The purpose of this thread is to share experiences about shipping bikes from Europe to Argentina. Here is ours :

Option : container
Date : December 2006
Costs :
Shipping : 1200 Euros
Port taxes, papers, and handling in Buenos Aires : 700 Euros

Total cost : 1900 Euros

Cost per motorcyle
For 2 : 850 Euros For 6 : 320 Euros

Time frame :

Bike shipping : about one month
Taking the motorcycles out of Buenos Aires Harbour : 6 days of intense work and walk around the city center, lots of waiting and misinformed lowly cooperative civil servants.

Place to organise it all : Dakar Motos
Dakar motos is conveniently located not far from the train station (half an hour ride), with a super market in the surroundings a fairly safe surrounding and an ISDN (128 kbs) wifi internet connection. They have 4 bunk beds in the garage and a small garden to socialise. Javier and Sandra offer very convenient services like bike storage (70 to 120 pesos a month), shipping assistance (150 USD) and accomodation (25 pesos a night). If there is no bed left, they can lend you a tent for camping. The living space is quite limited tho so if you need some privacy, it s better for you to go to an hotel in the surroundings and visit during day time.

For shipping back, from Sandra s point of view, selling the bike is not an option since a foreign registration makes it very difficult to find a buyer, unless you have a very specific bike (like an Enfield for example). The easiest but more expensive option is to use an air cargo : fast shipping, no administrative hassle, no need to take care of the crating and you can keep one liter petrol in the tank. The cost for Europe is around 1200 dollars per bike (a bike will be quoted automaticly 500 kg)

Feel free to add your comments if you did the same experience, it would be nice to have one common thread to share our experiences so that travellers get the most complete feedback for them to make a choice.

I hope this helps...

Philippe

As you say, ship the bike from anywhere to BuenosAires could be a nightmare or very simple. That depends of which company you will use.
Could be a container or a crate, but the time to take it out from the port change with the company. Could be one week or two days.
The company, the correct papers will make the difference.. The best is enquire about the company and the papers in advance.
Feel free to ask me about that before you arrange the shipping. It will save you of a lot of headaches.
Sandra.
www.DakarMotos.com

True Sandra, I forgot that detail.

If you ship a container, make sure that the european company made individual papers for each bike rather than a gleneral paper for the container. If they didn t, the argentinian shipping agency will charge you some stupid price for each additional paper (170 dollars (500 pesos)) for a piece of paper that doesnt need more than half an hour of administrative work, while the minimum salary is at around 2 dollars an hour (5 pesos)).

Dont be too surprised too if a civil servant is busy watching a football match during the short time the offices are open...disturbing him might make him moodish and uncooperative...after all you dont pay his salary, the government does. Smiling, keeping a low profile, patience (and fluent spanish) are precious skills to get your bikes out of their temporary prison, but they might not be sufficent to free them ...quickly.

But after all, one of the pleasures of travelling is to experience different cultures...and dealing with the argentine admisnistration is certainly a memorable human experience

Sandra, I sent you an email thru the HUBB regarding assistance in airfreighting my KLR 650 from BsAs to Los Angeles around the 5th or 6th of Jan. I see you offer that assistance. You can email me at rick dot mcd at verizon dot net. Thanks
Rick McDermed

I just answer your mail Rick.
Hope i can help you