Importing a m/c into Euro countries

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lawrence

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I have a question or two re importing a vehicle into a EU country. Do all countries follow the same regulations if they are in the European Union? Is importing a old (25+ years) vehicle exempt from regulations or otherwise easier than a near-current model? TIA for your insights, suggestions and comments.
 
Regulations are the same, practicalities vary.
Getting the machines registered is another story altogether.
Which country are you aiming at.

Paul
 
lawrence said:
I have a question or two re importing a vehicle into a EU country. Do all countries follow the same regulations if they are in the European Union? Is importing a old (25+ years) vehicle exempt from regulations or otherwise easier than a near-current model? TIA for your insights, suggestions and comments.
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It's a pain in the 4rse in France. This from a friend who works in the motorcycle trade in France when we asked for advice on importing two bikes to France, one old, one newer.

"I would recommend for the older bike what they call in France a “carte gris de collection”, this is basically a legal document that states the bike is of historical interest and is ridden by a collector, and it avoids all the bullshit paperwork the French love so much. Normally you can only ride it less than 3000 km per year, but that generally isn’t a problem.
The amount of hassle changing over lights, speedos and other gubbins for the Daytona isn’t really worth the effort. You could see if that would fit onto a “CGdC” as well, or just leave it on foreign plates and “speaka no lingo” if the cops stop you."

Note for the CGdC, that the bike has to be more than 30 years old and unmodified (the latter certified by a dealer / official). In the case of bikes less than 30 years old it has to be certified as conforming to the regulations of the target country, or modified to conform.

For more modern machinery, it generally isn't worth the effort.

And that's just the registration. The physical requirements of importing the machine are onerous too, as is the paperwork and inspection regime. And the officials pedantic, sometimes in the extreme.

In our case, the older machine was imported (it was of sentimental value) but remains unregistered / unridden. The newer machine was sold and a replacement purchased in France.

Hope this helps a bit. May be easier in other places, but I somehow doubt it!
 
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Hi Mat,

I'm afraid Mat that what your friend told you is not exact.
Bringing a bike into France from a EU country is free. You will however need to clear customs. That is free but can take from 24 hours to several weeks depending on the local customs office.

There is no limitation for use with a "carte grise de collection". It is in fact, for the moment quite the contrary. All larger French towns are banning older vehicles, unless they have a carte grise de collection in which case, you can enter the town.
According to wether you choose to register the machine normaly or as a historic vehicle, the amount of paperwork is the same, only not the same papers or the same people handling them.

If you choose a historic registration, you need to go through the FFVE (Fédération française de véhicules historiques). They will need the customs declaration, the documents from the bike's country of origin, a bill of sale and a photographic dossier of the machine and its numbers.

If you choose to register normally, you'll need a document from the importer stating that the machine corresponds to the type homologated in France which is a complication if a more recent machine develops over 100 HP when that wasn't allowed in France. They might also ask that you have a headlight dipping to the right and a speedo in km but they might not because as you know there is no technical inspection for bikes in France, or road tax, not like some other places.

Paul
 
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The country in question is Portugal. The bike is my 1982 Mirage 1200TS. I've heard horror stories on the subject of importing autos. I don't know if that would also be true of an old, historically significant Laverda motorcycle.
Surely Portugal would see the advantage of a Laverda Mirage calling Portugal home! It would be a fine addition to their castles, ancient Roman structures and the like. ;)
 
Paul, If you have never ridden a Hayabusa then you must. They are truly astonishing. I've literally ridden hundreds of very fast bikes working in the trade and the Hayabusa has a party trick that no other bike has in that the way it makes it's power has the strange effect of the horizon coming towards you rather than the other way round. You obviously need the the "time and place" to do it but it's worth it. The last ones were apparently restricted to 300kph but the speedo stopped and the revs kept rising. Apologies for the hijack.
 
Cock on Bob - time machine - had 2 over 10 years - never broke down - did everything from scratching to touring and I took it down the drag strip - not an animal to ride like some of the rocket ships today 😃
 
BobSol said:
Paul, If you have never ridden a Hayabusa then you must. They are truly astonishing. I've literally ridden hundreds of very fast bikes working in the trade and the Hayabusa has a party trick that no other bike has in that the way it makes it's power has the strange effect of the horizon coming towards you rather than the other way round. You obviously need the the "time and place" to do it but it's worth it. The last ones were apparently restricted to 300kph but the speedo stopped and the revs kept rising. Apologies for the hijack.
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I'm full of prejudice and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
My ideal ride is now my 18 bhp Falcone. Quite sufficient.

My bikes rarely go over 100 km/h, even on the very rare occasions I take to the motorway.

Paul
 
With all due respect, I'd be bored shitless with that, Paul. Not that I want a Hayabusa, but many people ride motorcycles for the exhiliration. Each to their own, as they say.
 
My funny looking Jap bike, Suzuki 1400 is a hoot to ride. Fast if you want it to be, pulls from 60ks in top gear. 100ks at 3,000 revs, solid around corners and 1,000ks a day no problems.

In fact, I’d almost say that of all my bikes, 5 registered, I think it is my favourite bike to ride. Puts a smile on my face whenever I’m on it.
 
Paul Marx said:
I'm full of prejudice and wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
My ideal ride is now my 18 bhp Falcone. Quite sufficient.

My bikes rarely go over 100 km/h, even on the very rare occasions I take to the motorway.

Paul
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The family heirloom Airone is a nicer ride. And it was even ridden by Arthur Wheeler at a Cust GP revival meeting.
Probably makes a little more than 18HP too.
You can't go over 100KPH here on the road anyway.
 
Just in support of what Paul said in reply to Mat. I imported 5 bikes from the UK into France. Had no problem with any of them.

Can't help Lawrence with how things work in Portugal, tho' ... :unsure:
 
Paul Marx said:
Hi Mat,

I'm afraid Mat that what your friend told you is not exact.
Bringing a bike into France from a EU country is free. You will however need to clear customs. That is free but can take from 24 hours to several weeks depending on the local customs office.

There is no limitation for use with a "carte grise de collection". It is in fact, for the moment quite the contrary. All larger French towns are banning older vehicles, unless they have a carte grise de collection in which case, you can enter the town.
According to wether you choose to register the machine normaly or as a historic vehicle, the amount of paperwork is the same, only not the same papers or the same people handling them.

If you choose a historic registration, you need to go through the FFVE (Fédération française de véhicules historiques). They will need the customs declaration, the documents from the bike's country of origin, a bill of sale and a photographic dossier of the machine and its numbers.

If you choose to register normally, you'll need a document from the importer stating that the machine corresponds to the type homologated in France which is a complication if a more recent machine develops over 100 HP when that wasn't allowed in France. They might also ask that you have a headlight dipping to the right and a speedo in km but they might not because as you know there is no technical inspection for bikes in France, or road tax, not like some other places.

Paul
Click to expand...
My apologies. I was only trying to help! I see the 3000 kilometer restriction was lifted in May 2018. The advice pre-dated this change and was correct. The older bike was coming from outside the EU. The newer bike was listed as 136bhp, so the practicalities of French registration were expensive and onerous.

Since you're an expert, do you know if a cart grise de collection can be obtained for none-French vehicles, or has touring on older, dirtier, bikes become impractical in France? We were planning to ride through France at some point in the near future and one of our vehicles is 31 years old.
 
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