Originally Posted by Tony LEE

I'm more familiar with the situation in South America where sometimes people buy a vehicle but have no way of getting the paperwork in their name so they drive it under a poder/power of attorney. Inevitably the original registration becomes invalid, the new owner never legally owns the vehicle in a manner that entitles him to drive it on the road, so insurance is probably invalid too. How that relates to your situation I have no idea since it probably doesn't arise very often, unlike in the Americas where it is standard (but still illegal) procedure
I know for instance, that Turkey and Morocco insist on the paperwork and passport having the same name or else have a document that explains the difference. Our German motorhome is "owned, registered and insured" by a German company acting as out proxy. This means rego is in their name and at both those borders I had to convince them that we were the real owners and all we had was a sales agreement written in German. Luckily the Noroccan customs bloke used a bit of common sense and pushed the import form back to me and told me to add my name under the Company name. The Turkish lady was adamant that I wouldn't get in but luckily an english and german speaking official came along and smoothed the way in. Her beef was the letter of ownership had our names but not our passport numbers so she had no way of verifying we hadn't stolen the motorhome. Good on her for doing her job, but it was a bit of a worry for a while.
Again, how that relates to your situation I don't know but you need to find out now rather than on a lonely border into a 'Stan country. Also as others have said, Carnet purchase might also be problematic if you need one for India and Iran and ???
Or maybe not

Originally Posted by Marathon Rider

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone knows what the best process is for temporarily transferring ownership of a foreign registered motorcycle (Thailand) from its owner to me so that I can have all paperwork like reg. papers, carnets etc, in my name? The plan is to ride the bike from France to Thailand and return it to its owner, who lives in Bangkok. I get the impression that trying to make such a journey with just a 'power of Attorney' document won't be sufficient... Here's hoping someone can help with advice?!

Originally Posted by Pongo

If you are U.K. based you would be advised to get the bike to the U.K. ( physically), and perhaps register it in your name. There is no such thing as a temporary transfer of ownership or registered keeper.



Your best bet is to get your friend in Thailand to have your name included on his registration document as a second owner, which would help enormously.



1.You will not be able to do anything with the bike in France unless you are a French resident or have a permanent provable address here.



2. If you go the re registration route in the U.K., it must conform to the standards required for registration, and usually a European Certificate of conformity is required for imported bikes so that it is compliant to Uk and European road worthiness standards. A thai registered bike might not conform as regulations are different. However if it is a well known brand ( like a BMW or other) a cert of conformity might be available from the manufacturer for EU registration. You need to contact the manuf and ask.



3. The bike must be registered to you in order to get European Insurance. Insurance companies do not issue policies to people who are not on the registration document. Letters of permission/afidavits do not apply. The bike MUST be insured by the owner(s) on the registration document and any other rider must be named on the owners policy. It is very unwise and illegal to ride or drive any vehicle in Europe without proper cover.



4. The International regulations for vehicles in circulation states that all vehicles must conform to the roadworthiness regulations of the country of registration. If your friend in Thailand could get you on his reg document and the bike insured in Thailand with you named as the insured, your pretty much covered. The only issue is that the bike must conform to the roadworthiness requirements in thailand, so if it needs an annual check up ( like an MOT) or annual tax paid it's going to be tricky if it hasn't got them.



4. For your carnet de passage, EVERYTHING should match up before the document is applied for.



If you like jumping through hoops and are determined to do this you will succeeed somehow, but it's not going to be easy and it will take sometime to sort out. I have my doubts as to whether you can do this in three months, unless your friend in Thailand can give you some considerable help with documentation.



Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Originally Posted by moep

how did the owner ride to france? the easiest option would be if all the paperwork stays the same and you ride with his carnet and paperwork

just did the same from mongolia to germany, a Power of Attorney was all I needed
the bike wasn't registered in my name but they only wanted to see the attorney at one border