We are 3 overlanders from Europe on our own motorbikes being stuck in India. We all need to leave India for individual reasons and come back a few months later to continue our trip in India.

Has anyone ever attempted to leave India without his/her bike?
Is it possible to leave the bikes at a customs storage? Any experience?
Ideally, we'd prefer to leave the bikes at a friends place in Delhi though.

Alternatively, would this be possible in Nepal?

You see many bikes in hotel grounds wrapped and waiting for their owners to return, try and do a deal with a good hotel or bike shop, the latter will do a service just before you arrive back.

If you have a valid carnet it is no problem to leave the bikes there.

Remember your bike must not stay in India on a carnet for more than 180 days, they do check when leaving, I am not sure what the consequences are for overstaying but it could be a problem.

I think officially you would need to take the vehicle out of the carnet-country, when you leave. But I don´t recall having anything about the vehicle on my passport, while we were in India, so I guess it would be possible in practice to leave for a while.

+1 for not having anything marked in my passport.

__________________
TurboCharger + Francois (our BMW R1200gs) '07
www.riding2up.net, blog.riding2up.net

Hi BigTomsRide (or is it still Bryn?),

Here are the facts (from a previous post).

Ultimately, you can keep you bike in India as long as you like noting that a) your carnet will run out (ie. you pay some appropriate fine meted out by whomever does carnet related fines) and b) you will go over the Indian duty-free six month exemption period (per twelve months) that you are granted for having a carnet. After the six months, when you do finally leave you will be charged duty at whatever the prevailing rate is pro-rata for either the period over six months or the whole time the vehicle has been in India (it's not clear which let alone what the rate is).

You can get a one-time-only six month extension to the duty-free period.

I asked out of curiosity and they said explicitly that they had no facilities for storage at Delhi airport -- I had read elsewhere some suggestion of customs storage at Delhi airport but it was an explicit no this time.

My bike is at a friend's gaff at the end of Delhi airport and hopefully tomorrow he'll be posting my request for a six month extension. I've heard that getting an extension is not a problem.

However, the inconsistent documentation can be read as "you must remain with the vehicle in India." ie. you can't go home leaving the bike in India.

I have gone home so we'll see what happens. Note that I'm not in India to actually collect my extension or present any paperwork and am relying on a senior person in customs' suggestion that when I do return I bluff my way through the bureaucracy claiming they've been incompetent and ignored my request.

mark manley reports that they do check on leaving. I left India twice on my way round (to Bhutan and to Bangladesh) but it's hard to say if they were checking whether I'd exceeded 180 days and nothing would have been flagged anyway as it was within a couple of months of first entering. At Jaigaon (border with Bhutan) I had to instruct the guy on what to do as it was his first day. I had the impression that at Attari Road LCS (border with PK) they were a bit more clued up.

Cheers,

Ian

Hi Tom,
Nice to hear from you. Thierry Wilhelm left his bike in India and flew to Phillipines and intends to get it back soon.
Right person to help you.
Cheers
Omar