Unkowingly bought a US spec bike from a UK main dealer

[Sporall]

I recently bought a motorcycle from an approved dealer for that particular brand and nowhere was it written that the bike was a US spec example and it wasn't communicated verbally. DVLA have no record of the bike being imported.

I became aware something was 'off' when I attempted to change the outside air temp from Fahrenheit to Centigrade and failed. Then, after riding it for the first time, I noticed the apparently poor fuel economy and realised that it was calculated in US mpg, which is a smaller quantity of fuel. Neither of these differences can be changed. The speedometer and odometer are in mph (kph in smaller print) and miles.

The most recent difference I've discovered is that the bike has no immobiliser.

It's passed MOT's without issues in the past so the headlight alignment would be correct, or at least not dazzling to other road users. The light unit lens is not E marked.

With all of this in mind, I have some questions for someone who may be better informed than myself.

- Should this have been disclosed? I viewed the dealer is the 'expert' and bought in good faith
- Is the value of bike under these circumstances affected when compared to an identical UK spec bike

Any constructive opinions gratefully received.

Edited by Sporall on Monday 25th March 22:04

[OverSteery]

Sporall said:

It's passed MOT's without issues in the past so the headlight alignment would be correct, or at least not dazzling to other road users. The light unit lens is not CE marked.

Pretty sure the headlight is illegal, so the bike is not fit for purpose. At a minimum, they should sort this for you.

[podman]

If the dealer was asked about about the first origin of the bike and lied about it, that would be an issue under trade descriptions but otherwise no, they havent done anything wrong in the eyes of the law.

I can answer the value thing for you as I wrote off my imported GSXR1000 K7 in 2009 , the claim wasnt affected at all , I was paid the market value of the bike.

I’ve had 2 x american imports, both where excellent buys, they all come out of the same factory at the end of the day….potentially the only issue is if the bike was intended for California state, where I was told more restrictive exhausts and emissions gubbins could be fitted to the bike but that didnt apply to the bikes I bought.

[InitialDave]

Hmm, what does the V5C say? New at first reg or whatever the phrasing is?

Frame and engine numbers match up correctly?

[Sporall]

podman said:

If the dealer was asked about about the first origin of the bike and lied about it, that would be an issue under trade descriptions but otherwise no, they havent done anything wrong in the eyes of the law.

I can answer the value thing for you as I wrote off my imported GSXR1000 K7 in 2009 , the claim wasnt affected at all , I was paid the market value of the bike.

I’ve had 2 x american imports, both where excellent buys, they all come out of the same factory at the end of the day….potentially the only issue is if the bike was intended for California state, where I was told more restrictive exhausts and emissions gubbins could be fitted to the bike but that didnt apply to the bikes I bought.

They were asked following the sale. I wrote this in a Whatsapp message:
'I'm hoping I haven't actually bought a US specified bike'

The reply was:
'It is a UK supplied machine & doesn't show as imported on HPI'

Thanks for sharing your own experiences, both useful and reassuring.

[Sporall]

OverSteery said:

Pretty sure the headlight is illegal, so the bike is not fit for purpose. At a minimum, they should sort this for you.

Yes, not sure how it wasn't picked up. This is how it's marked. If it were correct, it would show E followed by a number for the country code. 11 would be UK. The number could change but E would always remain.

Edited by Sporall on Monday 25th March 23:24

[Sporall]

InitialDave said:

Hmm, what does the V5C say? New at first reg or whatever the phrasing is?

Frame and engine numbers match up correctly?

It says ' Declared new at first registration'

I've not checked numbers, I'll have a look tomorrow.

[MK3 Dan]

Not sure on the legalities of it but personally I would not be too concerned.

Sounds like it is much newer than mine but I had the same with a K6 GSXR1000, although I purchased privately.

Turns out that a UK dealer was actually importing bikes from abroad and selling them as new, due to the bikes being cheaper to purchase! They were still registered as new and the dealer offered a warranty - came with all the new bike paperwork.

The V5 says declared new at first registration but also has a line saying SVA/IVA certificate presented for emissions.

No immobiliser fitted so the dealer fitted an alarm. Temp also reads in Fahrenheit.

Doesn't seem to effect value and I wasn't aware of this when I purchased it. Had no problems with MOT.

Biggest issue I have found is the bike wasn't registered with Suzuki GB so it had non of the recalls carried out!

[Freddie Fitch]

DOT on the headlight is USA Department of Transportation. So US spec headlight. Not legal in UK.

[Playsatan]

In my opinion they should definitely have told you prior to purchase. The specification could be very different as emission laws can require different states or tune or acceptable db levels. The Ninja 400 has about 40% more HP in EU spec compared to the US version but the CRF450L has about 40% more in US trim.

Depending on the bike spares could be interesting too, colour schemes can be different or the parts dept might not recognise the vin when ordering items.

I guess the real question is would you have still purchased it if you had known, would you have pushed for a better deal or walked?

[OverSteery]

podman said:

If the dealer was asked about about the first origin of the bike and lied about it, that would be an issue under trade descriptions but otherwise no, they havent done anything wrong in the eyes of the law.

I can answer the value thing for you as I wrote off my imported GSXR1000 K7 in 2009 , the claim wasnt affected at all , I was paid the market value of the bike.

I’ve had 2 x american imports, both where excellent buys, they all come out of the same factory at the end of the day….potentially the only issue is if the bike was intended for California state, where I was told more restrictive exhausts and emissions gubbins could be fitted to the bike but that didnt apply to the bikes I bought.

If the headlight is illegal (which I think it is), then this bike is not legal for road use in the UK. The dealer has (albeit possibly without knowing) has sold an item that is not fit for purpose. This means the dealer has broken The Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Cleverer people than I will need to advise if fixing the headlight gets them off the hook, but right now the dealer will find themselves on the backfoot.

OP - Ask for this to move to SP&L where you will get a better legal view (albeit mixed in with other assertions.. ).

Edited by OverSteery on Wednesday 27th March 08:26

[trickywoo]

I’d be equally worried about it being a ringer. So many US spec items but declared new at first registration in the uk and no marker checks is odd.

Is it a FJR1300?

[Sporall]

trickywoo said:

I’d be equally worried about it being a ringer. So many US spec items but declared new at first registration in the uk and no marker checks is odd.

Is it a FJR1300?

I'm surprised there's nothing on the V5 to indicate imported, no idea why not. Today, the dealer looked it up on their system and determined that it was indeed US spec, Argentinian in fact. So they had the means to be aware.

Yes, it's an FJR.

[Alex Z]

How long is “recently”?

I’d be tempted to ask for a refund unless there was a P/X to complicate matters.

[Sporall]

Alex Z said:

How long is “recently”?

I’d be tempted to ask for a refund unless there was a P/X to complicate matters.

Less than a week. I really can't understand why DVLA don't know anything about it.

[trickywoo]

There can’t be many legitimate reasons for it.

[Neal H]

Do you need to inform your insurer that it isn’t a standard UK bike? They’ll be assuming it is which could complicate things if you ever have to make a claim.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Have you run a vcheck on it?


It's not a problem if it's declared imported but like a imported Japanese car you'd want to know before and the price reflected.

It's quite a major point. After all if it was previously written off in the US and repaired you wouldn't know here would you.

[Sporall]

Neal H said:

Do you need to inform your insurer that it isn’t a standard UK bike? They’ll be assuming it is which could complicate things if you ever have to make a claim.

Yes, I'm with BikeSure and they seem not too worried about it. I kept the chat transcript just just in case.
I think perhaps they don't have this bike listed as a high risk.

[Sporall]

OverSteery said:

Pretty sure the headlight is illegal, so the bike is not fit for purpose. At a minimum, they should sort this for you.

I'm going to pop into an mot test station today and get their opinion on the headlight and see if they can do a decent alignment. I'm not yet convinced that there's been no bodgery regarding bulb orientation.