Cambodia questions

Oct 27, 2009
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Hello to the community, been flicking through these boards and i'm impressed with how much you guys know about biking in this part of the world.
So i'm hoping you'll be able to answer these questions, because if you guys can't then I doubt anyone else can.

Brief history :-

Retired to Thailand 9 months ago, after the initial buzz started getting bored during days so me and another retired friend bought a cbr 400 and fj 1200 to rebuild for ourselves ( I know not the best bikes in the world for here, like the transalp myself but couldn't find a decent secondhand one + the crotch rocket is a lot of fun) , really enjoyed the projects, and we toyed with the idea of buying secondhand bikes to rebuild and re-sell, but this being Thailand it probably wouldn't lead to a happy ending, anyway with all the political problems here and the kings decling health we're decided to get the hell out of dodge and move over to Cambodia.

Our plan in Cambodia is to rent a small workspace, buy a couple of secondhand big bikes in thailand each month riding or transporting them to PP, renovate and resell or rent them in Cambodia not so much for profit as for the pleasure of working on a nice bike, as long as we're not making a loss that is! As you can imagine this has led to a lot of questions and very few answers, so I thought I'd throw my questions to this board, thanks in advance for any help.

here goes

1) Import tax..I believe the import tax goes off the bike/year for secondhand bikes, Does anyone know if this is true, and if so where I can find the offical year/bike tax price chart either online or in PP?

2) Import location, can this importing be handled easily at the Thai/Cam land border? Does it take a long time?

3) Thailand export tax, does Thailand have an export tax on used vehicles, and if yes, how much?

3) Registering the bikes, do the bikes have to registered, or can we leave them unregistered while we work on them and the just register them with the new owner?

4) Parts, is the DHL in PP reliable, and would there be tax(how much) on bike parts we import, pistons, sprockets etc?

5) Bike legal requirements, I read that the main light cannot be on during the day, are there any other rules like this?

6) Demand, is there much demand in Cam for big bikes, and which bikes seem to be popular?

7) Company, Is it worth setting up a legal company to run all this through?

8) Any other thoughts, All sensible feedback and questions are extremely welcome and appreciated, so if you foresee any other problems or have any other thoughts please share.

Thanks in advance

Mark Nutley
 

shadow

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Jun 27, 2007
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Ok here goes on a few of them.

1. Yes this is the case However, at the moment it is very hard (the system has changed and I dont know of any barangs that know if there is a new system) to pay the import tax on old bikes.

The price chart used to be in the express posts part of the post office near Wat Phnom.

2. You can drive anything you want into cambodia no paper work no legal plates required but some plate on is better California plates will do.

3. You can leave the bikes unregistered but selling them may be a problem as most people now want a hassel free life from police and want a registered bike and not have it impounded. Registering old bikes is now a lot harder if it is at all still possible.

4. DHL is reliable but you will pay tax always better to bring stuff in as hand luggage.

5. Bike must also have mirrors

6. Dont know about the demand but there are quite a few Honda CBR for sale around the russian market.

7 Dont set up a company or you will loose a lot of money.

8. Have fun.
 

shadow

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Jun 27, 2007
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PS If the frustrations of living in Thailand are to much you wont like Cambodia for too long either. Cambodia makes Thailand look like a first world country.

Nothing gets done right the first time or most of the time.
 
Oct 27, 2009
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Thanks for the answers Shadow, made a great start on my questions.

And just to clarify:- I love Thailand, but the restrictions on working here + border runs every 3 months are a joke when i'm benifiting the economy, I'm not going to to pay to jump through hoops.
Also I've been to Cambodia before and its an acceptable second best to Thailand for me