8 years sleeping beauty - advice needed
 

Hi folks,

I'm just back from 8 years in Japan and settled with my wife and kid in England. Before Japan, I brought my motorcycle (2012 650-Vstrom) from Ireland where I lived over to my mom's garage in Haute-Savoie, France.

Aiming to ride all of the UK's roads at least once, I need to get the bike up and running again for the good season in 2025. Would someone be able to give me advice on:

- Can I ride the bike from France to the UK on Irish plates? I guess I'll then need to register the bike in the UK to get new plates?
- Insurance: Would I be able to insure the bike in France on Irish plates? is it worth it if I then change the bike's plates to UK plates? or are there temporary insurances that would do the trick

Appreciate any light on the process, I've done some research on google but didn't get very far.

thanks much
JL

The absolute easiest way is to get a van, put the bike in the back of it, drive the van to the UK, and go to your local licensing agency to talk to them about plates, inspections and customs/registration duties, then get insurance on UK plates.

Barring that, to drive in France on Irish plates you would first need to get Irish insurance (which covers all of the EU and I think, by treaty, is also valid in the UK - but confirm that).

If you are a UK citizen and permanent resident, riding into the UK on EU plates, you may need to do some customs clearance and pay duties, same as if you'd bought a vehicle in the EU and are importing it into the UK. Again, confirm that with your local authorities.