border was closed at midday for the day (which later we were sure was a way to get more money from us) and that we would have to come back the next day. Disappointed to headed back to Piranshahr and got a hotel. We were on the border bright and early the next day looking for the guy and after some waiting around we were approached by another fellow who offered to help us. He ended up being our knight in shining armour! Over the next 5 hours he cursed, haggled, argued and negotiated for us amidst a strike by the customs officials and managed to get us out for only USD$5 a day. a fee which he insisted was the official rate.

Just as we were about to get on our bikes (literally) these two young guys in cheap suits came up and started arguing with our guy. He told us that they were the guys meant to help us out and that they were demanding their fee otherwise they were going to cause big troubles for us. Only 5 hours late fellas! A call to Hossein confirmed this and he informed us that we had to pay them USD$80 for their "trouble". While we were pissed off we didn't have many options. Our guy told us that they would definitely create a problem with the already cranky customs officials and that we should just pay and "leave Iran and never come back". Begrudgingly we did and just as were were motoring towards passport control our friend came up and said "those bastards offered me some of your money for doing their job. I told them to f**k off". What a legend. Not only that but they said to him "why didn't you charge them more per day? We were going to charge them $25 per bike each day"! An amount which we probably would've paid given we had little other choice.

Long story short, Hossein offers a service, but at a price. Be well aware that the border you select at entry is what you are locked into, and that on exit, the dodgy buggers handling things will more than likely try to extort large amounts of money from you.

Marty

EDIT: In the above I am referring to Hossein Ravanyar. In the interests of full transparency, I was asked in a PM by Hossein Sheykhlou to clear this up. Apologies for any confusion.

Hi, your post was really helpful. My husband and I (who are also Australian but unfortunately don't have EU passports) are planning to drive from the UK to Iran as soon as we get the practicalities sorted. We then want to drive back to the UK and sell the car there. We are in Germany now and would love to buy the car here but can't because we aren't residents and they won't let you buy a car on a tourist visa. Bummer!

I just posted another thread about this but then saw your post here and thought you might be able to help. We are trying to figure out the best way to buy insurance. The international insurance companies we have spoken to have said they will cover us for Europe and Turkey but not for Iran or the Stans. Did you buy international insurance or purchase it at the border? From my research you need to have third party to enter Iran, and it would seem logical to buy it there rather than through an international insurance (who charge a fortune), but I haven't been able to find any information on whether this is possible / how to go about it.

Thanks for any help you can offer, and thanks again for your earlier post!

Hello Anabelle,

in Germany you can buy a vehicle with numberplate for export.For this you dont need to be resident.For the carnet ask the ADAC.I did many times a carnet with them.It is very easy.You pay the fee and the deposit and after your travel you get your money back.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your suggestion. We looked at export plates in Germany, but we want to be able to bring the car back to Germany to sell which you can't do if you get the export plates. It was also our understanding that insurance is very hard to arrange without a German (or at least EU) licence. In fact we spoke to ADAC who wouldn't insure us at all on a foreign licence.

Such a shame - we would have loved to buy a nice VW! :-)

Hello Annabelle,

insurance should not be a problem.Many people from outside EU come to Germany to buy cars.I think even with a export numberplate you can reimport the car.But you can sell,if you find a buyer,in EU without problems.But you need the stamp in the carnet from the customs in EU. that you brought back the car to EU.Without this stamp you get problems to get your money back.
If you have same good friends in Germany they can buy the car for you,put it on their name and with the ADAC you can do an autorisation the use the car.

Good luck

Mike

Giving this thread a bump as I am toying with heading for Iran next Spring. I understand that things may be loosening up somewhat after the Obama nuclear deal? Rumour has it that visas might be obtained via the Iranian Embassy in Istanbul? Can anyone comment on this?

From Scotland, get your visa for Iran in dublin. Same day service.

Latest from UK gov: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-ad...y-requirements

"British nationals need a visa to travel to Iran. These are only available from Iran’s diplomatic and consular missions. The Iranian Embassy in London re-opened on 23 August 2015 and can offer further advice on visa requirements.

....

Some British nationals have experienced considerable difficulties trying to get visas from private online visa agencies."

I successfully obtained a visa earlier this year (using Hossien's services) and it was a right faff - paper work needed months in advance, approval only received days before I set off, collected it from the embassy in Istanbul, it all cost a fortune ($50 to get the letter of intro and visa approval number from Hossien, $300 to get the visa from the embassy!) I met some Swiss travelers (riding with GlobeBusters) in the embassy who paid the princely sum of $80 in total.

On top of that, UK travelers (and US and Canadian) need to either travel in an organised tour, or pay for a guide - from memory, day rates for the guide (including hotels which need to be pre booked and confirmed) were $250 per day.

The sooner the UK and Iran improve their processes the better!

Dave