Got my eye on an Asian and South American market bike which Honda UK won’t be bringing in. Starting to look at the costs of local and import taxes, shipping, registration etc and still looks okay with the cost of bike from a dealer – anyone done this themselves? A nightmare? Or experience of UK based brokers who can do it all for you, securely? I’ve brought bikes back from Europe myself and sorted but not from overseas, by ship, using someone else so slightly wary. Tips appreciated
cheers

Will it need to go through VOSA testing?

possible, called MSVA now, £85 fee

yes it’ll definitely need to be SVA’d, just to confirm it has all the UK specific bits, which it probably will have anyway. I imported a bike from ‘murica years ago and was quite easy to do.

Sorry for the hijack, do the same rules apply to classic bikes re UK specific bits?

Also what if the bike was in bits for restoration?

I’ve just purchased a classic French bike so am about to go through the process of getting it registered. I didn’t bring it into the country so I’m not sure if that makes any difference. The DVLA import pack seems to be pretty helpful and quite simple, there is one form for new vehicles and a different one for used vehicles. The main thing I need to clarify (by calling as the local offices have been shut down) is weather I need to have the bike MOT’d/Some other test to prove road worthiness even though the bike doesn’t require and MOT going forward.

If anyone is bothered I will be blogging the whole process (both mechanical and paperwork) here: Automoto AV125 Blog although I’ve not posted anything yet. I’ll also be on twitter @AutomotoMatt