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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Sporall]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Who the insurance with? Bikesure is a broker isn't it. I'd double check who your policy is with, who is funding it etc.

It's Aviva. I must admit it didn't occur to me that Bikesure wouldn't be able to properly check.