Looking for a reliable, experienced Canadian rider to share the use of a bike in Europe.

I am planning to take my bike, fully equipped 650 V-Strom, to Europe late summer / fall 2016 and leave it there for a few years. My wife and I will be using it 2 to 4 months per year, initially in the fall or spring. We are looking for an individual / couple who are interested in using the bike and sharing the costs, ie. shipping and storage.

We live in BC and have experience with vehicle sharing. We share a car and bike in Mexico and it is working well for us. If you would like to discuss it some more, please contact us.

You need to be quite careful about the nationality & residence of who you allow to ride your Canadian-plated bike in Europe.

About 5 years ago, I loaned my Canadian-plated (which was in Germany) bike to a good friend of mine who is a EC citizen and resident of Germany. He was stopped in a routine traffic check (no offence took place, the police were just curious about the Canadian plate), and the outcome was that he & I had to pay about €2,000 in import duties and taxes on the motorcycle.

The particular law that caught him out was the very same regulation that permitted me to import the bike free of duty and tax for my own touristic purposes (me being a Canadian citizen and Canadian resident). As long as I was the person riding the bike, it was clearly "temporary tourism", thus free of duties and taxes. But, by being in possession of (and operating) a vehicle that had not been properly imported into Europe, my friend, the European citizen and resident, was deemed to have imported the vehicle improperly, and the duties and taxes had to be paid.

I suspect (but am not certain) that another rider who is neither a citizen or a resident of the EC could probably ride my motorcycle without being subject to the same liability. But, for what it's worth, you will not want to let anyone who is a citizen or resident of the EC to ever ride the bike.

Note that paying the duties and taxes did not entitle me to register the bike in Europe. In order to register and plate it in Europe, the bike would have to pass a safety check that confirmed that it was in full compliance with all the regulations applicable to European vehicles. Because my moto has a North American headlight, North American emissions certification, etc. it cannot pass that test without considerable modification.

Just a word in your ear...

Michael

Thanks for your comments Michael.

I checked the law in Spain and you are correct. Locals cannot legally drive / ride a foreign registered vehicles. It is the same in Mexico, albeit the enforcement is quite different in Mexico.

From the information I have seen, other tourists who have valid credentials and insurance can legally drive / ride foreign registered vehicles in Europe. It is recommended that the non-owner travels with written authorization for the use of the vehicle from the owner.

This is partly why I am looking for another Canadian rider. Trying to keep it as simple as possible.

Also trying to save some money. Shipping costs have risen dramatically. All shipping costs I've found are priced in US dollars and that makes them 35% higher than last year, when converted to C$

Thanks again for your comments

Bernie.

Hi Bernie:

Wait a month or so to see whether Air Canada repeats the very attractive motorcycle shipping offers that they ran in 2014. If I recall correctly, the price was somewhere around about $1,000 to ship the bike, and it was priced in CAD. I believe it was obligatory to also buy a passenger ticket, although not necessarily for the same date.

Michael