Importing A Bike
 

This scenario came up in conversation today, how to import a bike? Straight forward one would imagine, buy a bike in foreign country, get it crated, ship it over, follow registration rules on the DVLA website and providing it conforms and passes an MOT you get a V5 and an English plate. Simple. Unless...

What happens if you buy a bike in a foreign country with the intention of riding it back over to this country and then registering it. Again the registration process is all documented. The questions I have would be how after buying the bike overseas could you legally get the bike into the country while riding it?

How could you insure said bike? Would you do it from a UK company or from a company in the country of origin? What happens if the country that you acquire the bike in doesn't do a MOT, does the bike become illegal once it hits UK soil? And are there any other points that need to be considered if you were to import a bike by riding it back?

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Insure it over here and ride it over or have it shipped. You can use it as it is but you must take it to an MOT station within 6 months of bringing it into the country and then apply to import it. While it is on foreign plates it is subject to their licensing laws but it must conform to British road law, in as much as it needs to be roadworthy according to the MOT test and insured - you won't need to tax it until it is designated as imported and given a UK reg number.

I went through this after buying a GSXR1000 in Belfast and bringing it to the mainland. NI vehicles have to be imported like any other foreign vehicle as their licensing office is in Coleraine and has no link to Swansea... or didn't have back then. If it makes any difference, HPI can't track between NI and UK mainland either, because a trip over the Irish Sea was enough for that bike to lose two CAT C classifications once it went on a UK V5. Weird, cos it kept the NI registration number

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Yeah I would assume that it would be the originating countries regulations that cover the vehicle (providing of course it is road legal in the sense that it is not dangerous) as if you cross the channel you don't then need a French MOT. But its the insurance that bothers me, would a UK company insure a bike on foreign plates?

And according to the DVLA; vehicles moving between the UK and NI are not considered to be imported/ exported anymore (just checked that).

Re: Importing A Bike
 

I bought a new car in Belgium and insured it on the VIN only. Due to a paperwork cook-up I had to drive it to the registration office in Northampton for inspection when it had no number plates at all (I'd brought it into the country on a trailer, no export plates, but they wouldn't have been legal anyway). DVLA said I'd be OK providing it was insured, I took their word for it, took their letter requesting presentation, and hoped.

Speak to your insurance company.

Re: Importing A Bike
 

I cant see that they would mind so long as it is registered in the UK and being used here... although I might be wrong.

What scam are you up to now??

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Insuring it on the VIN is interesting... However the differences I'm considering here would be a used machine and making it over under its own steam with me at the helm. Might give an insurance company a call then, any suggestions to one that will understand what I'm proposing?

Re: Importing A Bike
 

I bought a Mitsi Evo II from Japan and insured it on the VIN until I had the registration bit done - the insurance company said it was quite common and to just update them with the reg number when I had it. Same went for the MOT - that was done on the VIN too IIRC

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Where are you bringing the bike from? If outside the EU or from a country that recently joined, check that the bike has European Type Approval, otherwise you will need to put it through Single Vehicle Approval here before you can do the rest, just the same as you would have to do with a newly built kit car or some imported chinese bikes.

My XT600 for instance was no longer sold here after 2003 as it couldn't meet the new type approval regulations at the time, but Yamaha continued to make them until 2006 when the XT660 was released. I'm not sure if an imported 2006 bike would need an SVA, as it's identical to mine which has pre-2003 type approval, so in theory should be deemed safe.

Re: Importing A Bike
 

If it were from out side of the EU then as I understand it needs the SVA and the SVA is just a bit like an MOT only longer and enables you to still get an age related plate.

But are there any ages or classifications of vehicles that won’t be allowed into the country?

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Depends if the vehicle manufacturer has had it tested for type approval. If it's a production bike sold in the UK, it probably doesn't need an SVA, even if it comes from outside of Europe. The type approval is exactly what it says on the tin, it approves the vehicle type for use in Europe. So any SV650 that comes off the same production line in Japan is approved, wherever in the world it was first sold and registered.

The SVA itself doesn't get you an age related plate, it's the components used to build the vehicle which can be verified and reported in the SVA, which the DVLA will check before issuing the plate. I can't remember exactly which and how many age-proven components you need, but if you build a bike absolutely from scratch in your shed, using an engine of an origin which you can't prove, you'll get a Q plate. If you build it from scratch with a new engine straight out of the crate, I don't know if you'll get a new plate or a Q plate. If you build a kit car using a G reg Sierra as the donor vehicle for engine, differential, drive components, etc, you can get a G plate.

I'm not aware of any prohibited ages or classifications. You can build a bike in your shed to any design you like, so long it can and does get through the SVA test.

Re: Importing A Bike
 

I'd be inclined to buy any old bike frame and use the VIN from that on the new frame and just carry on using it with the old frames reg number, rather than go through all that SVA crap.

I have a mate who bought a very worn out, rusted and destroyed 1971 K plate 1300 Mk1 Escort and used the chassis plate and Reg number on his recently built Lotus 7 replica. Not one part from the Escort was used in the build and all he did was take the replica for an MOT at our local garage and tax it before using it on the road. He's had it for 7 years at least now, and no-one has ever questioned it.

Re: Importing A Bike
 

What does the make and model say on the V5?

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Ford Escort but the engine capacity has been changed to 1600, just the same as thousands of kit cars had the donor car's details on the V5 before SVA was introduced. He just makes out that the Escort was the donor for a kit car way before SVA came into force because he doesn't want his lovely car blighted by a Q plate - he much prefers the black and silver K plates it has always worn as they are so much more in keeping with the early 70s model Lotus 7 he's built the car to replicate.

Re: Importing A Bike
 

I suppose there is no way for them to prove when the car was built, as all the records for it will be for a Ford Escort, so there will be no MOT in particular that shows any change. But he is using a vehicle which is not properly registered, he should have informed the DVLA that the make, model and colour have changed. He could actually get away with speeding tickets and stuff by sending a letter back to the camera partnership saying that it is not his car in the photo, with a copy of the V5 showing "Blue Ford Escort", they would just drop the ticket rather than bother investigating. I'm sure if anybody dug into it he wouldn't be legal, in which case he's not insured. If the insurance company had a really big claim to pay, like he wrote of somebody's brand new 30 grand BMW, or seriously injured a third party, they'd do the digging. The chassis is clearly not a Ford Escort and the engine number won't match the V5 if that has the Escorts engine number on, dead easy for the insurance company to figure out that it was not built from that Escort, and the V5 actually has stuff all to do with the vehicle, other than a swapped VIN plate.

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Just as a little addendum for info, when I bought my car new, I had to request a "Certificate of Conformity" from the supplying dealership who sourced it from the manufacturer, which basically said the car conformed to the type approval for that model in the UK, that was for the DVLA and registration. The Cert was stamped and returned with the V5.

Re: Importing A Bike
 

One more note.
Some countries have export rules to go aling with the import side of things. I brought a motorcycle back from Hong Kong and you couldn't export a vehicle unless it had been owned and insured there for at least 12 months. Only then can you get the form that says youy can reregister it in another country.

Might be worth checking if there are any such laws in the country you intend to buy it in.

C

Re: Importing A Bike
 

Hong Kong has been handed back to the Chinese now hasn't it?

Do DVLA need this form to register the bike? I wouldn't have thought so. In the case of any country who has such a law you'd only be breaking a law in the country of origin, and if you get it past customs it's out. The country of origin is never going to know you've broken a law they won't investigate one missing vehicle.

Worth checking what the law is and know what your excuse is for taking the bike abroad, but I wouldn't worry about them too much, they are not going to send interpol after you or be aiting for you at the airport next time you visit ;-) If an illegal immigrant can get into a country under th pretence of a holiday, you can sure as hell get a vehicle out.