Buying a bike in the UK, for non UK residents
 

As the question gets asked fairly frequently, and as I've helped someone to do this in the past, hopefully this post will answer many of the questions that come up. Although the UK is no longer in the EU it still has a close relationship with the region and English speakers may find the English-language process more approachable than that in other countries.

To break it down, you need to consider:

• Finding and buying a bike
• Roadworthiness Inspection
• Insurance
• Road Tax
• Leaving the country, coming back

Finding and buying the bike

There is a thriving used bike market in the UK. Probably the best sources to search online are https://www.ebay.co.uk/ https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bikes and Facebook classifieds. Anyone can buy a bike however you do need a UK address to register it to. You don't have to provide any proof of ID or address, it can be the address of a friend or kindly person who is happy to act as a mailbox. There are no legal obligations on them. This will be the address where the title documents (form V5C) will be sent, also any traffic fines, so you do need to be able to get your mail when it arrives. The V5C gives the name of the legal "Keeper" which is usually, but not necessarily, the Owner. The Keeper is responsible for the use and legal keeping of the vehicle. The V5C is sometimes called a "logbook" for historic reasons, but isn't really. The government agency that looks after this is DVLA (Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency).

You can do a couple of checks on the vehicle history. Obviously when you view the bike make sure the seller has a V5C and the engine and frame numbers match and haven't been defaced or altered. You can also use commercial records checks companies like https://www.mycarcheck.com/ or look through the government records of annual inspections: https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

You can fill out the "change of ownership" part of the V5C form and post it off, or re-register the bike online: https://www.gov.uk/sold-bought-vehicle If you do it online you can just destroy the old V5C. There are no charges to change the ownership of a vehicle.

Congratulations, you have a bike! But to ride it legally on the road there are some more things to take care of. Don't be tempted to ride without them as the police are alert to illegal vehicles and your bike could be seized and impounded if you are stopped without insurance. That's without the implications of using an uninsured vehicle in busy city traffic.

Roadworthiness Inspection

This is known as MoT, after the inspection originally introduced by the Ministry of Transport. All vehicles more than 3 years old need an annual MoT inspection. Most bike shops can do this inspection, phone ahead to book an appointment if you need it done - there can be a few weeks wait in peak riding season. It's not especially strict but you must rectify any faults found before getting a Pass certificate and being allowed to use it on the road. The certificate is assigned to the vehicle, not the owner, and you can check the status here: https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-status

If you're considering a vehicle with expired or short MoT it could be worth negotiating on price with the owner for him to get a 12 month ticket on it. If you're renewing the MoT yourself, you can do it up to 28 days before expiry and not lose the following year's renewal date.

You can ride a bike with expired MoT but it must be direct to a prebooked test at an MoT test station. The rules don't explicitly state *which* MoT station you must go to, but don't expect much sympathy from the cops if you're returning from a trip via Dover and you've booked a test in Scotland ;)

Insurance

Often the trickiest part of the process for non UK licence holders, as most insurers won't touch them. Consider shopping for insurance on the basis of a hypothetical bike before you buy, as the costs may surprise you. There are popular insurance search engines such as comparethemarket.com moneysupermarket.com and confused.com - worth a try but don't hold your breath. One of the few brokers who will cover a non UK licence holder is Bikesure (I believe a trading name of broker Adrian Flux). Bemoto may also be worth speaking to.

Be aware that if you own a bike it must be either insured for the road, or legally declared off road (see SORN, later). No insurance and not SORNed, and a couple of weeks later a fine arrives in the post.

Road Tax

Now that you have Title, MoT and Insurance you can proceed to the last part of the process. All of these are recorded on official databases so you can either take your documents to a Post Office and buy road tax at the counter, or, as most people do, buy it online. https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax

Road Tax belongs to the seller so he gets refunded the remaining tax value. You need to buy new Road Tax as soon as you buy (you may get a couple of weeks grace in practice).

You are now fully road legal. In the UK you don't have to carry your driving documents with you by law, but you may find it useful "just in case".

Leaving the country, coming back

Obviously, take all your documents. They aren't generally checked when entering Europe but at some other borders they are. You don't need a carnet within Europe but you do need to be sure you are covered by 3rd party insurance. Most UK policies do cover you for EU and EEA countries, check your policy document. If not you may need to speak to a travel specialist.

For journeys of less than 12 months it's all pretty straightforward, just go and come back.

If your tax, MoT or insurance expire while you're out of the country. Tax and insurance can be bought online of course, MoT can't. In practice, most people make a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification). It's a free process that declares your vehicle is not on public roads in the UK and it lasts until you tax it again. You can't legally use or park your vehicle on a UK public road while it's SORNed. https://www.gov.uk/make-a-sorn

You're playing the odds a bit here. Police abroad *could* check your tax and insurance status on the DVLA database https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax Technically, to be legal abroad your bike needs to be legal "at home". Most are happy as long as you have local insurance in place. It's rare to be checked, but be aware it could happen. Also of course, when you return to British soil your bike must be road legal on arrival. The official DVLA position is "If you bring your vehicle back to the UK untaxed you cannot drive it back into the UK - it’ll have to be transported and a SORN must be made straight away." In practice (and don't quote me on this) you can ride your SORNed bike straight to a nearby MoT station for a prebooked test, and as long as it passes and you have insurance, you can then buy tax online.

If you're out of the country for more than 12 months according to DVLA rules you should register your bike permanently exported. https://www.gov.uk/taking-vehicles-out-of-uk Clearly this isn't helpful as you would then need to register it in another country and there could be import fees to pay. Most people SORN it and cross their fingers.

Sorry it's a bit of a long post but I've tried to cover all the angles you might encounter, and in truth the basic process is fairly simple.

Bon voyage! :mchappy:

What I have always wondered is what all the UK based round the world type of travellers do (on 4 wheels and 2)

If my UK registered vehicle is outside of the UK, then I cannot get an MOT when required, and therefore I need to SORN my vehicle?

If my vehicle is SORN'd am I able to keep it insured? Do UK based insurance agencies ask for proof of MOT every year? Or will they give full insurance to a SORN'd vehicle?

My situation is pretty typical (as far as I know): I want to MOT my bike in UK, ride it to Europe, and store it somewhere central for a few years and eventually sell it. What do I (and thousands of others brits) do in this situation to stay as legal as possible?

I don't know the exact wording of UK laws, but most traffic laws say something to the effect of "if your inspection ran out, you can still drive your vehicle to the inspection place, as long as you have insurance, and you are confident that the vehicle is in safe operating conditions".

If you are in Argentina, well, you're still riding your bike in the direction of the nearest UK MOT station, it'll just take you a bit of time to get there. ;)

As for road tax, most countries are not going to enforce a foreigner's obligations to their home tax authorities - not without an Interpol warrant. :) Your UK plated bike's UK tax liabilities are not the concern of the Slovenian police - as long as you display a valid Slovenian vignette.

I've heard anecdotes about Australian police actually checking a British plated tourist bike's UK road tax status, but I've heard many more confirmations (including my own experience with foreign police) that nobody cares about your original country's road tax inspection running out - even the border guards.

Again not sure how the UK works exactly, but around here a vehicle's insurance is completely separate from the validity of the technical inspection - I can maintain insurance on an unispected vehicle (among other things, so that I can legally drive it to get inspected!).

Furthermore, once you leave the UK and the Green Card area that your UK insurance covers, this becomes irrelevant: you will buy mandatory insurance at roughly every border, and each country's authorities only care about locally valid insurance, not your UK insurance.

If you are selling it outside the UK, it needs to go through a technical inspection to be put onto local plates in any case.

This is even true within the EU single market where no customs fees apply. I can buy a car in Germany or Sweden, bring it home to Estonia, then go and ask for Estonian plates - and the government agency will need to do a technical inspection on the vehicle before they give me new plates. Even if it has a valid German or Swedish inspection.

Correct. Technically (and it may depend on local laws) your bike needs to be legal "at home" to be legal "abroad". But as you say, for travel of more than a year this isn't possible as the MoT will expire and there's no way to renew it. So you SORN, to avoid getting fines back in UK. I've never heard of anybody checking "abroad" - as long as you have local insurance they're generally happy.

There is a way past this if it worries you. Bikes less than 3 years old do not require MoT testing.

Yes, you can insure a bike that is SORNed and not MoT'd.

Ah, okay... So, if I SORN my bike, would I be pursuing Green Card insurance or UK insurance to ride in Europe?

I as of now, Bikesure is covering my UK registered bikes, though I have a a Canadian driver's license. Both bikes are stored and SORN'd with fire and theft, though they have told me they will insure them for the road (presumably once they get their initial MOT). I have not confirm Bikesure will still insure me for the road if they are SORN'd. Though, back to the initial question, perhaps a green card provider will insure it????

Insurance isn't contingent on a current MoT (if the bike is subject to testing). Technically, they *may* refuse a claim if your bike isn't MoT'd and the accident was to do with unroadworthiness, but in reality this is unlikely.

If you're planning to ride in Europe on UK insurance you won't get a "green card" but instead an appendix on your policy that says you are covered to ride in (stated) other countries, 3rd party only. While I can't think of any reason it wouldn't apply if your bike is SORNed, it might be safer to leave the UK with a year's insurance, MoT and tax and leave them running. EU country laws on re-registering vehicles vary but I don't think any of them allow you to be there for more than a year on foreign plates anyway. So you'd be pushing a number of boundaries.

Thanks:

Yes, it was the plan to get an MOT initially, and then hop over to Europe.

Plan is also for the bikes to not stay in any one country for more than a year. Though I am not sure how they can even check that if there are no border check points?

As you said, green card won't be necessary if i have UK insurance already. Of course that is contingent on whether the UK insurance is affected by lack of MOT. I was under impression that the lack of MOT would not affect whether I qualify for green card.

Checks may be dependent on whether you meet a jobsworth copper somewhere ;) Your passport will be stamped with Schengen zone entry date.

However if you are planning on leaving the bike in different EU countries between tours I'd be inclined to SORN it when the insurance runs out (bear in mind most UK policies will only cover you for 90 days abroad) and maybe get road insurance from a touring specialist in Europe.