European registered motorbikes in Australia.
 

Hello!

We are planning to ride the H1 in Australia next year (June-August 2024) and the plan would be to take our bike with us (BMW R1200RT Registered in Spain).
I had a look to the information in this forum/threads but unless I´m wrong I can not find information about insurance. Can it be done YES/NOT?. So can anyone provide information, links, Insurance companies, etc., that can do the job?.

Thank you very much.

Hi Peca,
this Aussie-government website could be of interest for you:
https://www.abf.gov.au/importing-exp...porary-imports


In 2006 I shipped my m/c to Perth covered by a carnet. Since it's so long ago I cannot recollect, whether I had an international insurance or whether I bought an OZ-insurance for the time I travelled there. If you search the government website you might find infos on that.


Be warned that the customs and licencing offices are a problem for travellers to a certain extent.
My experience was that the people there had no bloody idea about the government rules & regulations. First I had to get an "MOT", meaning that my bike had to be technically roadworthy. The officer told me to leave the bike there and come back some days later, because he had to make a documentation of the vehicle re size, weight, etc. I suggested to make a photocopy of the carnet - which he fortunately accepted :rolleyes2:


Next station was the licensing office where I was told that I had to get an OZ-registration. Big argumentation doh Finally I could convince them that this doesn't apply to temporary imports. Jeez, they had absolutely no clue of the gov regulations - so you'd better copy the contents of the above website.


Good luck!

I had similar experience to Vaufi in Freemantle although the people I dealt with had more idea, my bike also had to have an MOT test, it was pretty similar to the UK one and I was asked if the bike was legal at home as in did it have current road tax. I then had to pay their registration fee, the equivalent of road tax and that included basic third party insurance making me legal to ride on the road, I am not sure if an upgrade in insurance for temporarily imported vehicles is available if you want it.

Many thanks guys!

Hi Peca, yes it's possible to do, and not too difficult - we did it back in 2015. You are looking for 'visiting vehicle insurance' and depending on which state you ship to either it will be included in the registration process or you'll need to get it yourself. IIRC we had to get different insurance each time we crossed into a new state as the rules are a little different in each place.

Don't forget that your bike has to be spotless when it arrives, or they will charge you $$$ for cleaning before they release it.

Here's a good, though slightly old write up

https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hu...or-leste-94360

Hi Peca:

First find out what it will cost you to obtain a carnet. The price of a carnet varies greatly depending on where the motorcycle is registered (in other words, what your choice - if any - of organizations to issue the carnet is).

You might find that the price of the carnet is so high that it almost makes the project uneconomical. Hopefully that will not be the case, but before you put a lot of work into planning, researching shipping, etc. get the carnet price sorted out.

AidenWalsh mentioned in a post above that the bike has to be spotless. Based on my own experience, it has to be "more than spotless", it has to be absolutely showroom clean, not a speck of dirt anywhere (under the fenders, bottom of the engine, in between the treads of the tires, up on the triple tree, under the seat... it has to be immaculate, everywhere), and not the slightest trace of an insect fragment anywhere on the motorcycle.

I once delivered a brand-new aircraft from Canada to Australia - literally right out of the factory (I was a factory test pilot). I had left Canada in the winter and transited through Alaska, Russia, and around the Pacific rim, so no chance of encountering insects in the northern hemisphere. Despite that, and despite having washed the aircraft in Taiwan prior to heading to Australia, the agricultural inspection folks spent nearly half an hour examining this brand-new, never had a passenger in it aircraft for insects before letting me continue on past the port of entry (Darwin) to the customer's home base in Australia.

The Australians are really, really concerned about the risk of unintentionally importing a soil microbe or an insect egg.

Michael

Hello all and many thanks!

Regarding the CPD I have already worked on that and is not difficult to get apart from the paper work and the cost, in Spain like in many other countries the entity in charge of the CPD is the RACE this stand for the Royal Automobile Club of Spain, it is the same in other countries at least in Europe so one have to look and find the right organization or Automibile club operating in your place. Direct cost around 200€ for a 10 pages unit and 300€ for a 25 pages unit. Then you need an endorsement that in my case will be 2900€ (this is a calculation based on the market value of the vehicle), this money will be given back to me when I get the bike back to Spain. Some bank charges will also apply.
The company I have contanted for the transportation is MotoFreight (UK), they put the bike in a container and takes 12 to 15 weeks to get to the port of entry in AUS and the same for the way back. They also do all the paper work and customs clearance.
I will try to polish the bike prior to the shipment.
Rds.

Don't forget the bottom side of the mudguards!! Jeez! They check everywhere :frown: