The cost of new bikes in Germany

I have been in Holland and Germany for the last two weeks ,and while I was there I thought I would do some investigation into the cost of new bikes. We all know that over the yrs it has always been said that it was cheaper to buy abroad ,so I visited a few dealers to check it out.
At the moment the exchange rate is rubbish with the Euro but I was still amazed at the difference.
As an axample a yam FZ6 was at least £1500 MORE than over here.
I looked at 3 Yam dealers and found this to be true across the board.
Anyone got any answers as to why this could be.
I thought that it could be due to the cometition over here with all the dealers trying to beat the grey importers
Any thoughts ...or did I just go to the wrong dealers

I had heard this was the case from Tim In Holland, no idea why though

[Skip]

A friend of mine has just moved to Germany and exported his Fazer 1000 with him - insurance is a killer too - he is 38 and it was £170 FC here and in Germany he is paying 550 euros for the equivalent of 3rd party!

Germany is not a cheap place to live...

Damn that is bad!

Petrol is sooo much more expesive as well...even accounting for the exchange rate
about £1.40 per litre at the mo

It varies all over the world depending on exchange rates and economies. I think brand new Daytona 675's can be had in the US for ~$9000. Current exchange rates mean that is ~5000GBP or $10500 Aus. To buy the same bike in each respective country would be 7300GBP in the UK and $16000 in Australia.

This doesn't mean that we are getting ripped off (as many people believe) Just that reflects the currency fluctuation and that economy. You have to consider how much your job would pay if you lived in each respective country and therefore your cost living etc. Also economies of scale in that the US probably imports and sells more Daytona's than other countries. There are so many things that factor into it, but it has only really been in recent years and the surge of e-commerce, that we now look globally to buy products, so the whole thing is more transparent

[dyzio]

Originally Posted by gid

Petrol is sooo much more expesive as well...even accounting for the exchange rate
about £1.40 per litre at the mo

It was around 1.5 euro for super unleaded two months ago.

[Paul the 6th]

diesel was 1.48 euros last month when i was roadtripping - only took 4 tankfulls to get from york in north yorkshire down to switzerland via france, belgium & germany and back again! 2100 miles out of 4 tanks of diesel (about 50 litres)...

2005 Mondeo 2.0 tdci - 115ps/113bhp - whoop yeah!

In Holland they now charge a vehicle "first registration tax" - an unfair tax that not only puts up the price of locally bought vehicles, but also prevents free trade within the EU, and is something the EU is annoyed about (apparently) but has let be. Therefore new prices are higher and secondhand ones too, my 2nd hand GSZXR 750 I'll be buying will cost about the same as a new one over here

But on the plus side my company will be paying my accomodation for the next 4 yrs

Oh and an old Mk3 Golf GTi (mid nineties) with about 100k miles is going to cost me about 2.5-3k GBP+ wtf!

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by Skip

A friend of mine has just moved to Germany and exported his Fazer 1000 with him - insurance is a killer too - he is 38 and it was £170 FC here and in Germany he is paying 550 euros for the equivalent of 3rd party!

Germany is not a cheap place to live...

and if ya want to take your 1977 z1000 over to france you get worse complications than a little more money for your insurance! The french are so picky that after 4 years over there, my friend still hasnt managed to re-register her classic bike. they wanted every standard factory part on the bike before they'd even consider giving her a French plate....even down to the exhaust system and mirrors......you try getting an original exhaust......they sre like donkey rocking poo!

i should imagine the germans are the same

but thats de-railing a little