Yunguyo/Copacabana Border Crossing, Peruvian side | Customs and Immigration
Peru
Details
- Verified:
- 2 months ago
- GPS:
- -16.22688, -69.09542
- Altitude:
- 3835.1 masl
- Contributor:
-
uyarak.ch
Amenities
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Description
Small and easy border crossing.
Exit Peru:
Park in front of Migration. Fill out small form to be stamped by Policia, then get your passport stamped out by Migration.
Move ahead to Aduana. Aduana office is now a blue box truck labeled "SUNAT" next to a gate across the road. Stop before gate, hand in TIP in the office. No proof of exit given, so take a photo of the TIP after officer stamps it.
Enter Peru:
Straightforward process. Migration First, Aduana Second.
IMPORTANT: There is no insurance for Peru available directly at this border. They don't accept Mercosure insurance. Added annotation on TIP that we will buy SOAT in Puno. Easily bought it there. One Aduana control before Puno. Just checked TIP.
Why? By checking in after you’ve visited a place you let others know this place is still functional. You can also add or correct any information.
Latest Check-Ins
For those driving a Chilean car going to Peru: if you don't have your padron yet, print the appostilezed anotaciones document, like kileyoshields says below. find it on registro civil Chile website. it is a bit of a hassle to print but it is worth gold! you can enter Peru (at least from Bolivia, Copacabana crossing) without any problems. somewhere in between the payment options you can select PayPal. we could not find a way to pay directly by credit card but PayPal works!
Report Check-InDirection - Bolivia to Peru on a motorcycle.
I’ve put the details of my experience of the Bolivian immigracion and Aduana up on the Bolivian pin.
After clearing Bolivian formalities, rode a short distance to the Peruvian side and parked right before the gantry. Was directed to immigracion which is located next to one of the shops past the Aduana and police station. Was stamped out within a minute. Next I headed back
To my motorcycle where the Aduana people were already checking my VIN and passport details. I was then directed to the Aduana office which is located in a trailer. TIP was issued within 15 minutes. Super quick and easy border crossing on both the Bolivian and Peruvian sides. There are money changers on both borders, as well as SIM card vendors.
For foreigners with Peruvian plated vehicles trying to leave the country: I crossed here on Sunday morning.
Report Check-InEasy border crossing, even with two motorcycles from Chile as gringos. We didn’t even have the padrón (official ownership docs) yet as Chile takes 90 days to produce this and we left Chile 30 days ago. But we did have a notarized poder and bill of sale. MOST IMPORTANTLY—if you’re a foreigner traveling with a Chilean vehicle—go to the civil registry website and pay $2 for an apostillized anotaciones vignette for your vehicle. It takes 1 second to generate a PDF for you which you can show the aduana. Only one of the payment links allows foreign cards so you may have to try a couple of times. Once we showed the aduana our copy of this, he was very happy and eager to process our TIP. Attached a photo of his list of requirements.
Report Check-InExit Peru: Park in front of Migration. Fill out small form to be stamped by Policia, then get your passport stamped out by Migration.
Move ahead to Aduana. Aduana office is now a blue box truck labeled "SUNAT" next to a gate across the road. Stop before gate, hand in TIP in the office. No proof of exit given, so take a photo of the TIP after officer stamps it.
Report Check-InEntering Peru: This was one of our fastest border crossings and took probably 20 minutes for both migraciones and the aduana. The officials asked us about what food we had. We told them what fruits and vegetables we had, but they didn’t take anything. The officials were very nice and helpful.
Report Check-InAll the previous information is correct.
As we were leaving Peru the police at this border checked to make sure we had a fire extinguisher, reflective vest, safety pylons/triangles and then wanted to see our botica /medicine cabinet.
This was the first and only time we were asked for these items (and we had them)but travellers beware.
Report Check-In#Bordercrossing with dog!!
Border crossing itself went really fast and easy until they found out we have a dog. We didn’t have any health certificate or Senasa papers (stupid of us but we heard they are really easy with dogs and thought otherwise we will go to a veterinarian in Copacabana).
Well after half an hour of talking and begging they didn’t let us pass with our dog. They said the first senasa in Bolivia would be in La Paz. They said our campervan and we could pass but our dog not. They made it really clear that it would be illegal if we would pass with our dog in any other way.
We went back to the guy from the aduana of Peru to cancel our tip and he suggested that 1 of us would walk with the dog through a different path over the border. One of the guys accompanied one of us (we gave him something like 40 bolivianos) and the other person took the campervan through the border. They advised us to do it in the same way when passing the border of Ecuador.
Advice: just take care of the right papers for your pet! If you don’t have the right papers then first arrange your appointment exit/entry stamps and your Tip and after cross the border by foot with your dog on the leash. In that way it won’t be any problem because by foot they won’t control anything.
Fruits and vegetables are forbidden (even you’re on a big big market ;)).
Report Check-InEntering Peru. Peruvian side took about 45min-1Hour, only 1 migration desk was open, and mainly the paperwork for our vehicle.
Note: no fruit or vegetables are allowed entering Peru! There are no signs about it but they confiscated all our fruit and avocado.
Car insurance can be bought in the next town at the bank. Only it’s closed Saturday afternoon and Sunday so we couldn’t do it.
Report Check-Inunfortunately we could not enter Peru because we have a van with three poder. The Peruvian border did not want to let us through...
Report Check-InThey took vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs when we crossed the border to Peru.
Report Check-InMigraciones fue muy rápido, aduana están en una tienda provisional y tardamos un poco más.
Migration was easy and fast. Custom was a little more slowly.
Bolivia - Peru with 2 motorbikes
New building aprox. 100m after the stone arch.
Verry kind people at the Migration and aduans. They explain you everything straight ahead.
No questions and fast process at the migration.
Aduana took some time but was verry easy and no problems at all.
They ask about SOAT, we bought it in advance via Whatsapp:
La Positiva
Maluz Marylena
+51 900 550 748
98 soles per bike for 1 month
Professional and fast process.
easiest exit on this continent. passports were stamped out very quickly, no questions asked, same for cancelling nobody even looked at the van.
Report Check-InLa mujer de la Aduana nos advirtió que la policía confiscaría nuestro auto si descubrían que llevábamos un bidón con combustible. Sugirió que lo botaramos o escomdieramos. Afortunadamente logramos evitar el registro obligatorio del vehículo por la policía.
The lady from customs said the police would confiscate our truck if they find the Jerry can we filled with fuel. Fortunately we managed to skip the cops mandatory check. So be really careful
Report Check-Inborder yet. there was only one other car crossing when I went through around 11am. both sides friendly and no issues at all. DOGS... no need for paperwork, they'll pet your dog and on your way.
Report Check-InThe border is open and very easy. I saw no sign of the aforementioned burned out border office. Everything seems in order now and operating as normal. Americans: it is advisable to get your Bolivian visa at the consulate in Puno first. They can do it in a day. On a bicycle, the process to exit Peru and enter Bolivia took no more than 10 minutes total.
Report Check-Inbolivia to peru: peru border open again. old building burned down but on opposite side its working again. the only issue is that the aduanas internet is no working properly and therefore the paperwork took longer
Report Check-InBorder is now open again!
It's open and passable for all vehicles.* Peruvian immigration is now on site (you don't have to go to Puno anymore).
According to Peruvian border police, it will stay open every day for the foreseeable future (no more Tuesday and Wednesday closures or whatsoever).
Locals also said that things have calmed down now in Puno region and should remain calm now for some time 😊
Report Check-InThe border is open again and work normally. Building of Aduana is destroyed by the fire but they open window in migration building. All really friendly! You need apostilla on your declarasion jurada if you dont have your padrón yet (for Chilean cars).
Report Check-InThe border control on the peruvian side was closed when we crossed. If this also happens to you, you need to do all the paperwork in Puno in this precise ordre:
1- migracion on the Puerto
2- aduana in Town
3- if you have a pet, senasa next to thé mercado central (see the points for more description)
The border to Peru is closed with no date scheduled for opening. The side from Bolivia os open but It is impossible crossing with motorhome.
A fronteira com o Peru está fechada sem data prevista para abertura. O lado da Bolívia está aberto, mas é impossível cruzar com motorhome.
Report Check-InFrom Bolivia to Peru. Everything wenn fine, have a swiss plate. No problems, told us about the SOAT, which might be asked by the police control sometimes. No foodcontrol, just asked us, uf we have something. Very friendly. The paperwork for the car took about 20 minutes.
Report Check-InExiting the Peruvian side went smoothly and predictably. We hit the border at lunch (which we knew would be a delay) and got stamped out of Peru and then waited from 12:30-1:30 for the Aduana to take lunch. We just did the same and then we were taken care of right away. Turned in the TIP ( we just asked to take a photo for our records), then we were on our way. There was only one other couple at the border crossing with a vehicle in the 1 1/2 hours we were there. If it wasn’t for the lunch break, we would have been through in 30 minutes. Just be aware of the break. Same thing apparently happens on the Bolivian side from 1:00-2:00 Bolivian time.
Report Check-InPero to Bolivia
Crossed without problems with our Mexican van using poder issued in Chile and apostilled in Santiago. Basic medical check and verification of vaccination certificates.
Peru to Bolivia
No COVID test required. Vaccine passport not requested. Minimal masks worn so far in Bolivia.
Peru Exit: Kasani Border
Stamp out passport
Cancel TIP, show vehicle insurance, driver license, and hand in TIP
15 minutes
Bolivia Entry:
Passport stamp in (UK no visa required)
Anduana TIP: Car registration doc copy
Driver license copy
No vehicle insurance required for 30 day visit
I filled out the TIP form online the night before, waste of time!
That's it. You are in, 25 minutes.
Easy crossingfrom Bolivia to Peru in 1 hour. As we were vaccinated 3 times there was no need for a PCR Test anymore (from Peru to Bolivia it is necessary though). We filled out the ddjj form but nobody asked for it. Quick check of the car but did not check the fridge or anything.
We made an insurance mercosul in Argentina including Peru however they still want us to have the SOAT insurance. To avoid police fines (which they are just waiting to give to tourists) we did the extra SOAT insurance in Puno for around 20 dollars for a month for our camper. I guess next time we ll do the insurance directly after each boarder to avoid paying double insurance.
No chance entering Peru with our Mexican plated car on a Poder as Swiss. It needs to be apostilled, which we will have to do back in La Paz. We tried it twice & discussed a lot with the men.
Report Check-InBolivia - > Peru
Easy and quick handling on Bolivian and Peruvian side. Peruvian officer asked for SOAT insurance (which we did not have yet) and told us to buy one in the next village. He had a quick look into our car and released us. Lots of SOAT vendors at Plaza De 2 Mayo in Yunguyo.
Going from Peru to Bolivia: EASY. It took us about 15 minutes. We arrived at 7:30am. Got our exit stamp, cancelled our TIP across the street and were on our way. Friendly staff. Fastest border crossing in 11 months.
Report Check-InWARNING ⚠️ Entering Peru
PLEASE check the stamp you receive and all your documents at this border, including making sure your migration card has been filled out by the border officers- they let us leave without an entry stamp (we thought the stamp on the card was enough) and without signing our card and we’re now stuck in Tacna at the migration office trying to resolve the problem as they won’t let us into Chile. We asked multiple times at this border if we’d completed everything correctly and they just waved us through- Please stay alert here - it’s such a hassle if they do it wrong.
Bolivia —> Peru
Relatively quick process. You have to go between the offices on the right of the road to get your tourist car and then have it stamped, and then go across to the left of the road to import your vehicle. No issues for foreign owners of a Chilean car to get a 90 day stamp. They will ask you where your exact next destination is. Very brief car check, just opened the door and had a quick look. No fees at all.
When we entered Peru (coming from Ecuador) in El Alamor, we did not get a tourist card.
But nobody asked for it when we left Peru at this border.
Only 7 min to get an exit stamp for us and give the TIP back. We had a copy of the TIP with us and the officer signed the exit for us.
Entering Peru from Bolivia. They asked for frutas and we gave them the oranges. one officer wanted to let us go but the other insisted to have a look inside the van and still asked for frutas. I opened the fridge and he saw our pepper and pumpkin and suddenly vegetables were also not allowed and he took them. I think he just wanted the food for himself. But luckily he was so distracted with that so he didn’t see our dog who we hid in the back below the pillows.
Report Check-InGetting into Peru was okay. Passport stamped in one minute. Older guy at Sunat didn't really know about the rules. He thought it was weird that we (as Dutchies) owned a Chilean car, but after a quick call it was fine. I was just very slow with filling in the paperwork. Checked our car real quick, but only for drugs.
Report Check-InFrom Bolivia to Peru / French passeports / Chilean campervan :
We asked to the Bolivian police officers how to proceed, they told us we first had to register at the Bolivian police, just near the migration. The officer wrote our informations on a white paper then told us it costs 20Bol to be registered. We told him we were sincerely sorry but we had used all our bolivianos in Copacabana, and we had only 5. He just said 5Bol is ok, and we understood it’s more like a “tip” than an official fee... The police officers were extremely nice and friendly but they literally stole us our 5 last bolivianos...
Anyway after this comedy we went to Bolivian migration and aduana and it was super fast and easy. The same police officers opened us the way and we went to the Peruvian side, first migration than aduana, and it was very easy because the Peruvian staff was very friendly and relaxed. They asked for our insurance but they didn’t check the vehicle (they just asked if we had fruits)
Such a nice border! Queue for Peruvian immigration at 1pm due to a tourist bus took 15 mins. Aduana was lunching when we arrived, but after immigratin was back. Took our form and let us go (so friendly!). Bolivian side immigration no queue so 5 mins but super grumpy haha. The bolivian aduana is a young guy who is really friendly and helped us out - we did the form online mentioned in the Bolivia crossing which probably sped things up. No Fees, no copies needed and he gave us a copy of the form saying no need to buy insurance if here for under 30 days.
Report Check-InFast and easy border crossing from Peru to Bolivia. The only problem is that I had to promise to the aduana officer that I bring my Peruvian car back to Peru in the next six months. There seemed to be no other way at this border point. The good thing is that I did not have to pay the 300USD I would have had to pay normally (?) when exporting the car.
Report Check-Ingoing from Bolivia to Peru.
on the bolivian side everything is easy, fast and the people are friendly.
on the peruvian side the migration is easy and fast. however the aduana on the other side of the street is rather a hassle. old guy tries to make you feel uncomfortable and even if you have an insurance (we have one for almost all countries in SA incl Peru) he tries to tell you that it's not valid. after some discussion we got the aduana and then he asked us directly for money even though it says on multiple papers in the building that everything here "is free". don't let you talk into something
Not obligatory to buy SOAT, according to this website
https://www.deperu.com/abc/ayuda-al-turista/2015/control-vehicular-para-ingresar-y-salir-del-peru
Although this page is not official, probably can be found in an official website
The Peruvian Aduana expects you to have a Poder from the country the car comes from or from Peru itself. If you don't have one of these be prepared on some serious negotiating.
Report Check-InJust to clarify. I did not have the tourist card, because they have been discontinuing it, so don't worry if you don't have it. I had been to Peru before with the card and was freaking out about it. It really was straight forward with my bicycle. Got my stamp, moved along to Bolivia. Although the guy at the stamp told me to go to aduana. Then I was told I did not need nothing from there.
Report Check-InEasy, fast and very friendly. Got my 120 days visa! MIND the pickpocket!
Report Check-InEntering Peru:
They didn't ask for the car insurance, we bought it after the border crossing in Yunguyo.
Super easy border crossing. We pulled up and there were no other people waiting. I went into the Migration and they allowed me to get an exit stamp for both myself and my partner who was with our bikes.
I then walked over to Aduana who took our tips, checked the dates and our passports for identity only. My partner had left Peru for 2 weeks during our stay and apparently you are meant to get permission to leave the bike even if you do not need to extend the TIP. They did not check this and there were no issues.
Both Migration and Aduana paperwork was done within 10 minutes if that and both said we could re-enter Peru whenever we wanted even though we'd been in Peru for 180 days. We will test the theory out in 1 week!
Report Check-InEntering Peru: Migration is on the right side of the street. Quick and easy.
We went to Aduana on the left side of the gate. They asked for car documents of course and the insurance. They said it is not possible to enter peru without an insurance.
Getting the SOAT for Peru was very easy. Take a Tuk-tuk (50m behind the gate) for 3 Sol into Yunguyo. You can buy the insurance as described in the other iOverlander entry. It was no problem, Sandra is friendly and we got the insurance for "furgoneta" in 10 minutes. 82.50 Sol for 30 days.
Then take a Tuk-tuk back to the border (4 Sol). They didnt check our car.
Tip: If you have a "Carnet de Passages", they accept it and the process is done very quick. At the police control before Puno, they asked for our car papers and we only showed our carnet - he was thankful and wished us a great trip through peru.
Report Check-InA bit of a que (tourist buses) arrive early, passports first (don’t forget the white slip to complete) then auto. Dog was more complex. They wanted a Peruvian completed sanasa document that they could not do. Wanted me to drive 100km out of my way to get it. I said yeap and left, police stop later said puno or Cusco would be fine to get it!
Report Check-InB to P. Easy process on B side. Also there was a long line of people who all entered B (it is only 1 line for entry and exit together) all went fast and exit stamp was quick. Left vehicle TIP at aduana, no copy for us so I took a foto of the TIPs with exit stamp. It was our 2nd B-stay with vehicle and upon entering B the 2nd time the aduana was confused cause the 1st exit was not processed correctly and they said that our vehicles never left B. With a foto of the TIP exit we could prove it.
Entering P easy immigration. We asked for 6 month and were welcomed with 183 days permit. The P aduana on the other hand showed there bad side. Had been looking from the beginning to find something to give us a hard time to bring us in a defense position and asked openly for propina in the end. First they did not want to give us the same 183 days for the motos. Then he said the color of the moto didn’t match the entry in the ownership papers and we have to repaint the bikes 😂. We paid nothing in the end and got our full 183 days for the bikes. Don’t let them fool you!
***For foreigners that are departing Peru and require Visas to enter Bolivia (such as USA citizens) -
for your Bolivian Visa you will need:
1. A color copy of your main passport page (which must have more than 6 months of validity left on it)
2. One passport photo with a white background (they do have a place on Bolivian side at this border to get one taken, if needed). 2x2
3. One confirmation of one night with a hostel/hotel reservation in Bolivia. (can be done via Booking.com - print confirmation, then cancel booking. No payment or credit card needed if you choose one that you can book without payment).
4. A flight back to your home country from anywhere in South America (can be done via American Airlines using their "on hold" feature. Print confirmation from the email they send you. Flight will cancel itself after 24 hours. No payment or credit card info needed). This is not mentioned online, but we needed it and other friends did as well.
5. A bank statement to prove "financial solvency". (Make sure to black out account numbers).
6. Itinerary for your time in Bolivia (you can find one to use or edit from travel agencies, motorcycle guide companies, etc)
7. A copy of yellow fever vaccination (if you don't have this, it is only required if you plan to travel to the more jungle/Amazon part of the country)
8. Good condition USD $ for payment (for USA Citizens it costs $160 USD per person and the Visa lasts for 10 years).
---Note: You can get your Visa ahead of time at a Bolivian embassy (such as in Puno or Cuzco). May be useful, if you plan to cross at a busy border or on a busy market day (Fridays). You can also submit all of this online ahead, if you make pdf and jpeg files of everything (including passport sized photo) before you go to an embassy. 150kb max for photo. 500kb max for each of the other documents. Make sure to print the declaration, once you attach all files, and take with you to the embassy. I would also take a backup copy of everything just incase, along with your passport and a passport photo. However, doing it all online is a useless waste of time IF you then plan to go to a border to obtain your Visa (instead of to an embassy).
-- They do not really seem to look at the paperwork. They just ask for each thing, you hand it to them, they put it in a folder. Then you pay. They also take a photo of you at the border and use that crappy photo for the Visa that they paste into your passport, which takes up an entire passport page.
Report Check-InBolivia to Peru, big smile and 15 min to get it done. No question ask very friendly.
Report Check-InPeru to Bolivia. Leaving peru and Entering Bolivia was a breeze but 20ft after entering Bolivia there was a CORRUPTED police waiting for us. Made us pay 50BoL for an Orden paper. We asked for a receipt and they would not produce it. A great welcome to Bolivia, we are not impressed.
Report Check-InEasiest border crossing we have had. Took about 15 minutes in immigration and aduana. Friendly people.
Report Check-Indon't recommend to cross on a friday since there is a market held right on that street. took us a while to get through...
the bordercrossing (bolivia to peru) itself was easy, but had to go into town to buy the soat (20 min by feet). soat is still available at the tienda marked on ioverlander, no problem!
very friendly officers at the aduana office, no sign of corruption at all!
Report Check-InIf you have any sort of irregularity with your TIP (ex- suspension), be prepared. I suggest going to Aduana first before getting your exit migration. If they send you to Desaguadero (a bigger border crossing 30 min away), you would have to go back to Migration to annul your exit stamp and loose precious passport space :)
They glanced at our papers and told us we had to go to Desaguadero. Once there, the other border officers approved our departure and said they Yunguyo office could have taken care of us no problem. We then drove back to Yunguyo and it took 1.5 hours and asking how much of a tip we were going to give them for the guys to register our approved papers. They lost any tip in that extra gas and time we spent.
Report Check-InQuick and easy border crossing. We had 7ppl/3veh through migration and aduana in less than 20 minutes.
Report Check-InExiting Peru. Park in front of Aduana on your right just before the gate. Head to the other side and get your stamp at immigration for leaving. Head to Aduana. They will check docs and do some stuff on a computer. Smile and wait for about 10 minutes and you'll be fine. No probs at all and no money for anything. Friendly people.
There are proper money changers here and it's not a bad rate.
Report Check-Ingoing from Peru to Bolivia. no problems. immigration took a while but only because there was just one person doing both incoming and leaving passports. aduana was quick. didn't check the van, no fruit control, no asking for bribes. took about half an hour in total. did not need to pay anything.
Report Check-InBe careful, Corupted policemen. The policeman at the border asked for the soat and offered us to pay in order to pass without the soat. We refused and tried to buy one in the town but They are no longer selling soat in the town, the owner of the shop was very aggressive and we think they are linked with the policeman who pressure them to not sell soat.
As we didn't want to pay, we tried to play with the policemen. We stayed 4 hours in his desk and finally we won : he made a paper for free telling that we had to buy a soat in puno. he accepted only because we had an insurance including Peru. You can ask for the same paper telling that the French blue Citroën Jumper and the Swiss white Manh truck with moto. You may try to buy the soat in town before entering the "aduana" because we think he made a call to the Sandra girl. Good luck !
We were initially told by aduana the insurance selling places in both puno and yunguyo would be closed since it was Sunday but we went to yunguo to check it ourselves and it was open... Otherwise no problems with this border crossing.
Report Check-InThe aduana guys are really rude and corrupt. We had no insurance and they told us we had to pay 300 soles for a ticket, or there is no leaving the country.
In a lower voice, they asked all the time, what I'm willing to pay to get out of it. After a lot of discussion and me telling them, I wanted to look on the internet for insurance, they let me pass without fee.
The aduana office checks your seguro, and if you don't have it he asks for money. He knows that it's impossible to have the soat before you enter, so it's easy money. He acts like he's Bruce Willis or something, only with a mustache. We bluffed our way in with an expired seguro and bought a soat in puno.
Report Check-InNo problems with paperworks.
But we didn't know that there is a fruit control. Some fruits (Bananas, Ananas, Limon, ...?) are allowed, the rest will be cinfiscated :-(
No problems with aduana entering Peru. We had an international insurance bought in Colombia for all the countries from the Andean Community and they accepted it as valid.
Instead we wanted to buy SOAT in Yunguyo but the woman told us she could not sell for cars at this moment, only for motorcycles.
The aduana officers now verify that you have valid insurance. If you don't have any, you can buy the Peruvian SOAT in the border town Yunguyo. It is a 5min ride with the taxis that wait at the border. Just tell them you need SOAT, they will drive you to the Plaza 12 de Mayo, where there is a Kiosk that sells insurance for foreign cars. You can buy 1 - 10 months. 3 months for our Station Wagon cost 200S.
Report Check-InCORRUPTED ADUANA. They asked for insurance for motos, and there is no insurance office at the border. We said that we would go puno and make insurance but they wanted money from us 30 euros. We unfortunately had to give 5 euros for just signing our papers. It was late and didn't want to leave our bikes there and take a 2 hiurs bus to go to puno and 2 hours more to come back to border.
Report Check-InWe had a really big problem to cross this border with our car. After we had managed the migration without any problems we went to the aduana. We didn't have an insurance because we couldn't buy it in germany or La Paz. But we heard from other travelers that they give you a paper with which you can pass until Puno to by the Soat there. The functionar de aduana his name s something like Jarcekew was very unfriendly and asked us for money for to give us the paper. As we told him that we knew about others who got it without paying he he said that it depends on the person who is in the office and he didnt let us pass. So we stucked with two families at the border. In the end we found out that there is a place in Yunguyo near to the border where you can get the SOAT for Peru. You can take a taxi or walk (2,5km). The owner Sandra, a very friendly and helpful woman. She sold us the insurance for one month, but you even can take more.
All you need is the copy of your passport and your car papers.
The shop is in the Plaza 12 de Mayo. It has a blue gate (movistar) and it's named LA POSITIVE. Normaly it is opend from 8.30 am to 10.00pm. You even have free WiFi /password movistar. If it is closed you can call her: 973619450 or ask other people in the street. As we arrived it was closed but we found her house and she opened for us. With a motorhome big rig we payed 82,5 Sols for furgoneta. If you do it this way you don't have to pay the corrupt aduana or have to be afraid that the police catches you without insurance. At least we could pass the border after 7 hours.
Be very careful in this border and keep all your papers with you. The customs (aduana) officer tried to scam us by saying our papers weren't in order when they were perfectly fine. The police officer asked us for money to be able to get out of the country and once we were out the customs officer tried to get more money from us. Luckily the Peruvian officers intervined and after many hours of fighting we managed to get out of Bolivia.
Report Check-Inour chilian car was denied access to Peru because we did not have the padron in our name.
Report Check-InWe didn't have car insurance for Bolivia and hoped to subscribe it in Puno. But the custom officer in the Aduana didn't want we go to Puno with our own car, he asked to catch the bus (2 hours go + 2 hours back). We explained that it was Sunday, insurance office will be closed, it was unraisonable to do that.
After a while the man made me understand that the only way to get a formal authorization to drive without insurance would be to give some money to his chief !...
So we paid 60SOL (17$).
We tried first 10$ but they didn't accept.
Otherwise we had to spend to days in the middle of no where.
Pure Peruvian corruption.
How to avoid this situation : don't know; some people wrote in iOverlander that it is not possible to get the insurance in La Paz.
Easy border. We have a Chilean car with a paper copy of our Padron and have been told horror stories of being denied entry to Peru. No problems here at all. Quick 15min entry to Peru, no hassles. Didn't ask to see our insurance, but wanted to know we had it (we already have international insurance from chile). No costs. Got 90 days entry (as Australians)
Report Check-InPeru to Bolivia. Guess we had bad luck. Joined the que at 2pm. At 2015 managed to get the last immigration stamps. Aduana wasn't to bad. Ended up overnighting in no-ones land because the Bolivian officials were closed by his time. Next morning at 0830 Bol.time immigration opened. Around 1045 all was completed. It was extremely busy due to a festival. Due to the tensions at all the que's, people were losing temper.... The Bol Aduana told us we had come on the wrong date... Total crossing time abt 20hrs...
Report Check-InSmall and easy border crossing. Park your car in front of the Aduana building and go to migration (across the street) first. Drop your tourist form and let them stamp your passport. Second go to Aduana and give them the temporary import allowance. After quite some time they will return you the half of the paper and you're free to leave Peru. No costs!
IMPORTANT: there is no insurance available at this border (neither for Peru nor for Bolivia) and closest source is at PUNO! For Bolivia you can get the insurance online: speiserseguros.com.ar.
Various reports of travelers having to catch a bus to Puno and back or police fining uninsured drivers. On the Bolivian side, the police checks the insurance right at the border. In Peru there are often police checkpoints at the road to Puno.