Hello,

We are planning on shipping four bikes into Argeninta from Canada. We have been told we will need a carnet to clear the bikes through customs in Ushuaia. Is this true? We will be leaving Argentina days after arriving, and within a month we will be back in Canada. Is it worth getting a Carnet. Do we need one? Will it make crossing borders easier?

Rob Noble
Noble Quest - Argentina to Alaska on V-Strom 650s

A carnet has not been required for South America for quite some time now...

I havnt been there but it seems the rule now !

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Hello,
I am on the trip form Patagonia to New York City. We started in Buenos Aires and shipped our bike there in November. You don' t need a carnet. In none of the countries down there. We are in Panama right now. You can follow our trip on www.ernasreisen.com

In some countries customregulations of landborders and seaports may be a world apart (like Brazil), but for Argentina both land- and portcustoms do not require a Carnet and will fill out a temporary import permit for you(valid for 8 months)

Our shipping company has been insistent on us getting a Carnet. We got ahold of the person here in Canada that deals with Carnets and she advised us that it would be wise to get a carnet for crossing borders as well. The port in Ushuaia has told us that to bring our bikes in we need a carnet. Does anyone know where i can get ahold of some legal documents stating that carnets are not required in Argentina for shipping?

Rob
Noble Quest - Argentina to Alaska on V-Strom 650s

Have shipped twice to Argentina(Buenos Aires) and did not need a carnet. They(customs) asked if I had one (probably easier for them instead of filling out a form themselves)and when I responded I had none they just said that´s fine so we will fill in a form for you.....

Just a thought, but have you tried the Argentine Embassy in Ottawa-Ontario?

Regards, Mick

Rob (noblequest)

Just so you know, the record of 35 days for travel between Prudhoe Bay Alaska and Ushuaia was broken last year (twice).

Dave Gerulski did the run 34 for 40 - Benefitting the Pat Tillman Foundation and managed to get the time down to 27 days 7 hours and 52 minutes. Check the old threads on this forum under Motorcycle Events around the world.

Less than a month later, the record was supposedly beaten again by Dick Fish, a well known Ironbutt Rally participant who has finished near the top. Dick Fish's ride wasn't publicized at all. His time: 21 days 2 hours.

I think your ride is a most noble fund raising journey and wish you the absolute very best.

Thank You for your kind wishes,

We are very familiar with Dave’s attempt. In fact we followed his ride each day with great interest. Although Dave’s ride was a truly amazing feat, he did not follow the rules as set out by Guinness. The most significant rule Dave failed to abide by was failing to start his South American run at the Northern Coast. The rules require the South American portion of the ride include either Cartegena or Baranqilla, (On our webpage we have a list of the requirements as set out by Guinness … Noble Quest - Argentina to Alaska on V-Strom 650s ) Guinness also requires two witnesses to sign a log book each day. We do not wish, in any way, to diminish Dave’s accomplishments. His ride was truly amazing and it supported and brought awareness to a great cause. (I must confess I’m curious about what happened to Ryan and Donny). However Dave’s interpretation of only having to cross every line of latitude was not the official rule.

Dick Fish also set a mind blowing time to complete the journey, ( I wish he has been more public, as it would've been a very interesting read) Again, however, not by the same rules dictated to Kevin and Julia by Guinness. If you refer to the Globebusters site (GlobeBusters) you’ll see Kevin and Julia went through Caracas, Venezuela and had to backtrack in order to get to Cartagena, Colombia in order to follow the Guinness rule. This set them back a few days, as they had originally planned to ride south through Brazil. It is actually this backtrack that makes this record attainable. We contacted Kevin and Julia, the current and, because of Guinness’ decision to no longer recognize attempts, the eternal Official Holders of this record to verify these rules.

Our goal is to follow the same rules that Guinness set out for Kevin and Julia, and accomplish the ride in fewer days. It is obviously possible, with some modification to either Dave or Dicks ride they could've followed the same rules, so with that we have more hope. We figure we have some advantages, remember, Kevin and Julia did the ride with Kevin riding the whole way himself with Julia two up. With four riders on solo bikes we feel we will be safer in remote areas. My brother Justin is a Suzuki mechanic and we believe we can set the route more efficiently, ride as a group more safely, abide by all the rules and still beat the current official record. Again we know we will never actually hold the Guinness record. And if we wanted to beat Dick Fish's record we would likely have to take a flight from Quito to Mexico City
All the best,
Have a Great Day,
Rob Noble
Noble Quest - Argentina to Alaska on V-Strom 650s

Thanks for clearing all that up!!!

Again.....all my best to you and your journey with its most noble cause.

Hi,
carnets are not required by law but they don't half make things easier than trying to do it all with registration docs and temporary import. I've been here with vehicles on carnets for nearley 5 years and seen many people having trouble without carnets eg a few months ago there was a Brasilian on a trike at Desaguadero (Peru-Bolivia), he'd been there 3 huors before I arrived , I was done in about 10mins and metup with him about an hour latter. The Boli customs saw my bike and thought they had another long job on and when they saw the carnet threw hands in the air,big smile, stamped it and gone. I think that a lot to do with it is that there are a lot of overland tour companies here who are regularly going through most of the borders with foreign trucks that are all on carnets and so customs know what to do with a carnet most of the time .
Fraser

I have travelled over almost 400.000 km in south america and crossed borders an unaccountable amount of times and never ever had problems for not having a carnet. The reason for Overland Trucks is that the vehicle is not in the drivers name (in most cases) and than a Carnet makes life a lot easier. OK,it takes a bit more time to fill in a temporary import form compared to Carnet stamping but therefor it is all for free. The Carnet is not.(I mean the yearly costs plus the deposit or insurance )The choice is yours.

Hi Rob:
I ‘m making a course to be custom agent. I asked about the carnet to one of my teachers and she told me you don’t need it to get a temporary import in Ushuaia.
May be you can get more info here:
Custom: USHUAIA
Administrador : ECHEGOYEN,Gustavo
Phone : +54 ( 02901)-431586
open: 07:30 a 16:00 hs
e-mail: gechegoyen@afip.gov.ar
Hope be useful.
Sandra
www.DakarMotos.com