Panama is one of the best places to store a motorcycle in Central America. It’s easy to do, cheap, has a simple paperwork process and you’re in the perfect place to ship between North and South America. Here’s everything you need to know about motorcycle storage in Panama.
This guide is based on our experience storing our motorcycles in Panama during our round the world trip. The guides on this website are constantly updated by us and with info from contributors to keep them current, up-to-date and as helpful as possible.
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Motorcycle Storage in Panama Explained
By Andy Davidson
Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers
Why would you need motorcycle storage in Panama?
Panama is one of your best options for motorcycle storage in Central America. Panama is the last country in North America and marks a natural ‘end of the road’ before Colombia and the start of South America due to the impassable Darien Gap between the two countries and continents.
Overland motorcycle travellers riding through Central and South America on long-term trips often use Panama to store their bikes while they have a temporary break, fly home or just wait for the next riding season. Motorcycle storage is easy in Panama and this guide explains everything you need to know about it.
Why choose Panama City to store your motorcycle?
End of the road – As mentioned above, Panama is the end of the road for Central America – or start of the road for North America, so it acts as a natural break in a Pan America ride.
Motorcycle shipping – It’s one of (if not the) easiest countries to fly your motorcycle to South America from in North America. Or, if you’re coming up from South America, then it’s easy to fly your bike into Panama for the start of your North America adventure.
Price – Panama is one of the easiest and most cost effective places to store a motorcycle in Central America.
Paperwork – The paperwork process is a doddle and Panama makes it easy to cancel your motorcycle’s temporary import and reinstate it if needed. There are also some great companies out there specialising in storing and then shipping motorcycles that help with the entire process.
Flying home – Importantly, if you do want a break from your travels, it’s easy and relatively cheap to fly from Panama, especially when compared to Panama’s neighbours. If you’ve properly stored your motorcycle and cancelled your TIP with the storage company and customs, then you will receive a stamp in your passport to show your bike is stamped out and that you can freely leave.
Flying the bike after storage without you – This is another important one. You can store your bike in Panama and then have it shipped when you’re ready to fly to Colombia or wherever you want it shipped to. But the big draw for overland motorcycle travellers is that you do not need to return to Panama in order to ship the bike.
Your storage company can help you cancel the TIP once they have charge of your bike. They can then send the bike whenever you’re ready to wherever you need it sending to. You do not need to return to Panama to arrange this. For example, you can store your bike in Panama, fly home for a break, fly to Colombia and just email your company to send it whenever you’re ready.
Paperwork for motorcycle storage in Panama
Paperwork needed
You must take all of your original documents with you when storing a bike. This includes passport, vehicle registration (and title if applicable) and your Temporary Import Permit. Your TIP must be in date.
Storage duration, TIP renewal and cancelling
You can store your bike for as long as you like in Panama so long as your TIP has been cancelled. And it’s always worth cancelling your TIP, even if you are only leaving the country for a short period – just to be on the safe side.
If you are storing your bike and do not need to fly it because you’re going to come back and ride it through Panama, then you can still cancel the TIP and have it reinstated when you return to pick your bike up.
Storage process
Here’s how it works. You arrive at your storage company’s facility. They will take all your original paperwork and make copies. They’ll then take you to the customs office to cancel your TIP. They will do this entire process for you. You will then receive a stamp in your passport saying your bike is in storage. The process with the customs office should take about 15 minutes. That’s it, you’re done.
Storage costs
You can expect to pay around 150USD per month for motorcycle storage in Panama City. This price includes handling all customs paperwork and procedures, cancelling your TIP and in a secure warehouse with a reputable company.
Shipping before or after storage
As mentioned above, your storage company will be able to arrange the shipment of your bike once you’re ready. Or, you could have your bike flown to Panama and then your storage company will collect and store it until you’re ready to collect.
Either way, if you’re looking to ship your motorcycle to or from Panama, we recommend you have a read of our dedicated shipping guide.
Recommended motorcycle storage company in Panama
We personally used and recommend E-Cargo for motorcycle storage and shipping. We used their services to store our motorcycles in Panama for a month and then ship them to Colombia when we were ready to start our South America ride – and they were above excellent.
- You can store your motorcycle with them for 150USD per month. The price can be cheaper dependent on the length of storage.
- Their storage facility is very secure and guarded 24 hours a day.
- They’re located at the airport and are able to quickly cancel / and or renew your TIP for you.
- Importantly, E-Cargo can also ship your motorcycle once you are ready to continue your trip.
- The owner, Mr Teofilo, has been in the business for 18 years, is a great guy and you’re in safe hands
E-Cargo contact info
Here’s how to get in touch with E-Cargo for motorcycle storage and shipping from Panama. We recommend getting in touch with Mr Teofilo using the below details:
- Website: ecargologistics.com
- Email: t.guerra@ecargologistics.com
- Phone: (507) 303-8958 / (507) 6902-8242
- Facebook: E-Cargo
- Instagram: ecargologistics
Our Panama storage experience
We found E-Cargo through fellow motorcycle travellers who used their services. They came highly recommended, but we still emailed a bunch of companies. They got back to us fast and responded quickly to every question we had (and we had a lot). They were also cheaper than their competitors for both storage and shipping so we decided to go with them. And after storing and shipping with E-Cargo, we’re confident we made the right choice.
We kept in contact as we neared Panama and arranged a date to visit their facility with only two days notice. Mr Teo and his crew were professional and very helpful. They got our bikes squared away, handled all our paperwork in minutes and before we knew it we were being driven 2 minutes to the customs office. Within 10 minutes all our paperwork was complete, our TIP cancelled and we were in a taxi heading back to our hotel.
We were then able to fly home from Panama for a month for a break. And when we were ready to fly to Colombia, we messaged them and they packed up our bikes and shipped them for us. Overall, we couldn’t have been happier with their service.
Read more on motorcycle travel in Panama
Thanks for checking out the Motorcycle Storage in Panama Guide. We hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a few more articles on motorcycle travel in Panama and North America that we recommend you read next.
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