Hi all,

Im in Augsburg, Germany, nice little town....

Heres a recap: Im a US citizen with a us drivers license, also a french citizen with French passport. From US I bought an old BMW boxer on the German Ebay sight unseen, and flew into Germany to pick it up and take off.

Well, I just registered my new (1979 r100rt) bike here in germany. I registered it at the "BurgenBuro" which is basically their DMV. Didnt ever visit the ADAC, though i probably will in France. I don't speak German, and the fella who was hapling me had never done it before, but we regisitered it "for export" which meant that they gave me regular metal plates and insurance but they are only good for 5 days. Long enough to get me to France where I'll register it more permanently, without having to worry about the TUV, which expires on this bike next month.

Soooooo the total cost for this temp registration was: 75 Euros. That includes plate, insurance, and papers.

I tried to find out the best I could about getting more time on this temp registration, and found that it is possible to get 15 days on it, but first you have to visit the customs office before the Burgenburo. I just opted out on that, and will drive extra fast to France : ).

BTW, if anyone in US is wondering about the relative cost of BMW parts in Germany, forget about it. I went to a BMW Motorcycle dealer and had them get on the computer and give me some prices and they averaged 50% more than US. Some parts were twice as much, honest. Got my Bing carbs synchronized for only 20 euros, however.

gregory

[This message has been edited by Universalcat (edited 20 June 2005).]

I had the following email communication with the ADAC last week

ME TO ADAC
I´m British. My Honda Transalp motorcycle is GB-registered. I intend to park the bike in Spain/France and use it to tour southern Europe and store it locally in-between trips. I will fly to the bike, ride it, and fly back to Britain. This would save long journeys by road from England to the south of France and ferry costs etc.

Rather than insure it in Great Britain, I think it would be cheaper (the bike is of low value and is not worth insuring fully
comprehensive) and easier for me to buy your ADAC Greencard/ Grenzversicherung insurance for times when the bike is being used and leave it parked/uninsured away from a public road for the majority of
the time in southern Europe.

Is this possible?

I could buy your policy at one of your offices when visiting my family in Germany.


ADAC TO ME, PRETTY MUCH BY RETURN

it is possible to buy a green card insurance ( called Grenzversicherung )
for your motorcycle in Germany. The insurance is only a third party
insurance. We don´t offer a fully comprehensive insurance for foreign cars
or bikes.

When you arrive Germany, you have to go to an ADAC-Center with your identity
card and the motorcycle documents. Your motorcycle need a valid approval in
the U.K.

For a motorcycle the insurance cost 22,-- per month. The maximum time you
can buy it is 12 month.

Unfortunately it´s not possible to send an application in the post.

Best regards


ADAC-Schutzbrief Versicherungs-AG
Kraftfahrt- und Reiseversicherungen
Am Westpark 8
81373 München
Tel.: (089) 7676-5186
Fax: (089) 7676-4014

=========================

So all seems ok, so far. But what about "Your motorcycle need a valid approval in the U.K." The closest German for "a valid approval" is "eine gueltige Zulassung". This could also mean "a valid registration".

So when does a motor vehicle have "a valid approval" in the UK? For it to be "validly approved" does it need an MOT (FYI, if you're not British: yearly roadworthiness check) and does it need to have its road tax paid?

As we Brits know, for you to be able to get a tax disk, you need to produce a proof of insurance AND an MOT certificate.

I was hoping not to have to get the bike back to the UK just to spend 15 minutes in a MOT inspection centre. The whole point of me trying to get insurance via the ADAC, was to avoid the cost/time of return the bike to the UK.

Any comments? The phrase "legal in country of origin" springs to mind.

cheers
ChrisB

PS. The bike is already parked in southern Spain!

------------------
TheBrightStuffDotCom

[This message has been edited by chris (edited 07 September 2005).]

I have a bit of expertise in all this, living in France, running variously registered vehicles.

It is the law that any vehicle on the road in the EU must be totally legal in its home country - that is to say taxed, insured and inspected.

This what "a valid approval" means I would say.

In practice, is the young man in the ADAC office going to ask you for MOT and tax disk? Very unlikely.

When I purchased insurance in Germany I was only asked for registration papers.

Maybe if you get in an accident, absence of MOT and tax may be an issue. I don't know. But otherwise, no cop in continental Europe is going to know anything about UK requirements. Why would they?

Just to illustrate my point: in France there is no MOT for motorcycles. Incredible I know. So no traffic cop is going to ask you to prouce it now, are they?

Every country has different rules, and cops are completely uninterested in enforcing technical rules on foreigners - as long as you don't do anything stupid you are fine.

The staff in the ADAC are similarly disinclined to bother. They haven't a clue about UK rules. As long as you own it, they are happy.

If you do have problems, just go down the road to the next office. There is an office in every town, several in cities.

In France there are loads of ex-pats running UK registered vehicles without MOT and tax. I am not saying it is a good thing, just noting the fact. Technically you have to register vehicles in your place of residence after six months. But few go to the hassle, and incur the disadvantages. This makes running a UK vehicle on the continent significantly cheaper.

The only problem I could see with your plan, is if you park the bike for months on end with a UK plate in clear sight. The cops may wonder what is going on.

Lastly, there are no restrictions on where you go with ADAC insurance inside the EU. So this is good for you, wanting to use the bike on the continent all the time. Some UK companies would not like the idea.

It is also cheaper than UK.

Hope this helps.

Simon

Oh, I forgot to mention, the ADAC wants to see both you and the bike in Germany. They are insistent on this.

This may be a stumbling block?

You could try going office to office, until you find someone lazy enought to believe it is outside withot seeing it, but this is a gamble.

simon
cheers for your quick and detailed reply. i'm not sure i'm "thinking/worrying" too much. i spent a year in south america in 2001/02 on a bike with absolutely no bike-insurance whatsoever...
thanks
chris

------------------
TheBrightStuffDotCom

I did it a couple of months ago with an aussie registered bike. No bike inspection, just showed valid registration. check out-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000728.html

Sean

I wouldn't recommend doing that in Europe. Every cop knows about insurance and with a non-Euro bike you are likely to be asked for it. Not having GC means a fine and your bike gets impounded until you produce the magic document. Not worth the risk, in my opinion.

hi beddhist
i have a euro/brit registered bike. i am a european/brit.

in south america i didn't have any insurance because as a non-south-american, i couldn't get any (or at least i don't think i could get any: every canadian/us-american/european on a bike that i met didn't have any either).

ChrisB

------------------
TheBrightStuffDotCom

I emailed knopf tours about insuring a bike with french papers while living in spain on a US passport... they said they can do it for 60 euros a month. If anyone knows of a cheaper way please speak up.