Sir Denis Eaton-Hogg

A lot $$$$$$$$$$ is all it takes, if you have enough green it matters not if you are war-criminal, druglord or oligarch or whatever. But God help you if you are a honest to goodness middle of the road person.

Start a new career as a Chechen warlord ... problem solved

scoobysteve

I agree, so what denotes ownership or the bike, what if I went down with my friend to the Harley D dealership and paid for the bike but got the paperwork registered to my friend could I not get the receipt for the purchase and could the friend not sign a document to state that I have full ownership of the bike despite him having all the paperwork in his name. I am just fishing here but could this be done and does the FL police allow secondary insured riders that drive on UK license if the bike is registered to a the US official owner will the insurance company add a secondary UK rider to the policy.

lots of questions but I really want to get this bike and I will be damned if poxy politics will stop me

Sir Denis Eaton-Hogg

Lawyer please.....?

Honestly I don't know, but I am sure another member of the BE Clan will be along shortly with input. I know that the British Consul in Florida frequents the board... might not be a bad idea to contact them. I cannot believe you would be the first Brit holiday home owner to feel the lure of American made V powered goodness... Harley Davidson is one of the few vehicle companies not begging for bailout cash so somebody is buying them.

anotherlimey

In my experience, so I can't say this is true everywhere, Florida cops don't care about motorcycle riders and their licenses as long as you have a license of some type and you aren't picking up speeding tickets. You could meet an arsehole cop though!

The title denotes ownership, it's all done online now I believe. You might want to check out the Florida DMV website for more details: http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us

scoobysteve

I find the US official websites so bloody confusing its hard to actually find any section on any of the sites that seem to cover my line of questioning.
aaaaargh pulling what little hair out

anotherlimey

OK, direct action was necessary!

I just called the local Harley dealer... they say you can buy a bike on a foreign license, then I called an insurer they recommended and they said they can insure the bike for a foreign license holder.

scoobysteve

OMG anotherlimey you didn't have to do that but thank you very much indeed. I hope that it is as easy as that but somehow I don't think so it normally isn't but its encouraging and thanks again. Much appreciated.

steve

Englishtart

Would a legal 'power of attorney' work, might not, but hubby is deployed right now and I have a 'general' POA and it allows me to pretty much do anything with property etc that has his name on it. I know you can get a 'specific' POA, so you could get one that states you 'own' the bike, but a friend has the registration but in name only, no finacial investment etc?
Just an idea...

anotherlimey

No problem, curiosity got the better of me!

The only catch I can make out is - you must have a valid US residence to register the vehicle to, and you must pay for the bike in cash because no one will finance it unless you have an SSN. This was a Miami-based dealer and insurance company so they deal with foreign "types" all the time.

I'll PM you the insurance company phone number, in case you want to call to double check.

Mallory

Dont' forget to purchase life insurance.

scoobysteve

Thankfully I own a property in Florida and I would be buying cash, I actually thought cash would be a problem, you try buying anything large with cash in Europe they think your money laundering.
And thanks for the POA thought as well. Looks like there may be a viable option after all.
Cheers all

Englishtart

welcome, good luck hun!

anotherlimey

You're good to go it would seem.

Most people don't care too much for bikers in Florida; a guy on my motorcycle safety course (for the endorsement on my license) had been riding his bike for 4 years without the endorsement, or insurance, he was only on the course because he'd got 4 speeding tickets and a traffic court had ordered him to do it.

scoobysteve

OK I have just phoned the insurance company anotherlimey PM'ed me about (Once again thanks) and they seem to think that it woulod not be a problem the only thing he asked was if I had a international drivers license I said that I had a UK license and that I have used that to hire cars for 3 months in the US with full insurance and he thought that it would be OK but even if not I guess it would not be too hard to get a international license.

thanks everyone for your help

Steve

Sir Denis Eaton-Hogg

GREAT NEWS!! Happy trails!

BTW You DO have an international license, the full new style UK Photo ID license is considered an international license in the USA and in most other countries. A true 'International' license is a pretty outmoded thing only really required for licences not written in english or older paper based licenses with no no fraud prevention such as photographs.