Buying a motorbike from europe

Wouldn't it be a left-hand drive?

At a minimum, you would have to pay VRT and motor tax. If you reclaim the VAT in th country of origin or if it is a new bike, VAT would also b due.

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

Coming into summer sure depending on the bike it would be a grand road trip !

Vrt on a motorcycle is €1 for every cc.

But if the bike is hear enough new you may have vat on it.

6 months or under 6k isn't it..

Calculate the VRT here: https://www.ros.ie/evrt-enquiry/vrtenquiry.html?execution=e1s2

On a mid 90's VFR 750 it came to around €100, older bikes are fairly cheap.

Ferry from Cherborg to Rosslare with a bike is €100 for the random date I put in.

listermint wrote: »

Bliss !!

The idea of a week away from everyone, no lockdowns, picking up a new bike and having plenty of time to take the scenic way home sounds like heaven at the moment! In fact, you wouldn't want to buy it in northern france, you'd be looking at northern italy or bavaria purely for the longer drive home

Victor wrote: »

This is all very romantic, but what if said new (to you?) bike breaks down?

No way. Bikes have motors in them really


This is news to me.

Victor wrote: »

This is all very romantic, but what if said new (to you?) bike breaks down?

If you don't already have European recovery on your insurance policy buy European recovery.

Victor wrote: »

My point being that a known entity is different to an unknown entity.

And if I step out my front door with no jacket , it could rain.


Lord take me now. This world is too much

Victor wrote: »

This is all very romantic, but what if said new (to you?) bike breaks down?

Literally any bike can break down. But yeah, recovery on the insurance covers europe usually

Teothican wrote: »

when do you pay VRT on the bike does the Revenue get in contact with the buyer or do you simply go on there site and pay ? also when it comes to the license plate how do i acquire a new one for the irish roads and where do i register the new plate/Fee ?

You have to book an appointment with your local VRT centre. They would inspect it: model, make all matches and that its above the 6000km. You pay your money to them there- begrudgingly - then go online to tax it and you'll receive the log book in the post.
You will be given the reg number and you can go to a local motor factors or order a new plate online.

This thread seems to have come along at a very appropriate time for me. Have been contemplating getting back on a bike after a good few years absence and was wonder how the import duty worked out importing a bike, so thanks to those for the info.
Now I hate hijacking a thread, but..
Does anyone know how it works if you build a bike from scratch.
For example, importing an unused non registered frame and building it from there?
Is there a duty or what is the procedure for registration when it's finished.

I get what your saying, but if I was to go down that route I would have receipts for lots of separate individual items.
I suppose they would just add it all up and charge as new, with the value based on receipts.
Might phone them and see what way they say.

Sir Galahad wrote: »

The OP wanted to know about shipping a bike from Germany, so unlike most of the posts here I'll add something of relevance. Try Overlanders in Gorey, they have a base in Memmingen that they used for shipping pre Covid. Despite what some of the people here think about riding back from Germany, don't do it. Covid has closed a lot of places (B&B's Hotels etc etc) and a roadtrip would not be fun.

No joke not being able to find somewhere to stay while getting soaked in the rain..

Del2005 wrote: »

You would have a chassis with zero km, so it's considered a new vehicle. You have to register it within 30 days of import of the chassis. So if you import a BMW S1000rr chassis you'll be taxed on a bringing in a new BMW S1000rr, what you stick on after is irrelevant.

As I said if you could do what you are saying then the boat would be full of car shells being imported and brought to the NCT or VRT inspection. Are many people bringing in vehicle shells?

You can't vrt a shell or frame full stop the vechicle has to be able to run on its own power at the time its examined.

Also your 6,000km is based on what's on the clocks not what milage the shell/frame may have done, clock with 6,001km on it isn't considered a new vechicle as long as its older than 6 months.

You have to register within 30 days of the vechicle coming in again you can't register a shell/frame

Issues arise when importing custom frames because you'll need a Cert of conformity, a registration for that frame and vin, maybe an engineers report.

There are people bringing in frames and shells and revinning them.

He could do what he's thinking of but he'll run into some problems.
1. You can't vrt a frame so he'll most likely face penalties.
2. If its a custom frame, it will be a serious pain because it won't be on the system and some states don't actually register custom frames in the way we see on say biker build off. Then you have engineers reports etc.
3. They'll assign a random value if its a custom frame.
4. Insuring it later will be a pain

K.Flyer wrote: »

Yeah, I think I will have to phone them to get some clarification as I do see where I could run into some problems like you have listed.
My thoughts are for a full ground up custom build, with a frame from an indie manufacturer, possibly a revtech motor, then build the rest of it up from there, but what happens when I want to get it registered or insured is my worry.

Well problems will be
1 is finding a frame builder that can provide you a registered frame. Registration works very differently in a lot of countries.
2. Full ground up custom to an insurer is either a no hoper or get your bank manager on the line.
3. You won't be able to prove the full bike came in at any stage so that would be incredibly fun to deal with.
4. They'll assign a completely arbitrary value, that would involve Google which if they come across certain builders builds, because they're similar, you'll be royally screwed.

A lot of people just revin the frame, if that was an idea I'd 100% tell the insurance its been chopped and get an engineers report they'll use any excuse to void a claim.

Honestly work like that in Ireland is 100% a pain and usually not feasible.

It'd be more expensive but having someone build and register a bike in whatever country then importing g it would be much easier.

There's a reason the custom guys here used to chop frames not build them.

Mjolnir wrote: »

Well problems will be
1 is finding a frame builder that can provide you a registered frame. Registration works very differently in a lot of countries.
2. Full ground up custom to an insurer is either a no hoper or get your bank manager on the line.
3. You won't be able to prove the full bike came in at any stage so that would be incredibly fun to deal with.
4. They'll assign a completely arbitrary value, that would involve Google which if they come across certain builders builds, because they're similar, you'll be royally screwed.

A lot of people just revin the frame, if that was an idea I'd 100% tell the insurance its been chopped and get an engineers report they'll use any excuse to void a claim.

Honestly work like that in Ireland is 100% a pain and usually not feasible.

It'd be more expensive but having someone build and register a bike in whatever country then importing g it would be much easier.

There's a reason the custom guys here used to chop frames not build them.

Good thing about bikes is that the VRT is set a €2 to 350cc and €1 for every cc over that, so they can't screw you on value.

Victor wrote: »

Wouldn't it be a left-hand drive?

hahaha, not.

A lot of bikes have a dipped beam that goes up on the nearside, some can be realigned but on the others you have to swap the headlight unit(s).

Victor wrote: »

This is all very romantic, but what if said new (to you?) bike breaks down?

It's not yer '50s BSA, grandad

blade1 wrote: »

I think all bikes in Germany and Switzerland are restricted as well.
Something to keep in mind.

And they drive on the right hand side of the road, so throttle / clutch are on different side of the bars.











Probably

blade1 wrote: »

I think all bikes in Germany and Switzerland are restricted as well.
Something to keep in mind.

French are, Swiss not sure but don't think so. German's aren't.

CH used to have far stricter emission standards than the EU, that may not be the case any more as EU emission standards got tighter.

blade1 wrote: »

Looking at a German fireblade yesterday that was restricted to 100hp and it was owner said Switzerland as well.

What age though ?

Certainly older stuff was widely restricted to 100bhp in France, Germany and Switzerland. All thanks to a guy called Bangemann.....

Newer stuff isn't though.

AlekSmart wrote: »

If you are buying in Germany,either from a dealer OR privately,how does the registration documentation work out ?

I am familiar with the UK V5 stuff,but totally blank when it comes to the German way ?

There are two documents, a small one that folds to credit card size and a larger one A4 size.
They have all the info on them standard EU style.

Not in my experience, Germans are different to Brits.:D