Here is the text, sorry haven't figured how to copy the photos over, you can e-mail if you want the pics also.
Posted - 16 Oct 2007 : 08:54:47 Show Profile Email Poster
Well Ive been lurking here for a while waiting until I could make my first post and make it a meaningfull one.
Well there is now one more DR650 in Cambodia. I belive that may now make it about 8 or 9.
I would like to share with you my experiences of importing a BRAND NEW Suzuki DR 650 into Cambodia.
First step was to go out and find a bike that was suitable to me, the type of riding that I would like to do,was capable of doing and was a reliable bike with a good track record that could be serviced in Cambodia. The Suzuki DR 650 came out the winner in my mind.
Next step was to go out and purchase a bike I shopped around then went to my local dealer and got him to better the best price. I asked the to leave the bike in the original create.
I took the bike home on the back of my truck and set out to make the first modifications. Number one was to add an on off switch for the headlight as in Cambodia it is illegal to ride with the headlight on during the day to ride without one at night no problem.
I started the bike up just to make sure it would and found I had a leaking fuel tank. Thank God I did this before I left home. Took the tank back to the dealer and he swapped it with a tank from another bike right there and then.
Next was to accessorize the bike I added a heavy duty 4 meter chain and lock to the package. With this I locked the wheels to the frame; I didn’t want to be missing any parts on arrival. Threw in a helmet, some boots, hand guards and a bash plate. Next step was to replace the original cardboard packing with some plywood. The cardboard had already become soggy just from the trip home and the plywood would make it much more time consuming for any pilferers.
As I work for a company that does a lot of importing I decided to use the contacts I had from this and chose DHL to export the bike for me. DHL although they could have done better and saved me a few days wait were excellent to deal with.
I wanted to pick the bike up in Phnom Penh on the 24th of September so I backward planned allowing for at least a week of contingencies.
As normal when planning for the worst things always go better than planned. The bike left Melbourne on the 14 August and arrived in Snooky Cambodia on the 31st via Singapore. It was in Phnom Penh shortly after.
I arrived at the DHL office at 9.00 am on Monday the 24th of September only to find that it was one of the 30 something public holidays. Next day same routine turned up to the office and signed all the paper work to start the customs clearance process. There are a lot of letters and permits that need to be done. DHL took care of all of these for me. However the next day DHL called me to come back and sign one more letter that they had to modify slightly. I was in daily contact with the DHL office as they kept me up to date with the progress of the clearance. One week later on Tuesday the 2nd of October I finally got the call to come to the office and go out to the inland port and collect the bike. I think that 5 working days is some kind of record for Cambodia.
Any way I jumped in the truck and we headed out to the inland port.
About a half hour drive out of town.
I didn’t really know what was going on or why I was going out to the port but it seemed that they wanted me there when they did the unpacking and inspection. Maybe in case the create was full of drugs or something. Anyway there were a ton of guys there about three in uniform and a few others with screwdrivers in hand. They had a job in front of them as I had put the create together with a Tec gun and not been frugal with the screws.
Once one side was off the engine number and VIN number were checked and the create was loaded onto the truck.
I was starting to get pretty exited as things were going very smoothly. The DHL guy then told me to wait with the truck while he went to the office and did the paper work. I waited with the truck dirver inside the port for about an hour and I was starting to get nervous but then we were given the all clear to drive around to the front. After about another half hour of waiting the DHL guy finaly came out and we were on the way.
So what did all this cost I hear you say.
The Sea freight was $500 AUS
DHL fees
Customs Clearance $250 US
Approval on Invoice $250
Customs Permit $80
Cam Control Servey $10
Missing Insurance $20
Storage Charge $20.25
THC Fee $79.46
Handling Fee $35
Total Fees $744.41
Local Delivery $15 Truck driver and lacky for half a day.
Import Duty
The import Duty is worked out on the capacity of the bike and the year of manufacture. From this customs declares a value for the bike and the import duty is aprox 39% of this value. Regardless of what you paid or the value of the bike. For my bike I paid $1175 of import duty tax.
The next step was to have the bike assembled. For this I had the bike delivered to Two Wheels Only on st 368 near Martinis. Tony is a great guy and went to work the next day putting the bike together carefully checking everything over as he went.
Registration
The next step was to get a plate on the bike. I initially tried to do this myself it would have only cost $25 for the plate and $1 for the guy to put it on but after 1 day and 4 different offices and police stations learning the process that I would have to go through I decided to pay a premium and have it expedited.
So it was off to Flying Bikes the next day. I met with ** parted with my money and a two Photos and was asked to come back at 3pm. At 3 I came back and we headed of to the registation office where I was led in to have my photo taken by the office and stored on the computer with the paper work. There were hundreds of people there as there were the day before when I had tried to do this myself. This time there were no ques for me and we were back outside 10 min later to have the plate put on.
Finally I was on the road legally.
Now I hope I can contribute to the board with a few trip reports.
