| Author | Message | ||
     Twowheelfun |
I currently own a 2009 1125 CR here in the U.S. and I am about to move to France for approximately 3 years for work. I am interested in taking my bike over to France and I can put it in my container that work is shipping for me so I won't have to worry about the shipping costs. What I do have to worry about are the customs duties, adaptation to local norms, change of license plates, etc. Can anyone provide me with some insight to what I might be getting myself into if I try to take my bike there? It would be very nice to have due to the commute being about 15 minutes on a moderately traveled road through the country side! Thanks for any and all help with this. | ||
| Jules |
Hopefully a helpful French person will be along shortly.. But from my understanding it's actually quite hard to import veicles into France that aren't specifically designed for the French Market. I once bought a "French" TL1000S and found it was limited to 100HP as per their policy.. You will need to have it made to "conform" to get a Carte Gris - which may mean it'll need to be restricted to 100HP. YOU will need a Carte de Sejour (Residency Permit) before you can import the bike and you'll need engineers reports to say it conforms to French standards. You might want to ask your Buell Dealer how much it would cost to convert it to French Spec and then see if they can send ther details to a friendly dealer in France who can issue a certificate of conformity for you... It'll probably end up being cheaper/easier to sell it and buy one there... It'll be interesting to learn if they're restricted to 100HP though.. Good Luck | ||
| Jules |
I was close - the French spec 1125 CR is 105HP so you would need to get yours modified to that... Or at least get a cerificate showing that! | ||
| Justa4banger |
Military sponsered?, contractor, Embassy.. If its any of the above you should be able to get embassy plates and not have to pay a dime in taxes or anything else... If your just taking your bike because you can and your company gives no support, well becareful. I would find out before i shipped it... In Colombia S. America, only BRAND NEW vehicles can be imported.... thats it. doesn't matter if your visiting or whatever... if it ain't new, it ain't coming...One way around that is to ship it to Venezula (sp) and then bring it over since they have an agreement with colombia... Once you do bring your car/bike over here and it is new you are subjected to a tax that pretty much equals 90% of value... i know its retarded.. but i promise its true.. i have seen it. i saw a 2008 Grand Cherokee SRT8... USA price 50k, COlombia 105K US dollars.. most of that inflated price was TAX. Then there are other things that could happen. For instance if you have your vehicle here in Colombia for more than 15 years or it reaches a certain AGE.. you'll never get the vehicle back out of this country... it becomes some kind of historical piece and basically you can't pay enough (well you could, if your run drugs) to get it out of the country.. before i ship any vehicle to another country i would make sure they have a SOFA agreement and see if your company will sponser you to get embassy tags.. if not i would leave it here and buy a buell over there. I know i can't speak for greece but i've had vehicles in 3 other countries.. all were different and none of them were easy.. | ||
| Kirb |
What about shipping it over for private use with the intention of shipping it back? Kind of like sending your bike over for vacation? I would assume there is time limitations, but you might be able to get around those if you travel out of country with it. | ||
| Jules |
You can use it for up to 6 months UNLESS you are employed in France at which point you cease to be a visitor and become a resident. Take a look HERE for more info | ||
| 13was13 |
"with the intention of shipping it back" Or sell it to me. Getting it street legal after the tourist period might proof costly.(There is a French forum www.pitt-biull.com) | ||
| Froggy |
The French 1125's have a different throttle body, I know that for sure. If financially doable, I would just put it into storage till you get back, and ride something cheap over there. | ||
| Twowheelfun |
Thanks for the information everyone. So far it seems that it would be easier to leave here but I hate to not be able to ride it for the three years that I am gone. I'm going to continue to search out this topic as I am not packing up my container until the middle of March. | ||
| Moosestang |
I'd be worried about theft. Not sure how bad the bike theft is in France, but I know in England it's a big problem. | ||
| Jules |
Really? Where? I've had dozens of bikes over the 26 years and nobody has nicked any of them.. The last bike I had that was stolen was when I lived in Holland.. | ||
| Dirty_john |
theft is no worse here in the UK than anywhere else, where did you get that statistic from? | ||
| Moosestang |
theft is no worse here in the UK than anywhere else, where did you get that statistic from? Don't get your panties in a bunch, Jesus christ! I didn't say the uk was any worse than anywhere else. If you want statistics you can look them up. 10% of vehicles stolen in london are motorcycles or mopeds. My point was that if it gets stolen over there, he's screwed. I doubt any US based insurance company will cover that. You can't say anything on here without some ••••••• jumping down your thought! ••••• | ||
| Bartimus |
I would just leave it at home prepped for storage, and buy a used bike over there. It would be much easier than modifying yours, and if you buy a beater, you won't mind selling it cheap when you leave... When I was in Germany in the 80's, I bought a used CB750 and zipped around most of Europe. I did mods to it of course, turned it into a cafe type bike. Had no problems selling it when I left, 3 years later, got close to what I paid for it. | ||
| Moosestang |
I would not take my motorcycle to New York either. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D96QM-lzLM8 That should satisfy the Europeans. | ||
| Froggy |
Twowheelfun, if you want I can move your thread to the Quick Board. It will get more exposure there so you might get more advice. | ||
| Jules |
Wow - how hyper defensive are you Moosetang? I merely pointed out that you were incorrect in your assumption that bike theft was a big deal in the UK. Clearly if you're riding a bike in France you would use a French insurance company so no need to worry with one of your colonial ones.. That last dig is a response to the "European" jibe in yours.. Most Brits don't like being called Europeans, we never got to vote on it! | ||
| Ridegreen2oo |
I may or may not work for US Customs. I can't speak on the behalf of the French government, all countries have their own customs laws. But I can give you a look into US regulations. People that travel to the United States for temporary employment, even up to three years, are not required to formally import their vehicle and get a US State plate. It is considered a temporary import with the intentions to leave when the alien does so it does not have to meet our standards. But it must leave with the alien and cannot be sold in the United States without being formally imported. Once formally imported it would have to meet our required standards and pay duty if applicable. | ||
| Twowheelfun |
Froggy, the more exposure the better! | ||
| Froggy |
Done  | ||
| Theironmaiden22 |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D96QM-lzLM8 Figures, f*ckin son of a bitch probably needs more money until his welfare check comes. If I was that guy and caught them in the act, I wouldn't have a problem shoving my 5-7 down their throat. I'd tie em up in the back alley and pull out every f*cking tooth they had, then I'd break their knee caps and make them kneel in dogshit until infection sets in. Honestly, bikes are like disconnected siamese twins to their owners, you DO NOT touch anothers' bike. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Mr_grumpy lives in France, perhaps he can help you. | ||
| Danger_dave |
I've changed countries with a motorcycle a few times. Sell it. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
looking at heading to Ukrain with in the next year, for a trip maybe longer. Leaving the bikes here. Gonna pick up something there, possible Ural. Few US vehicle insurance companies will cover overseas; hell most arent happy about Mexico. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
Limited to 100 hp ? wtf another reason to not like France | ||
| Crackhead |
buy another 1125cr over there. That way when you mod it and when you sell it, you can pull everything off to put on your 1125cr back home. Or don't sell it and have a unregistered track bike. (Message edited by crackhead on January 07, 2010) | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Ah I think this is where I chime in. As a foreign national (though EU citizen) living in France I can probably advise you. I have imported vehicles from other EU countries & as long as you can supply a European Certificate of conformity (which you can't for a US spec vehicle) it's not too much of a problem. If you did bring your 1125 over you could get it registered here, it would be a long, tortuous, expensive, & extremely frustrating process, but it is possible to do. To meet French homologation standards, you would need to have the bike restricted to the same as a French spec model BY THE SAME METHOD! so if it's the throttle body that's different that'll have to be changed as of course will the ECU to go with it. French market bikes are different from the rest of the EU spec in that there is still the stupid hp restriction that even the Germans who invented it have given up. You'll also need euro spec; exhaust system, tail light, head light, indicators, & speedo. Oh & they'll probably make you change the tyres too. All this is after you've passed the nightmare of customs of course. There's between 6 & 10% customs duty payable depending on how they choose to classify it. But it doesn't end there, you have to pay the dreaded TVA or value added tax at 19.6% on the value of the bike plus the duty plus the cost of shipping. See, I told you it was tortuous. If you're coming for 3 years, either put it in storage for when you get back or sell it & buy a bike here it'll be much simpler & save you a riding season. Where are you going to be based? If Paris area there's a thriving Buell community in the region. Don't know how good your French is, but here's the French webforum. http://buell.actifforum.com/forum-buell-passion-c1 / Any probs give me a bell, my number's in the BRAN, I'll help if I can. Sorry if it's a bit rambling & dodgy spelling, but I've been at the Scotch. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
PS how big's the container? room for a 4x4 Dakota?  | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Sounds expensive. Who knew you might have to change out your tires for tyres? Sheesh!! How attached to your bike are you? A 09 CR would be a hard bike for some to sell, I don't think I could sell my Buell unless it meant we weren't gonna eat with out it happening. Storage for a while won't kill it, especially if you put it away carefully. I wonder if it's better for seals to store the bike with the suspension unloaded? | ||
| Twowheelfun |
Thanks again everybody for the help. It is looking like it would be much more of a hassle to try to put it into the container and bring it with me. I hate to part from it as I just got it in late November and due to living in Central Illinois I only have about 600 miles on it. They were definitely a fun 600 but you all know that. I guess I will work on either finding storage or finding someone to buy it. I think before I make an off the wall decision on selling it I will ponder the situation for a while longer. Mr. Grumpy - My French is non-existent so that is going to be interesting as well! |
