Carnet De Passage En Douane.

What is a Carnet de Passage?

Many of the Central and South American countries require that the rider/driver of a motorcycle/car has a Carnet when entering at the border. The Carnet allows the customs officials to permit the vehicle into the country without import or other taxes being charged.

The Carnet consists of a booklet with vouchers. Each page has three vouchers. When you enter a country the customs official takes the first voucher and stamps the other two. When you leave the country the customs officer takes the second voucher and stamps the third. The third voucher stays in the book and that voucher contains the stamps and dates of entry and exit - proving that the bike left the country as agreed.

How to get a Carnet

These Carnets are available from the Australian Automobile Association - Peppina Sorbara is the contact person. She is very knowledgeable and helpful.

You have to be a member of RACV or equivalent in other states to get a Carnet. You apply through your state office and they approach AAA for the documents. In Victoria I contacted Kerry at HolidayLine, RACV and she helped me through the process.

The Carnet was NOT cheap. Each country imposes import tax at a different rate. In South America the tax rate is 200% ( of the total value of the vehicle ) for individuals who want to bring a car into the country without an import licence. Some Asian countries it is 400%.

To cover that amount, in case you default, AAA want a refundable cash deposit of 200% the value of your vehicle OR your bank to fully guarantee and to set aside that same amount in a specific account OR you can buy insurance to cover your default ( you still have to pay the tax the insurance just saves you having to put the money aside ).

On top of that insurance premium the fee for the vouchers is $400 and there is also a refundable deposit of $250.

To get a vehicle into Australia you need a Carnet unless you have an import licence or permit. To export and then import a bike back into the country Australian Customs want to inspect the bike that is leaving the country. They obviously want the same bike they inspected leaving to be the one coming back.

You can arrange the Customs Inspection of the bike and the Carnet yourself. An appointment has to be made five days in advance of when you require the inspection to take place. Tim from Cassie Freight did the job for me for $85 - happy with that.