Hi there UK riders,

Im planning on heading over to the UK in May next year to purchase a VStrom 650 for a 6 month UK/Europe/Russian journey. Ive been perusing the UK Auto Trader website and it seems I wont be short of bikes to choose from!! Which brings my to my question. I note that there is a requirement to have a (yearly??) MOT and tax certificate for a motorcycle. I was wondering, will I need to purchase a motorbike that has at least 6 months MOT/Tax or will I be able to pay those whilst Im out of the UK (Im assuming not as I believe that MOT is a mechanical inspection)? If this is not possible, am I able to purchase "extra" MOT/Tax or get the MOT/Tax renewed prior to both/either being due for renewal?

I hope these questions make sense.

Kind regards, Jed.

Your question make's sense. Your best bet is to get the seller to put a year's MOT on the bike. Then you can pay for a year's tax. Can be done at any Post Office. The cost of the tax is to do with the size of the bike engine. The larger it is the more it cost. The top rate is 1000cc and over. For that size bike it's about £80, That's a good guess.


The problem you are going to have is a UK home address. You will need one of these to register the bike to. And get you insurance registered to. To get road tax at the Post Office, you will have to show them your V5 ( ownership of bike ), Insurance, and a MOT, Certificate.


Hope this help's
John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

Yes get a bike with tax and mot as much as possible. It will make life easier for you. Just your insurance to get sorted after that. I'm sure if you use the search you will find the info on that here some where.

sent with tapatalk.

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Regards Tim

Learning my craft for the big stuff, it won't be long now and it's not that far anyway

Hi jed1, I flew into London last May and picked up the vstrom I purchased whilst still in Australia. The MOT was still valid for a couple of months but the tax had expired. I just called into a post office as the previous post explained and paid 44 pounds for half year as I plan on putting it in storage after my 6 month trip.
Whilst I was in Northern Ireland I had an MOT test as I would be in Europe when it expired. Cost 22 pounds. You can have the MOT done anywhere in the UK.
Just to confirm what has already been said, you do need a UK address to have have papers etc sent to.
Motorcycle insurance can be a little more difficult. I had to tell a couple of pork pies on the internet application. They ask whether I have lived in the UK for 3 years. I accept if I make a claim they most likely will knock it back as I have not been truthful with the application but I accept that. My intentions were to get that piece of paper that allows me to travel through Europe as it's a requirement.
Having said that I've been as far as Turkey and no one has asked for it nor have they been interested in it when I've volunteered it. But I have had to pay for green cards in Croatia and Turkey, €10 and €30 respectively.

Jamoo
Getting your claim knocked back. Would be the least of your issues . You have committed a fraud , which would be check able if stopped by the police , eg me . You would have your bike seized , be arrested and as a foreign national with no fixed abode held overnight for court .
Feel free to take your chances if you like but pulling stunts like that will get you in deep shxt if things wrong .

This is something that has always puzzled me.

For years I worked overseas and never had a fixed address(owned no property and was out of the country for the majority of the year), I just used my parents address for such things as driving licence and for insurance on a car that I used if in the UK or on a couple occasions when it was worth my while to drive to where I was working.

How could I have done it differently/ 'correctly'? I think its just a technicality, and with all due respect of no great consequence. The bike is owned by a real person and the insurance, tax and mot are done and paid for, where is the fraud and who is he hurting?

Thank you all so much for the prompt replies, this was an area that did cause me quite a bit of confusion and its all significantly clearer now. I think it would probably be prudent of me just to purchase a bike that does have the required remaining MOT/tax, as has been suggested as it'll (hopefully) be one less thing for me to worry about.

I have previously made some inquiries with the UK DVLA (Dept of Vehicles and something, something?) and they wrote back and informed me that for purchasing a vehicle in my name, they will accept a "care of" address (friend, hotel etc) as long as I have the permission of the owner/occupier to provide that address.

As for insurance, I was not yet aware of the requirements, however am a little clearer now - but I still need to do a bit more research in this area. I do want to try to do everything 'by the book', but I can see a problem if insurance companies wont cover me if Im not a UK/European resident. Still not sure what Ill do there - especially if Im required to have insurance to travel through Europe..?! I have heard of a European insurance company (I believe they're a Swiss company) that specialise in motorcycle insurance for international travelers, but I cant think of their name off the top of my head.

You have all been great, thanks again.

Chris Gale
OMG. I'm glad I don't live in your world, it sounds scary.

No offence taken Jamoo
I just don't want you to get yourself in what would be major trouble .
In answer to the other posters question, jamoo commits fraud by false representation when he was untruthful about his background , that means his insurance in now void , he would be red flagged by every insurance company in the uk and if stopped by the police his bike would be seized . He now can't get insurance and no one can ride it away for him as it doesn't have a policy in force so after twenty eight days it crushed or sold , simple as that !!! He would probably be prosecuted for the offence too , so things really get out of hand then .
Whilst it sounds a bit much , it's there to prevent people driving uninsured vehicles in the uk , end of .
It's ok to use a postal address provided you are up front about it , the moment you tell an untruth to get insurance you breach their contract and are screwed , however if they forget to ask you the question when the reasonably should have , then it's their problem not yours .
If anyone wants to know the best way to get round all this I am happy to help , just pm me

As Chris says! and the UK is probably one of the more gentle countries on this sort of thing, some of our european friends are really nasty about it!

It's not a problem getting insurance if you don't have a UK licence, there will probably just be a bit of an increase in premium. I know someone who drove on a kazakstan licence and another on an italian and had insurance. Just ring up, tell the truth, and see what they say. Better to use a broker as they will have knowledge of the market and use companies that know about this sort of thing. We have a very large immigrant population in the UK, many of whom drive on foreign licences, some of them are even insured!! So it must be possible.

I think there are essentially 2 ways to go about it.

You either do it online and give the computer the answers it 'wants' to the questions, then get your piece of paper and hope for the best that you won't meet a particularly officious member of the police.

Or you pay through the nose for exactly the same pieces of paper and jump through hoops to get them.

Whichever approach you take, I find it helps to remember with these things that they are a complete money racket for the big corporations and not there in any way shape or form for your or my benefit. And that the official forces of any country are there to enforce these rules for the benefit of big business, never for the ordinary Joe like yourself.

Of course the insurance companies WANT to cover you, they just want you to think you are paying extra for EXACTLY the same thing because they are being 'nice' to you. Its called 'business'.

Why on earth people let this system develop is beyond me, though I do agree it is a lot better than in many other European countries where gaining actual ownership/ title is nearly as complicated as buying a house.

Liammons


officious doesn't come into it - no insurance is up there with drink driving as far as most of my colleagues are concerned , there is no free pass full stop . if someone is injured as a result of you hitting them , what then ?? handy that the UK has the MIB to cover the financial fall out , but this is paid for by insurance companies , who pass it on to the punters .
Anyways our friend Jamoo told lies to get cover , by the sound of it to a number of questions , I strongly suggest that others don't go down this route because if caught then you bike can be kissed goodbye im afraid ............

OK, perhaps I phrased that reply all wrong. What I'm really trying to say is that insurance companies bleed extra money (for no reason of logic) from people like the origional poster to get the SAME insurance.
I'm not recommending that people don't have insurance, I'm simply bemoaning the rip off system and that the law (not necessarily the police alone) spend far to much of its/their time making sure that big corporations collect every possible penny/cent etc of profit from the ordinary person that the law/authorities should be protecting.

i don't know enough about UK law to answer, but if Jed is only going to be in the UK for a short period, then heading in to Europe, does he need to be going through a UK insurer? Or can he go directly to a greencard, and potentially skip some of the issues raised in this thread? my (limited) understanding is he will need a greencard for mainland europe regardless

if jed is going to need a greencard at somepoint, then he should have a looksee at the thread at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...et-cheap-34822

After November this year the system for "road tax" changes there is no disk issued to be displayed any more. Your bike is entered onto a database by registration number. This means that the uk police look up the number if they pull you and check to see if you have paid using there hand held computer of by radioing back to base.

There are now an awful lot of ANPR (automatic number-plate recognition) systems in use to fine you if you go about and about with out it.

They can and do fine you for this, but I do not know if your bike can be seized! (hopefully someone on here will know and let us know!)

Also the Road tax is no longer transferable with the vehicle at sale. The new owner is responsible for road tax. this means the part of the month left is lost in to the seller and the part of the month gone is lost to the buyer. (an amazing government tax wheeze / con)

Also for a bike bigger than 600cc the tax is £80 per year at the moment!