Export plates on the atlatic route, problems?
 

I am considering buying a bike in Germany or Belgium and riding through France and Spain down the Atlantic route ending up in Bamako where I had though to sell the bike. Has anyone riden in these countries and over these borders with export plates? Had problems? I looked at the paper work forum but didn't find anything on Mauritania. Officially the require a carnet, but most people get by without out no? The other thing I wondered about is I have an american drivers liscence, but I do not have the motorcycle endorsment currently. It looks like a standard liscence, it stands "vehicle operators liscence" etc. I am experienced with bikes so I am not expecting to be stopped for violations. Will this be a problem? I will be riding in europe for max 3 days. I really don't like the idea of getting randomly stopped and my bike impounded becuase I am not moto endorsed. Could that be a real issue? Hope someone can help me. Other wise I'll give you an update in a month or two, hopefull not from a spanish jail cell!

I can't imagine that a vehicle that is legally registered in an EU country would have any problem in any other EU country , no matter what type of plates you are on, transit or otherwise. I know of people buying vehicles in germany and riding through Belgium. France , Uk and into Ireland with them without a hitch. It's all legal and you are insured so Spain should be no difference . Once into Africa it's anyones guess. I know of one group who rode Honda c90 scooters through the Sahara on UK number plates. None were insured or taxed and they got all the way there. the support vehicle was driven though France and Spain on temporary trade number plates so I guess if you judge by this you should be OK.
Regarding the US drivers licence.....best get rid of that and take a Norwegian one if you can. Sadly American "anything" isn't very popular in some parts of the world these days so offering a US drivers licence may attract the wrong kind of attention.

export plates
 

hello,

as gecko said, you are fine in Europe with the export plates.

for Morrocco: I would enter before the export plates expire, so you have insurance to show at the border. get a valid green card from your insurance company for that.

Mauritania: you will be just paying a *fee* for not having your carnet and maybe you have to buy insurance

Senegal: avoid it, because the *fee* for not having the carnet is quite high.

Mali: should be ok, be prepared for a *fee*. dont think you will get much for your bike from a local, because there are many bikes on the market that are stolen in Europe and have a very low price.

Driving license. Yes, get a proper one in Norway, if you can. if not, your only big problem could be Europe.

enjoy

mika

travelling
 

hi every one my name is mezzi,i'm from canada.ihave an international driver's licence.
im planning to fly to frankfurt buy a car with a 3 months export plates and insurance drive to marseille france ,take a ferry to algeria spend some time there .drive around in algeria .take back the ferry to marseille and drive to germany with the same plates when im in germany i would like to ship the car to canada. im wondering if i can do this on an export plates.
any one has any tips or knows any one who can let me know if it's possible to do it.it will be very appreciated.
thanks mezzi.
my email is zinoucarciofo at hotmail dot com

Can you get three months? Germany has two types of temporary plates, orange or yellow on the side. The orange is the one for export, you get two weeks registration with insurance. Germany Temporary-Export (Regensburg) License Plate | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

As for the validity in the EU, you have to check the countries one by one. This is one area where a lot remains to be done in working out a common legislation.
And cops may hassle you even if you have valid papers. Arriving in Sicilia from Tunisia my buddy was halted by the carabinieri and they demanded a green card (not required anymore) or he would pay a cash fine of 700 euros. And the 4x4 was to be demolished immediatamente! He asked permission to go to the bank to withdraw money, and they kept his driver's licence and the grey car registration. He went straight to police headquarters in Palermo and they called back to the port and told them to 'stop it'. They replied, 'no problem, he just has to come back here and get his papers'.... He wisely refused. Hid the car in a parking garage, called the embassy....long story.
Just so you know what can happen. Most likely, you won't have a problem.

hi, no problem about that.
you need the export number plates, the one with red/orange at the side.
you can get them valid from 9 days up to one year. these are the only number plates in germany which are sold to non eu passportholders.
anything more than 30 days the insurance can become costly, check prices as they differ a lot. the insurance includes a green card ( international ).
the car has to have valid technical checkup ( tüv ) and since 2007 you have to pay roadtax from the first day, before the first 3 months used do be exempted from roadtax. if you don´t have a bank account in germany you have to pay the road tax in cash at a tax office before they handle the number plates over to you.
to register the car you need to take it to the registration office as they need to check the chassis number ( vin ).
since we have the new eu car documents for a while now, they do not deregister the car anymore at the registration office, means you still have valid car documents to re-enter germany again.

hope that helps,
todo

Watch out for the police on the costa del sol if your export plates date has expired. Still not sure if he was scammed, but a buddy of ours got "fined" 350 euros as his red German plates date was out of date. (He DID have current insurance.)

Roger

legaly that is not possible.
once your export number plate is expired, you cannot extend the insurance without renewing/ changing the export number plates also.
date of last day of insurance cover always matches with the day stated at the number plates.

thanks
 

hi guys thank you very much for the help i really appreciate it!

mezzi

It was UK insurance, not German. He kept the vehicle in England for a few months before doing the trip.

Roger