Hi

I am buying a second hand BMW motorbike off my mate in Germany and want to ride it here in Andalucia where I live with my girlfriend.
I can get all the papers for ownership of the bike etc, but can anyone please
advise me on what I will need to do at this end? I am hoping I can just ride as a visitor on the German plates without too much trouble, as I don't really know how long I will be in Spain for. I also have no idea what to do (or how to go about getting) insurance, as this is my first bike.

Any pointers very welcome, thanks.

Joe.

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Rosemary and Graham

It is quite easy to bring a vehicle from your home country. There are several threads on importing and re-registration of cars. The rules apply to bikes.

Not too sure how you would go about importing a vehicle from Germany. Can you register and insure it before you bring it to spain? your mate should be able to advise.

Seems like a lot of hassle and I would look for one here.

Insurance for bikes is expensive and you will be unlikely to obtain comprehensive insurance on a secodhand bike. I assume you hold a valid license to ride this bike?

I was led to believe that German vehicle plates stay with the owner, only going by a friend that bought a car, he had to use export plates from Germany, that was a new vehicle though, so may be different for 2nd hand xx

If the same applies as with cars then much will depend on how long you intend to stay in Spain, I imported a car from France and registered it in the UK so that I would have owned it for more than six monthe so avoiding some of the tax requiring payment in Spain, I would guess that the same would apply to a bike.
There are a few posters on here who know the ins and outs of the procedure and hopefully will be along shortly.

Graham

Hi

When you come to change the number plates, YOU need to own the vehicle! Think about it, steal a vehicle and then tell everyone you have just bought it - change the plates and it´s yours "for free"

If you already live in Spain and are on the padron, then you will have to pay first registration tax (called inport tax by the Brits). this is now based on Co2
Davexf

I've looked into this for bike buying (having ridden bikes all my life) and the taxes on imported bikes are prohibitive. In addition, insurance on an imported bike is just stupid. If you intend to have the bike here for more than 6 months, forget it.
This is just one of the ways that Spain gets around the EU free market rules. In the case of cars, the difference in price between Germany and Spain can comfortably cover the difference in sale price, where bikes are concerned, I wouldn't bother. I have a good friend who is a breaker/seller of imported bikes. He stopped importing whole bikes as the taxation made it impossible to make a profit

I feel you have been misled!

Insurance is no different on imported bikes than on any other - provided they are both, equally, fully matriculated here in Spain.

I do agree that the 'first registration' tax can be prohibitive, but can be avoided if you meet the necessary criteria.

Hi Dave,

We imported our Land Rover about 18 months ago in Sevilla province. We had been on the padron for about 5 years although we were not resident (commuting 2 long weekends per month). When our gestor put all the papers in, there were some raised eyebrows in the Hacienda when they saw the date we were first entered on the padron but, when I supplied evidence that we had been resident in UK (hospital admission letter, letters from HMRC to our UK address etc. with recent dates), we were not charged the first registration tax.

I imported an 11 year Yamaha Virago 750 here 3 years ago. Bike value in UK - £2500, but here, nearer 4,500 - 5000 euros at that time. Import duty paid 78 euros !!!

....and we'd lived lived here permanently for 4 years by then so I didn't get any duty reduction for importation on first arrival.

In your dreams
http://www.preloved.co.uk/adverts/sh...ago-750cc.html

Perhaps the English language is a challenge for you, but I said it was 3 years ago - in fact, on reflection its now nearer 4 years ago. Also, my bike was 1 owner from new with only 7000 miles on it, in immaculate condition, with full panniers, rear bag, new twin Remus exhaust, full screen, engine bars etc., and to be certain of its value here I looked at an identical Spanish bike with 17,000kms on it - price 5500 euros on Secundomano.es.
When I dream, its far more interesting than motorbike prices !

If you can post a link this link to an eleven year old Varadero @ 5,500€ I will eat my virtual crash helmet

Better get your gloves on the boil as well seeing as this one is 6k....

http://www.autoscout24.es/Moto/Detai...x?id=201012688