Hey,

I've got a large BMW cruiser I'd like to send over to my house in Thailand. I do have a Thai girlfriend but I don't know where to start - does anyone have any experience or advice they can offer

Grabbit

I done it wish my Ducati: the only way i could come up with to avoid the enourmous import/excise taxes (and they are BIG costs), was to strip it down and bring it in in parts over a period of about 8 months.

That got it into Thailand - no prob's ..... but it didn't compleltly resolve the problem! - because after putting it back together, and deciding to register it as a bike and get number plates, I finally had to deal with officialdom - who showed little sympathy, and presented me with 2 options: 1) go by the book, or 2) discreetly "oblige" various officials - which, although ultimately did save some Baht, I have to wonder in hindsight wheather it was worth all the effort to get it into Thailand in a round about way.

Of course none of that would have been an issue if I just decided not to plate it - but them you leave yourself open to a never-ending bribe situation every time you get stopped of some or other reason - or god forbid, having some eger cop deciding to take it away from you - which although not common in rural areas, happens a lot at roadblocks in urban areas.

Another option: Carnet Certificate - Thailand is not part of the Carnet program officialy, but they are accepted and lots of bikes do come into Thailand by air and clear customs on Carnet cert's. Lufthansa, according to the BMW forums, are the best airline to use shipping a bike to Thailand by air. Kept in mind Carnet certs are only valid for 6months - 12months. Carnet legally gets you round having to pay any import/tax/custom duties, but as said - its a temp way of doing things.

By ship - "strapped" down - forget it: so many things can go wrong.

..... at the end of the day, lots of ways of getting a bike into Thailand and avoiding the taxes and duties, but it all catches up with you, one way or other when (or if) you decide to register it and get Thai number plates.

Been discussed many many many many many times on the motorcycle forum. Maizefarmer's answer pretty much sums up your options, which are basically 1) import it as one piece; on the plus side, it would be completely legit for registration purposes, on the minus side you will pay alot of money 2) import it piece by piece as parts or 3) do a temporary import of the bike for which you would have to do 'visa runs' on the bike every 6 months (have to take it out of the country and then 'reimport' it).

Another option is to sell the BMW back home, and buy a legal BMW here.

Moved to Bikes in Thailand forum.