I have plan to ride it from Slovenia - as my status here is even a bit more complicated (kind of diplomatic...) it is additional trouble. At the moment trying to figure out how and where thru AD as I have to deal all thru MOFA.

Will keep u posted

DaNe

I'm going through exactly this with a car, but same difference...

I bought the car from a company Holland and had an export certificate from the Dutch authorities made out. The car has arrived in a 20' foot container yesterday courtesy of Gulf Agency Company (GAC) who I am using for the shipping / import.

GAC would normally go to the customs department (headquartered at Port Rashid) with all the documents and pay the duty on your behalf, however as the value of the car is quite high, I went with GAC and approached the man in charge to see whether I could get a customs exemption (you don't get if you don't ask). He entered the request into the system, pending the inspection of the vehicle, which should take place tomorrow.

I will keep you posted as to how the next few days transpire...

(I have imported a car before but that was 5 years ago which was relatively straightforward, but instead of muddying the water with old data, best keep on visiting this post for up to date info! If your bike is yours from the UK, all you need is a DVLA certificate of export - very simple).

Seeing that there are a couple of people moving to Dubai, I thought I share this one with them. I went to a bookshop in the Mall of the Emirates and came across this book Amazon.co.uk: Dubai Red-tape Explorer: Books . It deals with procedures like obtaining a local driver's license, getting your electricity connected and generally how things are done around here. I'm sure this book is a pretty good investment. (I just googled the title and copied the first link that came up)

Regs

Dirk

Peter,

Guess you've already arrived by now but I thought I'd add a few things anyway.

I did it the other way round and exported my Harley from Dubai back to the UK when I left in 2005. I seem to remember riding the bike home again without any plates after I'd deregistered it so going round on British plates for a few days shouldn't be a problem - that's if you can get the bike insured first - you might be able to do it on the VIN number.

I think Stefano, Brett and Dirk have covered just about everything, expect a little bit of hassle but you'll get there in the end (which pretty much covers living in Dubai too). As one of them said, you can't do much without sorting out your residency first, then you need a local driving licence, make sure you specifically ask them to include motorcycles as well as cars, with me they forgot and I had to go back, and then you can register your bike and buy a car. Before that, you'll have to hire a car or get taxis everywhere (and visit 'the hole in the wall' for your booze).

My wife and I had our cars insured with Royal & Sun (v. helpful) and I had the Harley insured with Arabian Scandinavian (chaotic but cheap). I think owners of sports bikes had more problems getting insurance because of the perceived greater risk but don't quote me.

The BMW dealer is a good place to drop in and say hi, I think there's an owners club now too, so they'll be able to offer you advice and get you started.

The Harley dealer on the same road is also a friendly place and if they persuade you to switch brands, there's an official HOG chapter (who'll be happy for you to tag along on an evening ride even on a non-Harley) and at least one other breakaway Harley group. They're not all poseurs and often make long trips into Oman and so on.

Off topic: I knew people who cohabited but Stefano is right to take the official line. Off the record, Dubai is a very informal place, go to a couple of bars with the HOG guys and you'll soon find out, and they generally wouldn't bother non-muslims but... I did know a guy in Sharjah who got arrested for inviting next door's maid into his house (it's a long story) and there's worse that can happen but this isn't the right platform for that. And like Stefano said, I'll just mind my own business now.

Sorry if my patchy memory has muddied the waters but hope you settle in okay - Dubai in June, I don't envy you.

Regards,

Indoors.

Waypoint: N25 25.231 E55 26.645 (Ajman) good selection and prices

There is also an established local web site now, BMW Bike Caravan which is good for arranging rides. Non-BMW riders are made welcome. I went along with Beddhist on his Suzuki and we had a very nice day before the weather got too humid.
Stephan

You guys all have changed over to a UAE Motorbike License? Is it easy to convert, or can you drive with a
foreign license plate. Did you ever got stopped and checked for Driver License and Insurance.
Any feedback would be great, also what are the cost’s and company who ship motorbikes from Germany to Dubai, or in my Case from Toronto Canada to Dubai. Sorry, I hope I don’t ask for to much.

As in any other country, the moment you gain residency, you need to have your driver's license converted to a local license. If you have a Canadian license, I don't think it would be a problem. Check the following website for procedures: http://www.dubai.ae/en.portal?topic,hm_howto,1,&_nfpb=true&_pageLabel= List

I have never been stopped and asked for my license, however, I strongly encourage everybody to do the right thing. It's cheap, it's relatively quick and I can imagine that it can save you a whole lot of trouble.

For shipping your bike you can try Gulf Agency Company (GAC). They have quoted me 2500Dhs (500 Euros) to ship my bike from Frankfurt/Germany to Dubai by sea. You can send a mail to Deepak.Nichani@gacworld.com and ask him for a price. Tell him to give you a total figure. Otherwise he will quote you some weird breakdown that nobody understands. Just give him the crated size of your bike and the total weight. Your local Harley shop will give you these figures.

Alternatively check your local Yellowpages for freight / shipping companies.

As far as insurance is concerned, please check the beginning of this thread.

Hope that helps.

Dirk

Hey there,

I'm here in Dubai now, settled in my job, with a flat almost sorted, a licence which covers bikes and cars and my stuff on the way from the UK. I'm also using GAC to have my stuff shipped from the UK.
Desert Dog - I'm going to have the same problems with the value of my bike as you had - did you have any success in getting some sort of exemption?
I was going to ask GAC whether they can help clear the bike through customs, but the issue after that is how I get the thing registered here in the UAE.
I presume I just go to the RTA people, have it tested, pay many Dirhams, fill out some forms and buy a number plate or is the whole thing sorted out by GAC at customs?
As regards my license to be honest I had it easy as my company sorted all that out for me and it was realtively painless. That said with the sheer number of ex-pats out here the guys at the RTA seem pretty switched on and when I bought a car recently from a friend I managed to transfer title to the car pretty easily and for not to big a cost.

Peter

Peter, I lucked out with trying to get an exemption letter - if the car was not to be registered (ie a sand rail or something) I may have got away with it, but the upshot was that it needed to be registered and that was that!

The idea is to get a vehicle clearance certificate (VCC). Without this you will NOT be able to register a vehicle. This entails using a clearing agent (GAC in my case) who sorts out all the basic paperwork and walks you through the procedure.

In a nutshell, the vehicle is taken out of the container and is then inspected by the customs to check the chassis number, etc. You then have to present the invoice (if you have not previously owned it) and pay the 5% duty. The value just needs to be 'realistic' and not understated, as they can sometimes put their own value on it which you may not like.

Once you have exited the gates from the port, take the vehicle to Tasjeel and have it inspected - once it has passed, it's a simple procedure to end up with the 'mulkiah' or registration document.

Good luck...

hi guys,

here's a fairly simple question. we are thinking about riding our bikes in from iran, then visit uae, oman and yemen and then ship two bikes back to europe (preferently belgium) - we have to be home before christmas. any idea what it might cost us to ship or fly the two bikes home (it doesn't matter when they arrive, so by boat is ok too) and to fly both girls home?

thx

trui and gaea

I recently got a quote to ship a bike from Frankfurt to Dubai by sea and it was about 450 Euros. I guess you can take that as an indication. What I do not know is if the price doubles with 2 bikes as part of the cost is handling fees etc, which are not really depending on the quantity. To get an idea contact the "Gulf Agency Company". You can google the address.

Apparently KLM flys cargo relatively cheap all over the world. Call your local KLM office to give you a quote. Just note that whichever way you go, you have to have the bikes crated. It's always a good idea to speak to the local agency of the brand of bike you have. They sometimes have crates in the back yard from new bikes they received. Even better contact the agency, tell them when you expect to be in the area and ask them to keep 2 crates for you if possible cause they throw them away after a while.

As far as air fares for you are concerned try your local travel agent.

Hope that helps.

Dirk

Trui and Gaea - You can get flights from DXB to Europe pretty cheaply if you shop around - I saw some very cheap flights with Turkish to Frankfurt (something like 270GBP one way - which I guess is all you'd need) yesterday on opodo.com.
As for shipping the bike I was lucky in that when I shipped my bike out from the UK to DXB I was able to fit it into the crate that had the rest of my furniture and personal items in and so I effectively paid nothing for the bike.
I did however ship my bike from India (Goa) back to the UK earlier this year (by sea) and that cost me something like 300GBP-400GBP so the 450EUR Dirk mentioned sounds like a fair assessment - it also took about 4-5 weeks all told.

Desert Dog - As for getting my bike registered in DXB I managed it in the end. GAC (who handled the shipping of all of my furniture from the UK to DXB) delivered the bike straight to my house and once I had unpacked it and put the thing back together (!) it was a simple job of taking the bike together with the cutsoms clearance certificate (which GAC got for me) to Tasjeel who registered the bike in half an hour or so. As for paying customs fees, GAC dealt with the customs on this and I ended up telling them how much I thought the bike was worth over the phone and they used this as the basis for assessing the duty. Despite the fact that my bike is a BMW R1150GS I was somewhat liberal with my valuation and so I ended up paying 1000AED which I was pretty happy with!

Now I just have to find somewhere I can buy an open face helmet so I don't melt out here in this heat and I'm sorted!!

Peter

Peter
I've been commuting since I got back here in August
It's practically winter now! Stephan

PS Try Sandstorm or Gecko for helmets but you'd be better off if you could get one brought over from the States - much cheaper.

the heat isn't too bad now, but I'm amazed you managed riding in summer!
Do Sandstorm/Gecko have a decent range of other bike gear - my European style bike leathers are not very practical for UAE temperatures!
Peter

Hi Peter,

There is another place called Motorcycle 2000 in Dune Centre in Al Diyaffah street, close to the big UAE flag. I bought my helmets there (flip-up) and am pretty happy with them. They also do a bit of riding clothing but mostly leather.

Other than the helmets I got all my gear from oversees. I might be wrong but I find that the selection of stuff here is rather limited and very expensive.

There are also some shops in Ras al Khor. Tristar, Motorcycle City (I think) and another 2 shops. Take a look. By the way: during Ramadan they are closed between 1 and 4 pm.

There is al so a shop in Ibn Bathutta Mall. But also rather expensive.

Another option is online shopping. There are plenty of decent online shops that ship goods all over the world. My mate just bought helmets from www.louis.de - Motorrad & Freizeit . He had no problems at all with the order.

I should also mention the BMW shop. It's worth a visit. Haitham, the salesman, is very forthcoming gives you a 25% discount if you ask nicely.

Regs

Dirk