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UK Registered bike out of UK for more than 12 months UK Registered bike out of UK for more than 12 months
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Trip Paperwork Covers all documentation, carnets, customs and country requirements, how to deal with insurance etc.
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  #1  
Old 1 Aug 2014
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Question UK Registered bike out of UK for more than 12 months
Hi all,

I wonder if anyone can help me - I have a UK registered bike which is being ridden to Africa, where it will be stored for 12 months halfway down, before we complete the second half of the journey the following year. I will then ship it back to the UK, and want to continue to ride it.

Can anyone tell me how I maintain Tax and MoT over this period, so that I am legally able to ride it back in the UK? I also know that I need to keep the vehicle taxed and MoT'd for the journey in order to maintain my insurance. Insurance won't cover me in Africa, but it will cover me when I return to EU/UK roads... which I will need.

Idea's, experiences, or pointers to government info all welcome (DVLA site is IMPOSSIBLE to navigate for anything actually usefull... :-( )

Thanks,

James
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Old 1 Aug 2014
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Hi James and welcome to the HUBB. Regarding your question, grab a bottle of (or more likely a crate), sit back and read through this - http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ong-term-39472

Unless something's changed in the last year or so it doesn't look like there's an easy answer
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Old 1 Aug 2014
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Hi James,
The best you can do is have your bike taxed and MOTed while you are in Europe. It won't really matter in Africa as nobody will know or care that your bike is not legal in the UK unless you volunteer the information which might be unwise, it could be used to create a problem.
It will be impossible to make it legal again until your return to the UK where you can pre-book an MOT at the nearest test centre to the ferry port then tax it on-line straight away assuming it is insured. I did this with mine in the same circumstances a few years ago without a problem.
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Old 2 Aug 2014
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Agree with Mark Manley. An additional point is that when things run out, you will need to declare the bike on SORN,( Statutory Off the Road Notice) for the period. If you don't do that, then you may get a bit of a problem when you come to re apply for it's MOT/Insurance/Tax as the DVLA system will have flagged it as possibly exported/ missing/stolen/written off. As it is also a requirement to maintain continuous Insurance unless you declare SORN, the CIE ( Continuous Insurance Enforcement ) regulations will automatically issue fines for non compliance.

Strictly speaking on re -entering Europe ( If you ride it back) the bike must be conformant to the roadworthiness regulations of the country of registration, so it's worth organising at least Insurance for the bike from your U.K. Insurer as soon as you know you're on European soil. An electronic cert of Insurance is better than nothing at all. Shipping the bike back will not be an issue, just take it to the nearest MOT station and kick off form there.
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Old 2 Aug 2014
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on the Road Tax side of it, if you do the tax on line you have still paid for it, register the bike on the V5 at a relatives address get the tax disc sent there and they can forward it on to you, as for the insurance i would say you could do the same thing even though you would be paying for nothing, as for the MOT, Ummm dont know apart from what others have suggested

Cheers
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Old 2 Aug 2014
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From personal experience in 2010/11 our tax disc was regularly checked by both police and customs at border crossings and routine road blocks. This was in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They are up to date with their technology.

Margaret
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Old 17 Sep 2014
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Originally Posted by mrsgemini View Post
From personal experience in 2010/11 our tax disc was regularly checked by both police and customs at border crossings and routine road blocks. This was in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They are up to date with their technology.

Margaret
Margaret, did they just visually check the tax disc? Or do some sort of online check? Because we are about to lose the discs from our windscreens as part of the "new taxation" rules, being rolled out in October. May cause a problem if police and customs dont know about it.

Gaz
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Old 1 Feb 2015
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Thanks folks, all very helpful. I forgot to respond with my thanks previously!


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Old 2 Feb 2015
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Margaret, did they just visually check the tax disc? Or do some sort of online check? Because we are about to lose the discs from our windscreens as part of the "new taxation" rules, being rolled out in October. May cause a problem if police and customs dont know about it.

Gaz
I live in South Africa and have travelled through neighbouring countries before. They do check the disc, but in my experience, and as far as I'm aware, there is no way for them to check online.

I'm sure there will some sort of fine if you are stopped by police and your tax disc is not valid.
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Old 2 Feb 2015
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Originally Posted by Pumbaa View Post
I live in South Africa and have travelled through neighbouring countries before. They do check the disc, but in my experience, and as far as I'm aware, there is no way for them to check online.

I'm sure there will some sort of fine if you are stopped by police and your tax disc is not valid.

All irrelevant now as there is no tax disc anymore, which could be helpful for all of us.
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Old 2 Feb 2015
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Originally Posted by mark manley View Post
All irrelevant now as there is no tax disc anymore, which could be helpful for all of us.
Amen to that!

The bit of paper acting as a receipt for VED/RFL paid up and displayed in the windscreen or attached to some part of a two wheeled vehicle truly was an anachronism.

What the Brits can do now, with a bare minimum of bureaucracy - all online at any time of day and night - is change the status of your vehicle for on road/off the highway.
I would say do this as often as is relevant to you and use the system.
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