I'm starting this thread because there seem to be a lot of overseas visitors considering buying bikes in Europe for short term touring. If you want to stay within the law and know that you are properly insured then you should consider the following. It's not advice, it's just the way things are now in Europe. Everything has been tightened up, and the consequences of not doing it right can be catastrophic.

If you buy a bike anywhere in Europe it must be registered in your name within 4 weeks at a permanent address in the country of purchase unless you have an export certificate. A seller must complete his part of the registration document at date of sale and send it into the registration authorities and the purchaser must do likewise. If the purchaser doesn't send in his/her part the bike becomes unregistered, and is flagged on the computer system as unregistered.

An unregistered bike is not insurable ( except in some trade circumstances). Even if you get an insurance certificate on the day you purchase it, it will only be temporary cover and it will not be valid unless all the other parts of the system subsequently tie in. In the U.K. a bike over 4 years old will need an MOT. There may be road tax to pay. In some parts of continental Europe ( eg France) a vehicle safety check like the MOT or CT (controle technique) is not (yet) required, but you will pay for the new registration document according to the power rating of the machine. This is in lieu of yearly road taxation.

Most European countries have fully integrated computer systems which show details of bike, registered keeper,licence status and categories, insurance status, MoT and road tax where applicable, and if any element is either wrong or missing then your insurance is automatically invalid. If caught on the road, any vehicle proved to be without insurance will be seized on the spot, and in some cases destroyed depending on the country and severity of the total offence. In some countries, automatic number plate recognition systems (ANPR) can tell a police patrol car immediately the status of any vehicle picked up on it's system.

This tightening up and integration of the European systems, is not just about money, it's also an unfortunate by product of the global terrorist problem.

It's up to you what you do, but better safe than sorry!

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-''It is better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction''. ( Herman Siu)
-'' Live life then give life '' (www.lltgl.org.uk)

Not that i would do this myself!!! bring a set of number plates from your home country and buy green card zone insurance over the 'net.

I'm not sure that global terrorism has a lot to do with it, its more about the global reach of the vehicle hire companies that have been pushing legislators for years to outlaw non resident vehicle purchases to improve their industry protection.