Tips on buying a motorcycle in Chile.

This page is not really part of the rest of the blog of our Chile bike trip.  This is just so that others who may be considering buying a bike in Chile can find doing so a little bit easier.

There are a bunch of steps to buying a bike in Chile, but in reality it is quite easy.  We ran into no issues whatsoever.  We did all of this in the first week of 2014.

STEP 1 - Get your Chilean Tax ID

You need to get an RUT Number.  To get this, you need to go to the Chilean Tax office (Servicio de Impuestos Internos).  There is no cost involved in this, and we found the office in the Providencia region of Santiago to be hassle free.  We used the address of our hotel for this.  They give you a temporary number immediately, which then allows you to buy a bike.
about 20 minutes to complete

STEP 2 - Buy a Motorcycle

Find the dealer and bike you want and buy it.  Make sure the dealer has 2 things to give you right away with the bike.  The Factura (invoice) which you need 3 copies of, and the Homologacion Certificate (roadworthy certificate). As long as the dealer provides you with this, you can drive away with just these things, and wont need to return to the dealer.  Try to ensure the dealer has both of these available for you right away.  Some dealers might make you wait 3-4 days for the Homologacion, which can delay you greatly.
You have 5 days now to complete the rest of the paperwork, but you can do this at any other town in Chile.  We ended up 500 miles away when we did the rest, so the paperwork aspect of our trip never really slowed us down at all.

 We bought Honda CG150's.  Handled the roads well, but top speed is about 90kph.
Paid $1925.00 from Pro-Circuit in Vitacurra (ask for Juan, speaks English and Helpful)

STEP 3 - Register the bike

This is done at a Registro Civil office.   Best to get there at 8:30 when they open.  You will take a number and once called, they will fill out a bunch of paperwork, fingerprint you and charge you about $80. This will give you your Primera Inscripcion and your license plate.  You can now go and insure the bike.
about 30 minutes waiting and 20 minutes to complete 

STEP 4 - insurance

Insurance can be bought online.  We bought ours from some street insurance vendors from right outside the municipal building.  Insurance is about $80 for a year for a motorcycle.
10 minutes to complete

STEP 5 - Circulation Permit

Take what you have so far and go to the municipality office.  Here you get your circulation permit ($12) and are now fully registered
20 minutes to complete

You now have done everything you need to ride the bike longer than 5 days.

STEP 6 - Get your Certificado de Inscripción

From the Registro Civil.  This costs about $1 and any office in Chile will print it out for you.  It takes about a week to be available.  Once you have this, you can do anything with the bike.

We entered Argentina without this.  We had heard that it was required, but it didn't
 seem to be at all.  We also sold one bike of our 3 without this, and the new owner was going to go in and pick it up.  So, it really isn't all that required it seems, but not a bad idea to get it anyways.

To sell a bike in Chile - 

 bring all of your paperwork to a notary and they will take care of all of it for you. Then hand over ALL of your paperwork to the new owner.  In Chile the insurance, plates and everything else transfer with the bike.
  We sold our bikes to a bike shop in Chillan, and sold them for $1100.00 each.   We probably could have sold them for a fair bit more, but wanted everything to take place on a specific day and without any hassle.  In the end, it cost us $825.00 for 3 weeks and 5000 kms of use.  Plus, since the bikes we bought had been brand new, reliability never came into question.

january 16 - Valparaiso

Spent the day sightseeing.  First, rode the bikes up the hill of Valparaiso.  Think San Francisco but less paved roads and fewer building codes.  Next we rode the 10km to Vina Del mar and walked around the beach area, stopping for a coffee and watching the horse drawn carriages pass by.

After a short time in Vina, we decided to head back to Valparaiso and check out more of the sights there.  With a richer and longer history, Valparaiso has some amazing Architecture.  We spent the entire day wandering the streets, taking photos and enjoying the culture.  At one point, I go to a store and buy a cheap package of hot dogs, feeding some of the street dogs as i go by. 

   Late afternoon, we started to head back to the hotel, and stopped at a bar on the way for a beer.  sitting outside on the sidewalk seating, we meet 2 Chileans sitting at the table next to us and start a spanglish conversation.  Nice guys, so when we order our next beer, we add one to our tab for them.  Another few minutes goes by and they end up sitting with us.  We have a good 2 hours of conversation with Alex and Luis, both longshoreman in Valparaiso.  when it comes time to say goodbye, we ask for our bar tab and get told it has all been taken care of.  Apparently our new Chilean friends had paid our entire tab.

   After a late dinner, we head back to the hotel.  Al takes a little of his leftovers and finds a grateful dog.  In the morning, we ride about 130 km back to Santiago, where we sell the bikes.

Getting ready for South America

   Getting ready for South America.   All the camping gear is packed, flights booked.  There are three of us going, Chris, Al and myself.  Al and I will arrive in Santiago, Chile on December 27th, late in the evening.  Chris is booked on a slightly later flight and arrives the following afternoon.  Keep an eye on this site to read more.   We will update as we travel.
 Once we arrive, we will have 3-4 days to explore Santiago, while also working on obtaining our bikes. Santiago is a very modern and safe city (the crime and safety index for Chile/Santiago is closer to that of Canada, and ranks quite a lot higher than the United States).
  

   The plan is to purchase small bikes, most likely the Honda CGL125, which is available in Chile for around $1500 brand new.  We will be loading these little things up with everything we need for almost 4 weeks, including camping gear.
 We have tentatively planned a 4500km journey, but of course, who knows what exactly will happen.  The "general" idea is to head south from Santiago (with Mediterranean temperatures) towards southern Chile.  Being the opposite hemisphere to Canada, this time of year as we head south it would be similar to Alaska in our summer.


   Our planned route is to include the famous Carretera Austral (Southern road).  This road connects many small towns in Southern Chile, and goes through many areas untouched until the last 10-20 years.  Most of this "highway" is single lane gravel, with the Andes Mountains and volcanoes on one side, and fiords and glaciers on the other.  Parts of this road are by ferry only, and the road travels through numerous Patagonian parks.  We hope to camp beside lakes and rivers.

  At the southern point of our trip, we hope to make it to see the marble caves, carved out of rock by the waves of the lake they shore.  At this point we may turn into Argentina and head back to Santiago while straddling the eastern side of the Andes.

 Once we hit the road, who knows what will be around the next corner.  Check back and stay tuned to find out!