Insurance for riding on the Continent - with a twist......

grantmac

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Bit of a long post but bear with me and you'll understand where I am coming from.....

6 years ago I bought a Triumph Rocket 3 Touring new from a garage in Romford. Paid 14K for it with all the bells and whistles on it and rode it home.....to Holland.
For the next 3 years rode it on UK plates, tax etc until it came up for MOT renewal. Dilema, take it back to the UK to get the MOT done or transfer it onto Dutch plates (at an expense).
I chose the latter. Cost for doing so was around EURO 2000 all told. Bike was then on Dutch plates and was subsequently insured by a Dutch insurance provider.

So this begs the question why and so what....?

Cost of the new bike at the time 2011 was 14K sterling. Same bike in Holland was around 24K Euro. So now it starts to make sense.

Big issue - insurance. I found company that would insure me based on the following story - I lived both in Holland and UK. Summer months in The Hague Holland working for an international corporation and Winter months in Scotland - same company. Luckily I have an address in UK still.
Insurance was fine but the facts were not 100% kosher. Basically I was taking a risk.

So now the following dilemma! I want to add a K1600GTLE to my collection. New price in Holland 32K Euro. Same bike in UK is 21K sterling. Exchange rate is very much in my favour making the new bike in UK about 24K EURO equivalent.

Soooooo........Any ideas on where I can get insurance based on the same story as above? The company I used to insure with wont accept it any more. Issue is I have a Dutch driving license.
Dutch insurance wont touch it until its on Dutch plates. A saving of 8K is worth trying all the channels possible.
Importing costs about 8K - which takes it back to the current value in Holland.

As info riding around in Holland on UK plates is not an issue. The police don't care provided you have valid documents. Customs do care and if they catch you will demand you take the bike off road until its on Dutch plates or take it back to UK. Reason being - ''why do you have a Dutch driving license but an English bike - sir?''
Customs are few and far between and of the 3 years I had on the Triumph never once got stopped. For that I am prepared to take the risk.

Anyone got any ideas?
 
Absolutely no idea, sorry.

But I like your style!

Cheers! I get screwed with 52% income tax here in Holland anyway so I'd like to avoid filling the Dutch government coffers if I can legally avoid it......
but wouldn't change it for the world.......love it here.
 
Bikermate Law no. 317

That the bikermate shall whenever he likes, do whatever he likes.
 
This situation is very familiar to me (substitute France for Holland). I've no idea what the correct answer is.
The usual advice to disclose all in detail to the insurer is of no help, because under those circumstances nobody will insure you.

Sorry not to be of more help, but I've lived with this (cars and bikes) for 20 years and never got a definitive answer as to the correct course of action.
 
This situation is very familiar to me (substitute France for Holland). I've no idea what the correct answer is.
The usual advice to disclose all in detail to the insurer is of no help, because under those circumstances nobody will insure you.

Same her but substitute Germany for Holland.

I have UK address so insure with UK company. My bikes are all in Germany on UK reg plates. The one German vehicle I own with German reg plates has German insurance.

I usually return to the UK at least every 3 months by ferry with a trailer containing at least one bike (obviously no reg numbers of bikes are recorded by the ferry company), so if anything did ever happen that resulted in a claim my story could be supported - maybe.
 
I think you mean Bikermate law 319

317 is that Bikermates must at every opportunity, slag off Insurance companies



Bikermate Law 3: That the bikermate who says it first is always right. This shall though be amended if another bikermate says something different but louder. Louder is good and it saves lives.
 
I can't remember how long you have to have owned the bike for the Belastingsdienst to grant you permission to import the bike as goods and chattels; free of import duty.
I remember that we brought both our bikes to Holland and went through the procedure to put them onto Dutch plates when we lived in Assen but I don't recall it being expensive at all.

I think you'd run into problems if Insured through a UK insurer on a UK "Keeper's" address if the bike is actually kept at an address in Den Haag.

Could you see if BMW insurance would play for the first year if that's all you need to avoid import duty?
 
Get a driving license then simples !!!! I now live in Bulgaria but work in the uk and will keep my uk driving license as this way I can't get points taken of off my license here Bulgaria


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
And makes your order for beer and food more understandable by foreign johnnies

If you are ever confronted by a recalcitrant foreign johnny who doesn't know his place, the international signals of much arm waving never fails.
 
Same her but substitute Germany for Holland.

I have UK address so insure with UK company. My bikes are all in Germany on UK reg plates. The one German vehicle I own with German reg plates has German insurance.

I usually return to the UK at least every 3 months by ferry with a trailer containing at least one bike (obviously no reg numbers of bikes are recorded by the ferry company), so if anything did ever happen that resulted in a claim my story could be supported - maybe.
I think that, free movement of people etc notwithstanding, it is pretty much impossible to be fully compliant with the law in more than one EU country when your life/vehicles are split across national frontiers.

I discussed this with a gendarme once (IIRC he was puzzled that I had a French licence and a UK registered car or it may have been the other way round). He agreed that there didn't seem a way for me to be legal in UK and France without re-registering and reinsuring the bike/car several times a year.
 
My MCE insurance allows me to ride on the continent for a maximum of 183 days per year, or 6 months. Would this work if you spend half the year here and half there?
 
My MCE insurance allows me to ride on the continent for a maximum of 183 days per year, or 6 months. Would this work if you spend half the year here and half there?
'Allows you to ride' is not the same as 'kept'.

All vehicle insurance policies allow you to drive in EU countries (legal risks) by law (what did the EU ever do for us?). In principle this is without limit, but if the vehicle was 'kept' in a second country the insurance would likely be invalid.
 
I can't remember how long you have to have owned the bike for the Belastingsdienst to grant you permission to import the bike as goods and chattels; free of import duty.
I remember that we brought both our bikes to Holland and went through the procedure to put them onto Dutch plates when we lived in Assen but I don't recall it being expensive at all.

I think you'd run into problems if Insured through a UK insurer on a UK "Keeper's" address if the bike is actually kept at an address in Den Haag.

Could you see if BMW insurance would play for the first year if that's all you need to avoid import duty?

Import duty is basically the luxury Tax or ''BPM'' in Dutch which is the killer. This diminishes from day of purchase to about 5 years. So to avoid the tax I need to keep the bike on UK plates for this period.
 
My MCE insurance allows me to ride on the continent for a maximum of 183 days per year, or 6 months. Would this work if you spend half the year here and half there?

Sounds good but my guess is you have a UK license. Issue is I have a Dutch license so they wont accept me. I'd be interest in your contact at MCE so I could ask them. I'd even pay a little bit higher premium if it were to work.
 


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