Hi, thinking about buying a new Yamaha xt250 serow in its crate from a dealer in the USA,possibly New York and shipping to the U.K. preferably Scotland.
Anyone imported a new bike this way?
Alex (noobie 1st post,be gentle

I did the same a few years ago with a new Honda XR125 I bought in South Africa and getting it here worked well. I actually used a home removals company and it came by sea in a shared container which meant it had to wait until the company had filled the container which was about a month in my case then six weeks to get here. What was also good about using the removals company was that it included picking up the crate from the dealer, handling the paperwork, customs clearance at both ends and delivery to my home address, I did have to fill in a customs declaration, pay the VAT and send the paperwork to the shippers before the container got here.
Your next problem could be registering it, I already had an XR125 that I had scrapped and transfered the registration over which was quite easy but with nothing to start with you could look into single vehicle approval but I would check this out before spending your money.
The shipping company I used only worked in Africa so is of no use to you.
If you go ahead with this let us know how you get on.

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-approval/...hicle-approval

Hi Sukhoi:

Welcome to the HUBB community.

Air Canada runs a motorcycle shipping program. It might be easier and less expensive to ship the moto via Air Canada out of Toronto or Montreal instead of shipping it from the USA. The motorcycle does not need to be crated, just ride up to the airport and arrive with less than 1/4 of a tank of fuel.

BUT....

What happens once a "new motorcycle in a crate" arrives in another country depends on what your citizenship is and where your residence is.

Almost all first-world countries (Australia being an exception) allow bona fide tourists to temporarily import their vehicle (car, motorcycle, camper, whatever) for the purpose of driving around as tourists. No duties or taxes are charged - you get to temporarily import the vehicle on the understanding that once your tourist visit is finished, you will drive out of the country in the vehicle or, in the case of a motorcycle, air-freight the motorcycle to another continent. Generally speaking, for European countries, the process is as simple as entering Canada from the USA in your vehicle would be.

If a brand new, not plated motorcycle arrives in a crate, it obviously won't be your tourist vehicle - you can't drive it, it doesn't have a license plate on it. Hence customs of whatever country you plan to ship it to will look at it as a permanent importation of taxable and dutiable goods. That means, amongst other things, paying duties and taxes on the full value of the bike. Many countries won't allow you to import a new motor vehicle if the vehicle doesn't comply with the technical standards of the country - and a USA specification motorcycle won't comply with any European country standards, even if an apparently identical model is sold in the country you plan to import it to.

Bottom Line: Put a license plate on it from your home base, ride it a bit so that it is not "brand new" (meaning, 1 mile on the odometer), then go to the sections of this forum that deal with shipping bikes, trip paperwork, and foreign country insurance and do some research in those forums.

Michael

I must admit to working on the assumption that the OP is a Brit at home ordering the bike from the US and having it sent over but this might not be the case, can you clarify please Alex and welcome to the forum.

The UK is more flexible than many in this which is what the single vehicle approval is about, the OP does need to research this fully but as far as I am aware as long as he pays the relevant taxes and goes through the process it can be registered in the UK as long as it passes the single vehicle approval inspection and possibly an MOT done against the VIN number. I suggest he speaks to the DVLA about this before spending any money and be aware that covid has thrown a spanner in the works of many of the serivces the DVLA offers at the moment.

Well thanks for the info so far......
I’m looking for a xt250 serow because of the lowish seat height!
Ive tried lowering a xr400r but even with kouba lowering link and shaved seat istill wasnt comfortable.
Canada seems like a good option tho

Just bought a 2005 xt250 Serow on ebay while i look for someone to help me get a new one!
Alex W

To be honest, I think you’ll be very lucky to get any kind of air freight at all, let alone for a reasonable price. Since there are now a fraction of the passenger air routes flying, all of which take cargo, lots of very expensive and time sensitive cargo like pharmaceuticals and iPhones are paying maybe 10x for freight what they were paying last year and chasing far fewer freight lanes.

I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see freighting bikes via air or even ocean as a viable prospect for probably years.

But if you do find something please do post the rates up


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Ahh, the penny drops. That probably explains why anything I’ve bought from AliExpress in the last six months has taken forever to get here.

Well ive now got my serow 250 home in scotland! Cant ride it yet though as i havent got a V5 yet therfor no number plate! Dvla on a go slow due to covid, documents sent by the dealer on 4/11/20 but nothing received back yet.
I am looking for an owners manual, for a japanese domestic market xt250 serow 2005 and maybe which service parts,oil filter, oil,air filter, sparkplug to use!? I can find lots on the xt225 but little on the xt250!!!
Its the 2005 xt250 with carb model.
Thanks in advance
Alex