[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by shrini78

Was saddened by the fact that in customs they dont have power tools (all they have is crowbar & hammer) so those buggers carefully broke the crate apart and all I'm now left is the bottom part where my bike is tied down to...

Wow are they entitled to open without the owner's presence? How sure you would be that they do not pilfer parts during this process?
Sounds a bit scary to be honest

[shrini78]

Originally Posted by ku69rd

Wow are they entitled to open without the owner's presence? How sure you would be that they do not pilfer parts during this process?
Sounds a bit scary to be honest

You dont have to worry on that part, I was present and even if the owner is absent the guys open the crate in front of CHA (clearing agent by the consignee) and also you cannot bring anything from outside to the yard and vice-versa, security is pretty tight up there

[gthang]

Originally Posted by shrini78

Bike has arrived in a nice shape but it has accumulated lots of dust & dirt due to natural factors & also man made.

I dont like to say I told you so, but, I told you so.

Originally Posted by gthang

@Shrini,

Some tips:
1. If you havent shipped your bike yet, and you have some time, suggest you get some rolls of cling wrap, like the type they use in airports to cover baggage. When your bike gets to customs port, depending on your luck, it will sit in the warehouse for at least a week. There are so much of particulate dust there from all sorts of chemicals and stuff that go through there that it gets in every nook and cranny of the bike. A wrap will save you a lot of cleaning up time. Will prevent some small dings and scratches as well. Just keep the frame and engine number clearly visible.

Since this is a thread for potential importers in the future, hope this bit of advice will come in handy.

Cheers.

Ride Safe.

[shrini78]

@Gthang I beg to differ on this.
Reason I cannot cling wrap my engine, as my engine # is printed way down and no matter how much you cling wrap one look at customs Yard, you know that dust will accumulate no matter what...It all comes out during inspection and you know this as you've done in the past
Regarding dings/scratches a good crate will do...as it sits by itself without any obstruction or hindrance

[chanu]

Wow!! Shrini what a great help and guide for the people who want to continue with their rides back home in India, importing bikes has always been a mystery and confusing hope this thread will bring in clarity and confidence among the potential importers (individual) who always wanted their special rides with them in India.

My question to you is

A) how different is the policy for bringing back any four wheeler?

B) does the custom policy differ from country to country?

Thanks for sharing your experience with us and please do continue the same post regd in Chennai, driving experience here in India, pictures, plans of going places etc. I would love to see them all and I bet am glued to this thread from now on.

[shrini78]

Originally Posted by chanu

My question to you is

A) how different is the policy for bringing back any four wheeler?

B) does the custom policy differ from country to country?

Answer to A:
Procedure is the same, but duty will be higher for CAR and if you bring LHD your car will be ceased in the port and forget about it

Answer to B:
It has nothing do with country to country as you are only importing it so only GOI custom rules apply

[princezahed]

Hi Shrini, really good thread for people like myself who dream of owning a big bike in India as well. It would be nice and helpful if you could post a picture of the various documents such as bill of lading etc so that we guys who are planning to buy a sportsbike in india know how the documents are like and the details a clean bike should have.

[shrini78]

Again Reviving this thread...
Happy Part
It took me less than 3 weeks to clear my bike (reason:I had all the necessary paperwork)
Mad & Sad Part
I got ripped off by customs for having all the paperwork & being honest & furnishing details in black&white

Pls read following post very carefully as it contains vital info about duty structure

How customs & their Officials act as per their will and guidelines are tossed out as per their wish...will be adding my invoice from USA dealer for better understanding...Cant find a scanner when I need one

[shrini78]

Guys, here is the info that I'm talking about

Other than depreciation value given by GOI on TR, there is no set norms in customs to calculate motorcycle duty...This absolutely depends on your luck and time when you bring your bike to the country..It also depends on the A.O (Assessing Officer) & A.C. (Asst. Commisioner) who checks your file which contains duty value...

I'm attaching my original invoice that I furnished to Customs from Dallas HD...
Due to the invoice customs charged me 120,000 more than usual and this hurts me a lot
I kept everything in black/white & still they took me for a ride, (Next post i'll give you the difference they charged me)

The best part: Since I kept all paperwork like invoice, my regn, my title, my insurance, my Bill of Landing, the process was fairly simple...everything was black & white...
The guys opened my 40' container on Sep 23,2011, I cleared my home goods first, it took a week...Then came by bike...They inspected my bike on Oct 3rd & on October 13th I took a delivery, so counting my day from 23rd september I took less than 3 weeks to clear my bike

The process:
First the E.O (Examination Officer) examines your bike....
Your CHA will read like VIN, engiine, make/model, the whole nine yards...
Then E.O enters all the info and sends the file to A.O.
A.O. assess the duty on the info provided by you and sends the file to A.C.
Finally A.C signs back the file approving the duty assessed by A.O..
Now you pay the duty and take the bike for delivery..

If you think the above things are pretty simple, then trust me it doesnt sound that simple...

[shrini78]

Continuing from my previous post...

When I said other than GOI depreciated value, customs has their own way of doing things, this could completely depend on the individual luck on who assess their value...

If you look at my depreciation value attachment on pg.4 there is something called "Trade Disc @ 15%", it seems 3 months ago customs was honoring that 15% discount on top of your depreciation value and now its my bad luck I didnt get that...this doesnt mean that you wouldnt get it in future
Again it goes back to the same thing, they dont have a set way to work and these depends & changes time to time (depends solely on the A.O & A.C.)

Now coming back to my story,
I paid 13499 as my MSRP in USA & Customs should charge a depreciation on my MSRP price...
Since I provided the Invoice, I thought it will make their life easier for me & customs and thought they'll take 13499 & calculate duty on it...The A.O (I think he keeps his brains when he comes to work ) calculated duty for me on 15340$ instead of 13499$

What a shame, I pleaded with A.O & A.C. and it fell in their deaf ears, due to this fact I paid 120,000INR more coz they charged me more...

Out of all this bad experience I worked with my friend (my CHA) he is the best in business when it comes clearing motorcycles, as I write this here, he is clearing a sportster from dubai in few weeks from now, A special thanks to my CHA who did an excellent job

In my next post, Im giving a detailed breakdown of charges what customs should have calculated & instead what the calculated me...

[shrini78]

Here is the breakdown of charges,
MC Freight Certificate Charge: 100$ (If you dont keep this customs will charge 20% of your invoice value in USD) so all future TR owners pls get a freight certificate
CHA Charge (Clearing Agent fee): 35000-45000 INR this depends on who you'll work with
Transportation Charge: Actual costs in INR, depends on which location you'll be taking to
Storage Charge: Actual costs in INR depends on your bike CBM and also the number of days it is kept in storage
Misc Expenses: This will incur coz you'll end up paying the labors over there when they open the crate/close it/when they unload from conatiner and load on to your delivery truck..

--------------------------------------
Coming back to my Invoice, where customs ripped me off...
GOI charged me 33% depreciation and it is broken down as follows:
Jan 09 - Dec 09 = 16%
Jan 10 - Dec 10 = 12%
Jan 11 - June 11 = 05%


Im giving you a break down of what customs charged me

16542.23 - 1182.18(labor) = 15360.05
15360.05 * 33% (Depreciation) = 10291.23
10291.23 + 100(Freight Certificate) = 10391.23
10391.23 + 1.125%(Insurance Cost) =10508.13 (multiply ins.cost & add)
10508.13 * 46.55 (INR) = 489,153.50 (INR)
489,153.50 * 1% (Landing Cost) = 494045.35 (multiply land.cost & add)
494045.35 * 133.187% (Duty) = 658004 INR
But I paid 670,838 as duty as there was some few hidden charges, I tried hard breaking my head to squeeze that number, I'm sorry folks couldnt

This is what they should have charged me instead

13499 * 33%(Depreciation) = 9044.33
9044.33 + 100(Freight Certificate) = 9144.33
9144.33 * 1.125% (Insurance Cost) = 9247.20 (multiply ins.cost & add)
9247.20 * 46.55 = 430457.16 (INR)
430457.16 * 1% (Landing Cost) = 434761.73 (multiply land.cost & add)
434761.73 * 133.187% (Duty) = 579046.10 INR
Now give or take add another 10,000INR as there are some hidden fee,

So Instead of charging me 579,046 INR and I provided an invoice Customs charged me 570,838...
Do you call this as sheer bad luck or Customs officials acting as per their will/wish
Will go to appeals and going to put a case in few weeks, as I dont get it why they included my sales tax/prep fee/doc fee/inspection fee/inventory fee (All these were never added before, the guy who is an Assessing Officer doesnt know)

Do you still wish to do a TR???

Any questions I'm here to answer & help...Just PM me
From Novice i've become an advanced user in getting bike on TR & household goods this thread i'll continue in short while about REGN duty, Insurance etc....

[shrini78]

Mods pls change the thread title to "Detailed Info on Importing Bike on TR to IND"

I feel this would be a more apt title than what it is right now

[Haroon]

@ Shrini. Thanks for taking out the time & effort in putting down even the simplest details on the whole import process under TR. This will be immensely helpful for future TR users.

Coming to the next innings of your game. After customs clearance is the RTO (in simple terms the joy of finally seeing an indian number plate on your bike) and others a straight forward process or are there more challenges in store. Would be really helpful if you could share that also. Thanks again.

[shrini78]

For now RTO process will take a while,

I'm insuring the bike first thing this coming week after that I'll be riding out with bunch of my biker buddies (30-40 folks) on a Harley trip to GOA..
I'm leaving my US number plate and will be carrying my TR papers with me until I register at RTO

[anekho]

Very useful and insightful thread - thank you!

Originally Posted by shrini78

I'm insuring the bike first thing this coming week after that I'll be riding out with bunch of my biker buddies (30-40 folks) on a Harley trip to GOA..

That sounds awesome - please post a travelogue with plenty of pics!!