I've read here and there that buying a bike in Chile is relatively easy and economical. Can anyone confirm this, specifically as it relates to .... ease of title transfer ability to take out of country bike affordability Many thanks for any and all advice!
Hey Free Radical!! Here are my comments, I dont think is cheap is you compare Chile vs USA for example But in any case for buy one bike in Chile you need one chilean ID (RUT), you can receive one temporary, so this allow you buy, sold, move out with the bike from the country. Why is necessary? Bc you need that Chilean ID for the inscription and get bike ID plate. you can find motorbike from 1000USD (chinese) and the regular brands from 2000USD... . If you need something else let me know... ICU
Thanks, Vladtux! This helps a lot. Based on this and other collective wisdom, I think I'll "put in" at Santiago, ride down to Ushuaia, up to Montevideo and over to Salta Argentina prior to heading north to Colombia. The next trick will be to find an economical bike in Santiago. My hope is I'll find a traveler at about the same time I plan to arrive. Plan B will be to purchase a Chinese bike along with its baggage of questions regarding reliability. Jim
That's a great idea. Beats importing a bike and all that hassle/expense. Look in here.. http://www2.chileautos.cl for MOTO
Yeah if you can buy all the accessories outside is cool idea bc here are expensive. I have a friend from Canada and he bought one cheap honda (http://honda.cl/motos/calle-modelo-cgl-125.html) and bring almost all from there. With you country planning you must no have problems in found parts for replacement
I doubt you missed it. In fact, you rode all over it. Southern Cone is a term to describe the southern-most part of South America, south of the Tropic of Capricorn (i.e., Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay). Take a look at a map of the continent and you will see the 'cone'.
I figured that's what he's referring to but I've never heard it called that before so I asked, thanks.
I lived in chile for about a year in 2006 and bought a 99 Africa Twin with only-god-knows-how-many-miles on it and rode southamerica for a couple of months. Bike price was like almost double price than in NA or Europe (8.000 bucks) but still cheaper than in Argentina. You used to need a local ID (rut) to buy a vehicle there but no idea now. There was a little problem tough. Chile is a squared-mind country with strict custom regulations and they have a very stupid law that prevents you to take your own vehicles out of the country for a longer period than they dictate. So when you cross a border or ship your bike by plane they give you a custom temporary permit and you must return the vehicle before it expires. I have never seen such a stupid restriction. For most countries the permit is for 3 months but you get 6 months when crossing to Argentina. When in Argentina I had to travel back to my country because I ran out of money, I wanted to extend the chilean permit but the custom guy told me on the phone that the cost of the penalty was higher than the cost of the bike so I had to go back to Argentina, put the bike in a plane and return it to Santiago. (it was june and Winter was too cold for crossing the cordillera by road) ... It was expensive but I didn't want to have a police record or any trouble in my future trips there So I'll never buy a bike again in Chile. Its simpler to buy it in USA and ship it there, and cheaper too. Sent from my SGH-T889V using Tapatalk 2
You betcha! I still can't offer much in response to the OP, but the silly Chilean restrictions would be eased (in some ways) by purchasing a foreign registered bike.
hi , you could PM ( private message ) e-bum and ask him. he bought a KLR 650 in november and will be selling it soon... he is a US citizen and works in Chile for 1 year . he ll have all updated info for you
We bought 2 new KLR's for our South America trip in Santiago. Plenty of threads on Horizons Unlimited on the technicalities. Get a RUT card from a tax office and that's pretty much it. The dealer did all the paperwork for $20. With the temporary registration papers it allowed us to cross every border in South America. When we arrived back in Santiago 5 months later we picked up our original plastic RUT cards and titles - these take a few weeks once you apply and you will need them if you plan to sell the bike back in Chile. From all our research Chile appeared the easiest country to buy bikes and it was not an issue. Forget Argentina for starters. Bolivia is also relatively easy and cheaper too, and a big selection of low capacity Chinese bikes. Colombia by far the most expensive, but if you buy and sell in the same country the value is the same. We paid USD10,000 for a KLR but sold it for USD6,300 with 25,000km on the clock - way cheaper than renting and if you buy new, the dealer in most cases will offer to buy it back. We sold privately and had no shortage of buyers.
