Originally Posted by
narendrakumarg
Hi All,
I am planning to get my used bi-cycle from India to USA (CA, San Jose) in flight. I will be staying in for couple of years and planning to use it for commuting for my university. Please let me know if I have to pay custom charges to use my cycle for my personal use?
Thanks,
Narendra
If you are staying a couple of years, don't fly with it, have it shipped ahead.
Even if you know nobody on the US end to ship it to, you can call and arrange to have it shipped to a bike shop near your destination.
Even internationally, that should be cheaper and less hassle than trying to fly with it as checked luggage.
An individual shipping personal property should not be subject to customs fees unless you intend to sell the property in the US.
Americans will sometimes fly to Germany or Sweden to but BMW's, Porsches or Volvos, take possession of them in Europe, drive them for 2-3 days there, then have the car shipped to their local dealer, this evades customs fees and import tarriffs since the car has technically been purchased and driven by the owner and is now personal property and not merchandise for sale.