Hi,
I am new to this site, a friend recommended.

I am travelling out to NZ in a few months time and looking to ship my bike out. We are only booked to stay out there for 6 months but will be looking at options of emigrating whilst there.

As we are not sure whether or not we will be back, I was considering shipping one way and then if it doesn't work out, ship her back again.

Has anyone had experience of shipping to NZ? Could do with some friendly advise on who you shipped with/air/sea and if as a tourist I can register my own bike when I get out there.

Any advise or useful info would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Given the ease of purchasing local bikes by non-residents, you're likely better off financially buying one there and selling it when (and if) you return.

You basically just need a local address - a hostel will do, and most hostel receptions can give you the paper you'll need for the registration office for, like, a fiver.

I shipped a UK plated bike into NZ from India via GATI (I would not recommend them, they subcontracted out to a Bhutanse road haulage company?!?).

Anyway once it arrived in NZ it was plain sailing. Took Bill of Lading to the customs office in NZ, paid $40 tax as I decared the value of the bike as $2000 (it was munted by then after riding it from UK to India).

As a brit (or any foreign visitor) you can bring a bike in as a temporary import for one year (it can actually be extended to 18 months on application if you write them a nice letter). You pay a small amount of tax based on the value of the bike.

https://www.customs.govt.nz/globalas...n-of-goods.pdf

https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/im...e-temporarily/

It remains on UK/foreign plates (make sure you SORN/ deregister it at home and doesn't matter if insurance is lapsed or not, a) because you can't make a claim on an accident out of the EU and b) you may want to keep a cheap home policy rolling otherwise you may lose your no claims).

Once the bike has cleared customs, you can have it delivered to a dealership who can carry out an MOT (called a Warrant of Fitness aka WOF (pronounced WAFF (like wafted) not WOOF!!). I didn't bother with a dealer, I went to the freight yard, rented a man with a van, took a crate of s to bribe the freight yard staff to bin my crate, and took the bike back to my house, and got it prepped for WOF in my garage. Once you have the WOF, you take your V5 and WOF to a VTNZ centre and buy REGO (road tax). Yours will be significantly cheaper than what kiwis pay as it is a special rate for visitor vehicles, (just the liability insurance element is paid).

https://vtnz.co.nz/personal-services...hicle-licence/

3rd party insurance is included for road use in this REGO, however if you want to get comprehensive insurance for your bike, I used NAC as they were pretty much the only insurer I could find that would cover a bike on foreign plates. This may have changed.

I also got AA breakdown cover from the NZ AA, which unlike the UK covers foreign vehicles. this is because many of the roads in South Island can be several hours from a large town.



I shipped the bike back to UK as after staying for 3 years, I decided to move home, a) because I'd been travelling for 4 years and was missing home, b) expectations to settle in NZ didn't work out, I didn't like some aspects of the culture, it was too far away from anywhere, and I didn't have the right qualifications to stay on the visas needed for a longer stay.

I shipped it back to UK through an agent that my dad's company uses so got a cheap rate. It was even more simple to ship back to the UK.

If you decide to stay in NZ, you can change the bike onto NZ plates fairly easily, you need a brake declaration test from a bike dealer (and if the bike originated from a left hand drive country like europe mainland, a new headlight pointing in the right direction) and pay some fees and voila.. Its a kiwi bike. I wouldn't bother shipping a car in, kiwis are wary of UK cars because of rust, and the NZ inspection is shit hot on rust. there are loads of japanese imports in NZ, and plenty of cars and bikes on the market.

Don't forget that in NZ the bike gear and accessory market is miniscule, a lot of kiwis order stuff in from USA or Oz (tax on import parcels starts at $400 as opposed to the UK limit of £17). So get what you need before you arrive.

If you want to look at what is for sale bike wise, check out https://www.trademe.co.nz/ Bike parts from dealers cost more than in europe. Some niche bikes are not readily available, and when a new bike comes to the market, NZ get the last of what comes from the factory and have to wait the longest (well that was the case for Yamaha when I worked for them in NZ).

If you have any other questions please shout!

Cheers

Fern

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https://fernsforays.wordpress.com/

Hello
I would check out the New Zealand motorcycle Adventure website operated by Daniel and friends. They are shipping out of London and Auckland doing both one way or return shipping,s. On their website your will see there is a steady flow of motorcyclists that agree ( MC Photos). He is another person that lives for motorcycling. Not just another shipping consolidater.

Back again with website link
NEW ZEALAND MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES - Home
hope that works

As Kiwi-video has already mentioned Daniel & Co from NEW ZEALAND MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES - Home
I can totally recommend them as we're working together for more then three years, and many customers will confirm their high level of service.

Daniel and co are all bikers themselves so they totally understand the mindset of the travellers on 2 wheels.

If you need more info you can also email us directly at:

mototours@lobagola.com

Cheers
Dooby

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Bike purchase, storage, expedition tours / insurance, health & repatriation, transport, rally training
www.lobagola-mototours.com/ www.lobagola-insurance.com/