How much to ship/import a bike from USA to UK

[anonymous-user]

Thinking about doing this if the rates for shipping/importing are not too bad.
To get some idea I tried to get a rough idea with Uship which came out at £500 to ship from Ohio to UK but tbh not sure if this was right.
Any advice would be helpful.
TIA

[The Moose]

If they will ship for £500, I’d do that. Seems cheap, but not always impossible on uship.

[bogie]

The shipping price is £500-600, so it all seems great when you see that cheap bike in USD and think about importing it ....have thought about it a few times ......

then you add up the total cost. Value of bike + shipping cost, add duty at 8% then add vat at 20% then add handling fees...then think about registration and changes needed to make UK legal. Basically convert price to pounds and add 30% is a good estimate

....and realise its not worth what an official UK bike is come resale.

Over 30 year old bikes are much better, no duty and 5% vat......

[anonymous-user]

The bike I'm interested in is over 30 years so that's a big plus with that.
How much does it cost to register a bike here and what piece of paper would I need from the seller?

[crofty1984]

Raygun said:

The bike I'm interested in is over 30 years so that's a big plus with that.
How much does it cost to register a bike here and what piece of paper would I need from the seller?

Pretty much as soon as it hits these shoes you need to get a "NOVA" certificate. That is to say that some or no tax is due on it and that it's been paid.
Then you need to get it MOTed, and get a dating certificate from either the manufacturer or owner's club (if the company no longer exists) stating what the year is. This might involve a vehicle inspection.
After that, you fill out the V55 form and wait.
Also, you can insure on the frame number so you can legally ride it to the MOT and back ONLY.

Rough costs for my BSA were:
NOVA: don't know, I bought it from the importer who did it, but I'm assuming it's a paperwork exercise.
Membership of VMCC: £35
First MOT: £25
Second MOT, after the exhaust fell off riding to the first one: £25
Inspection by VMCC: £90
V55 registration form: free
Application for first registration fee: £55
Year's tax: free (historic vehicle)
Re-posting V55 form that was returned due to missing ONE of many signatures: 60p
New number plate: £20

I have a receipt from the sale of the bike from the American owner to the importer I bought it from. I never needed to use it in any of the process. If you need it for the NOVA I honestly couldn't tell you.

[anonymous-user]

Thanks
I'm looking roughly at £600 to ship, £200 for paperwork/registration/mot etc and 5% of buying price so on a bike costing equivalent to £5000 it will end up costing me just over the £6000 mark taking into account it's over 30 years old.
One to ponder!

[trickywoo]

Raygun said:

Thanks
I'm looking roughly at £600 to ship, £200 for paperwork/registration/mot etc and 5% of buying price so on a bike costing equivalent to £5000 it will end up costing me just over the £6000 mark taking into account it's over 30 years old.
One to ponder!

There will be a bit extra getting it to and from the port each end.

[anonymous-user]

trickywoo said:

There will be a bit extra getting it to and from the port each end.

Cheers for that, I will look into what the US charge at various locations.

[the cueball]

At that price, it'll probably be loaded in with a load of other products and could get damaged.

I imported a bike from LA a few years back, and in total, including a small crate for it, and delivered from Portsmouth up to Scotland, all taxes, duties etc.. I was around £2k.

When added to the dirt cheap cost of the bike, I was still around £3k better off than a UK bike.

[podman]

There is an article in this months classic mag on importing bikes from the US.

https://www.isubscribe.co.uk/Classic-Motorcycle-Me...

Id have taken some pictures of the article but ive sent it onwards to a friend...