Punch holes in my plan PLEASE. EU bike purchase
 

I would like to purchase a dream bike in the EU and bring it home. Early planning and I think I have 95% of the plan sorted (not all the details are in point form below happy to expand detials), but you don't know what you don't know. Looking for people to be brutally honest about the pitfalls I am walking into and ideally tips. Particular fuzzy unknown for me is items 1, 2 and 3.

Details/Background
I live in Alberta, Canada. I have travelled a bit in Europe, (mostly to Switzerland to see my inlaws). No issues with me getting to/into the EU. International Lic is just a $30 fee.
The Bike I want to buy is 20yrs old and was never sold in North America (AT RD07)

1. Find a bike I like remotely and somehow determine if the seller is legit, will hold it for a short time until I get there and willing to be TOTALLY honest about the condition and take some photos. Most of the bikes seem to be for sale in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France and for some reason a ton in Portugal.

Private sale or from a dealer?

2. Transfer of ownership papers (AKA Purchase Bike). Ensure I get a compliance sticker as I understand this is really important.

3. At the registry apply for an "Export Plate". This I understand gives me 14 days to ride in the EU before shipping it off back home

4. Shipping Company to crate and Air Freight back home. A couple of local carriers Air Canada and Westjet have programs that seem to make this fairly reasonable (<$2000).

5. Import into Canada (Bike is >15yrs old, so this should be an exercise of inspection, taxes and fees).

What am I missing? What part of this is a stupid idea?

The issues I see are few, but...

2: CAN BE difficult to register a bike in your name in some countries- research carefully on the HUBB, that will simplify things somewhat. Motofeirme in Ireland might be worth talking to, he buys bikes for foreigners, registers them in their name, and stores them. And doing it all in English makes it a lot easier.

3: somewhat ditto for the above, insurance can be an issue but can be done.

4: Shipping - a number of possibilities - all expensive right now, COVID and the aftermath has impacted shipping everywhere. Check James Cargo and MotoFreight, both UK and ship bikes everywhere, and both advertise here. See links

5: Registering / importing into Canada - I'd TRIPLE check that, and get it in writing. IF there is an issue it's super expensive and a huge hassle in Canada.

Best of luck, and be sure to let us know how it worked out for you. I look forward to seeing it at CanWest!

Thanks for the response Grant

The issues I see are few, but...

2: CAN BE difficult to register a bike in your name in some countries- research carefully on the HUBB, that will simplify things somewhat. Motofeirme in Ireland might be worth talking to, he buys bikes for foreigners, registers them in their name, and stores them. And doing it all in English makes it a lot easier. I will search the HUB for more info. What I did find was that in Germany and Belgium you can get a 14 day export plate (looks similar in all EU countries). https://deckungskarten.eu/License-pl...ces-for-export

3: somewhat ditto for the above, insurance can be an issue but can be done.
Looks like the link/info I provided above gives a person both Reg and Insurance
4: Shipping - a number of possibilities - all expensive right now, COVID and the aftermath has impacted shipping everywhere. Check James Cargo and MotoFreight, both UK and ship bikes everywhere, and both advertise here. See links Thank you for the links! I have a good friend that is with Westjet and he has confirmed the same COVID issues. This is a work in progress and I will reach out to the people you linked

5: Registering / importing into Canada - I'd TRIPLE check that, and get it in writing. IF there is an issue it's super expensive and a huge hassle in Canada. This is from the Government of Canada:
Vehicles over 15 years old

All vehicles (except buses) that are 15 years old or more from the date of manufacture, are exempt from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles (RIV) program. You must be able to prove the age of the vehicle to the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA). Buses (including school buses) manufactured before January 1, 1971 are also exempt from the RIV program. More information about RIV exemptions.

https://www.riv.ca/helpfaqs.aspx#over15

This means that you can import these types of vehicles into Canada if they meet Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) entry requirements. At the border, officers will:
establish its non-regulated status due to age,
inspect for possible soil contaminants,
examine the ownership documents,
collect taxes and/or duties if applicable and,
determine admissibility according to other Canadian customs regulations that may apply.

Best of luck, and be sure to let us know how it worked out for you. I look forward to seeing it at CanWest!
I will make arrangements to be there. If not on the AT (Might be late summer before I can get that all sorted out) I will be there on the Thumper!

Africa Twins never imported to North America! That's a surprise. (I wonder why not .)

A few comments:
Not every EU country implements an "export plate" process. E.g. UK, IRL France does not have an export plate.
Germany is the only country I know that does - and then it's only required if you plan to ride to the border. ( I see you mention Belguim too)
If the bike is trucked out of the country no export plate required AFAIK.

Maybe you want to incorporate a trip before exportation.
Registering the bike in your name in IRL or UK is easy if you have a local postal address.

Do you mean Certificate of Conformity? This should be available from a main dealer. Worth checking with a dealer in Canada to see if they can provide it. It's not something that will be provided by a private seller or a moto dealer.

If you buy in UK or IRL ensure the seller gives you the complete registration document. The usual procedure is the seller sends the reg doc to the licencing authority e.g DVLA in UK. But it might not be forwarded to Canada. A private seller may need some persuasion on this matter.

EDIT: autotrader.co.uk, dondedeal.ie for secondhand motos

Good note on the limited countries offering Export Plate. I will ensure I dig into this one a bit more when I decide where to purchase the bike (might just be a deciding component).

I want to ride the bike for a week+ to make the most out of the 14 days but not cut it too close and have a breakdown with a pending deadline for shipping!!!!

I have reached out to WheatWacker (linked from this forum) to see what he offers with regards to registration to his address in IRL. I think it depends on the country for how many registration forms there are. I seen Germany has at least 2. Will investigate that more with the country I buy the bike from.

Germany has export plates and temporary plates for inland use. Both require insurance and road worthyness (2yr renewal cycle here, most dealer sell with new sticker). Both plates are valid 5 days and can be ordered (including insurance) by a dealer w/out you needing a postal address. They are used in making vehicle exports easy here.

So I´d visit the inlaws in CH, buy from a dealer in (southern) Germany with temp plates, drive it around for 5 days, built/buy a crate near the airports of MUC, FRA, DUS or continue to the ports of Antwerp or Rotterdam for a container share and ship it home.

maybe this one: RD07


Don´t pull in at the inlaws with the bike, as CH is non-EU and the bike would be taxed at customs on entry.

Good luck

Good tip about Italy. Staying at my inlaws....well lets call that plan B (or z)

The link you shared won't open, it says it wants to confirm I am not a robot, but there is no "checkbox" it wants me to click. Is there another option for searching that resource?

the website is www.mobile.de

one RD07 I´ve found there from a dealership


check your browser adjsutments to pass the robot check

I assume you have investigated what it would take to legalize a bike in Canada that had never been sold in that market? Customs fees are one thing, but will the Canadian authorities object to registering a vehicle that had never been certified there?

I guess it's a bike that lends itself well to Portuguese back roads and riding styles.

Realistically, you cannot have an expectation that the seller will describe the bike in exactly the way you will see it, and their idea of total honesty will match yours, even if they are not being intentionally shady about it. It is also not exactly fair to ask someone to take the bike off the market for a few weeks while you get your flights sorted, if they have local buyers calling them, and you may very well just walk away from the bike when you get there. Also remember that for most people, getting a call or an email from a foreigner wanting to buy their bike and offering some weird scheme, will just automatically read like a scam attempt and go right into the trash. :)

Having helped foreigners buy bikes and cars, and dealt a little bit with buying elsewhere in the EU, I think your best bet is to find a local fixer - someone who will talk to sellers in their native language, know how to negotiate and what is reasonable for local markets (e.g. what level of dings and scratches would the average Portuguese person expect on a thirty-year-old offroad bike compared to the average German, or Canadian?).

Established dealers in Germany are generally a safe-ish bet, because the country does have pretty strong consumer rights/dealer liability laws. (They are also likely to make the deregistration/export-plate process convenient for you.) Private sellers in Germany may not speak any English, or be willing to make any effort to accommodate you. :)

There's a German guy here in Estonia who specializes in importing cars and bikes from Germany, and he says he can get a meaningful discount by telling a dealer that he himself is a dealer - so he would be buying the bike as-is.

What do you mean by "compliance sticker"? A technical inspection /emissions testing sticker? This is also different from country to country across the EU. Some have stickers for inspections, some have stickers for road tax and insurance, others don't.

Export plates are mostly a German thing, and they come in multiple flavors, from 3? days to 365 days. Just a difference of money, really. In other countries you may just be able to register the bike in your name directly.

Yup, that seems to be the way to go. Might make sense to contact them and ask how far in advance you need to book your shipment.

I think the important part of this is that you think of it not as a shopping trip, but as a broader adventure. Fly into Europe at the start of the season, be prepared to look around the continent for the bike you want, spend some time here.

Also, make peace with the fact that you will not find your perfect dream example of the bike. There are currently only 16 RD07s for sale in all of Germany, and the cheaper ones have around 100k kilometers or more - so you will definitely need to do some servicing and mild restoration. Or you can try to find a rare garage-queen survivor - here's one that is about the same price as a three-year-old CRF1000. :)

That´s a pretty exact description of the situation here.

If a dealer knows, the bike will be exported, he´ll might give a discount on the listed price, as he wouldn´t need to cover warranty.

The last one linked* is just 40min from my home and the local airport (DTM, with connections to intl. airports MUC, FRA and 1.5h from DUS). If you need assistance "fixing" a deal in this region, don´t hesitate to drop me a message.

*XRV750 is steep priced, but has lots of (legal=expensive) extras added:
Öhlins Fahrwerk (damper), Sachs USD Gabel (fork) mit African Queens Gabelbrücken (fork bridge), African Queens Auspuff mit E-Nummer (Legal! exhaust), Kofferträger (pannier carrier), Sonderlenker mit Lenkererhöung (custom riser steering bar), GFK Frontfender, Piot Fußrasten, Heizgriffe (heated grips), Elektronische Benzinpumpe (electric fuel pump).

It´s the typical garage queen.

BTW You are allowed to carry cash worth of <10k€ into the EU, but there are cash payment limits at dealerships in many EU countries (Italy: +1k€ = wired transfer), which do not exist in that extend in Germany, yet.
ealer prices are including 19% VAT, which you can reclaim on export out of the EU.

Here are some ads from ebay-classified ads.

Good luck

Honda don't like to provide certificates of conformity for bikes older than 2001 (even paid for), if that's a problem with the Canadian authorities you might need to pass some sort of homologation inspection (or maybe they don't bother at all, lol)

TodoTerrano's description makes it sound easy in Germany.
And I've heard positive tales of buyers dealing with German traders - even agreeing a deal sight-unseen.
The advantage of a base in CH must make a purchase in the local region more practical.
It might be worth looking in Austria too. website. On a cursory browse prices seem fair.
Good luck. Lovely bike.

Thanks everyone. Must.... resist. ...urge....to....buy the bike right NOW!!!

I need to wait until the summer or risk the wrath of my wife on this one.

The certificate of conformity I was referring to was to do with compliance on EU roads. Here in Alberta Canada..... There are no "rules" for what is and is not road worthy (for the most part). https://www.tuev-nord.de/en/private/...nspection-pti/

If you find the right bike, and someone will sort the paperwork for you, and store it until you get there... why not?
I'd be looking now for the bike, and someone in the area to help. You don't have to buy the first one that comes along - unless that garage queen is your dream bike, and it looks like it'd be like a new bike - always a sweet thing :)

OR - just go, with a list to look at, and suck it and see what you find. Depends a lot on how fussy / trusting you are.

Actually, you cannot do much wrong by just mail ordering one from a serious dealer and let it be shipped to you.
I wouldn´t be surprised, they have cheap crates from stock deliveries to secure your bike. Transatlantik transport is quickest and cheapest done Bremen, Antwerp or Rotterdam to Halifax. Check your yellow pages, which cargo agent offers vehicle handling at yournext port....

If you weigh in your travel costs and that you only wanted to use it in Europe for a few days, you won´t lose much, even if you buy a lemon, which may need a refurb in the price range of a transatlantic return ticket.

The most strict road worthy test are AFAIK Sweden*, Swizerland, Germany and Austria. Every dealer in these countries offering fresh service and a fresh road worthy certificate wants to avoid after sales mess and warranty trouble with local clients and offers reliable bikes. Their trade ins with dubious service history will never see the show room.

Explain the wife the meaning of hedging inflation. If this Honda has kept it´s value until now, it won´t depreciate like your cash in the bank the coming years. Given the rarity in your corner of the world and legendary image of this bike, you may retire on that deal some day;-)

Good luck