I'm begging for help. BMW HP2 seized by peruvian customs who claim property is lost.
 

Hello,

So on 29th of November the Motorcycle of my traveling buddy model BMW HP2 got seized by the peruvian customs while crossing the Peruvian border.
Quick summary of the story :
On September 5th, we enter the territory of Peru with a bunch of people. We all get a 90 days permit, he gets a 30 days. He did not notice he has a 30 days permit as he doesn't speak Spanish and assumes he gets the same as everyone else.
Later on the 25th of september, he goes back to the US for medical reasons. He comes back around mid-November, not knowing how ****ed up he is.
The 29th of November, he tries to cross the Border to Chile. The customs lie to him the whole day to get him to park the bike in a enclosed area where he will not be able to escape.

NOW, THE PERUVIAN LAW SAYS THAT AFTER 30 DAYS OF PASSING THE DATE OF YOUR PERMIT YOU CAN PAY A FINE BUT AFTER THAT YOU LOSE PROPERTY OF YOUR VEHICLE.
:: SUNAT ::

But... We're not going to leave a 15,000$ bike without fighting for it especially since he sold everything he had to buy it and go moto adventuring. He makes money with phono and the Peruvian custom just ruined his life right now... It makes me so sad because he was doing everything legal : real papers, SOAT payed etc.... While I've had friends traveling without even real ownership and having everything photoshopped. It seems like it's better to fake everything in these countries.

Anyway, we are really desperate and fighting for it since already 4 days at the border. This is a terrible situation as he has all his motorcycle adventure gear here and is loosing the property of his main source of income and what made his life what it was.

We will be meeting with the manager of the border today and desperately but very discretely try to suggest a bride as we do not want to end up in a peruvian jail but...

If anyone has any suggestion to get out of this horrible situation, please tell us.

Best regards

Peruvian customs
 

Welcome to the Hubb.

What a horrible situation, dont know what to say or how to help at the moment.

Hope your bribe will work, but dont even think about 100 Usd, you will have to give him a lot more than that. Good luck. Suerte.

Peruvian customs (and also Bolivian customs) are famous for confiscating travelers bikes with expired documents. I live in Bolivia and I can tell you some stories of travelers loosing their bikes/cars. In one story a German female rider managed to bribe Peruvian customs before the bike was confiscated, she had overstayed by six weeks and she spoke fluent Spanish, and she knew what to expect with the expired document.

Pls keep us up to date about your fight to get the bike back. Maybe somebody here on the Hubb has an idea what to do, or whom to contact.

Suerte
mika

Hey guys,

Just giving a quick update. The bike is lost.

What an awful story. Hope your friend can bounce back and not let it drag him down too much.

That blows. This is one of the reasons I traveled on a 3000$ bike.

KLR
 

Hello
Met a New Zealand guy who was one day late on his KLR and he lost it even after employing a Local lawyer and paying for him. His story was the army guys with guns came out and seived his bike and it was moved into a compound full of confiscated vehicles.
He got a visa extension of but after all the running around had to leave his bike.
Sure there are plenty of other stories.

funny how some people from some of these latin countries with truly draconian customs laws have the nerve to bitch about the immigration laws of other countries.