Complicated-Buying

[BegesRus]

My brother-in-law lives in Cyprus and he wamted a Harley - a new one - he found that there is NO car ferry available from mainland to Cyprus! only freight transport - so he bought from a dealer and they shipped it for him - cost - well plenty

 

[kokkios]

Ok to get back on-topic, i really have to decide which dealer.

From what i have read the best dealerships in London are: Vines of Guilford, Bahnstormer and SLM (South London Motorrad?) Since i will probably buy the bike blindfolded i.e. from Cyprus, i need the Best of the Best. Someone who will sell me a bike that is in excellent condition and who will not try to hide any possible defects of the bike. One that is trustworthy and reliable enough to handle my money.

Having said that could you please put this dealerships in order of preference or suggest another one? Please add any commends if necessary.

P.S. If moderators think it should now be moved to the Dealers section please feel free to do so

 

[Martin]

I can recommend North Oxford Garage. I've dealt in the past with Phil Davies who gives excellent service.

 

[Pathologic]

Mission impossible

Hi Kokkios,

You don't ask much! You should know that for every person that will rank a dealer at the top of their list there is at least one person who would rank them at the bottom. Nobody uses all of them! Whoever you trust there is no guarantee that you will get a good deal from that dealer on that particular ocasion. I know that is not what you want to hear.

If I were you I would contact BMW Park Lane and milk them for all the information you can, because they probably have the most experience. Then once you have a quote from them try some of the other dealers to see if they have a better bike or a better price. That way you will know more about how to arrange an export if the dealers are not experienced.

You will note that I have not ranked the dealers for you. FWIW I use Cooper Motorrad in Tunbridge Wells. They seem straight, but what do I know

Best of Luck and, if I do prove useful, we will find something better than Carling to celebrate with

Regards,

Path.

 

[clear]

Hi kokkkios


I think you should try Greece also.
The bikes here are not so expensive and the shipping costs must be lower.

 

[Mrs C]

To clarify the road tax issue. All bikes in the UK need to have it before they can be ridden on our roads. However, chances are, the bike you buy should already have some on it if is being used on the roads at the moment (it is renewed either every 6mths or 12mths). If not, the current owner could probably tax it for 6months (£36.30) in their name if they still have a current insurance policy on the bike.

If the bike is less than 3yrs old it will not need an MOT certificate, older than that and it will need one but to be honest, if I was buying a bike over 3yrs old I would expect it to have the MOT certificate - be wary if it doesn't!

Regarding insurance - I doubt you would find any insurance company in the UK who would insure you if you do not have permanent address here so the easiest option would be to insure it in Cyprus then add European travel to the policy if it isn't already included.

Of course, if you decide to buy new it's a different set of rules to do with VATand road tax but the dealer you buy from can arrange 'exempt' (ie free) road tax which allows the bike to be ridden on the roads here providing it is exported within a certain time limit (2mths I believe). This does require a certain amount of form filling (VAT411 if I remember rightly) but on the plus side you can buy it without paying VAT in the UK, although you have to pay it on importation to Cyprus or other EU country. Should you for some reason decide to stay in our wonderful country and the 2mths pass without the vehicle being exported, you will receive a hefty bill for the VAT and the registration will be cancelled. Same goes if the bike should be written off before you get it out of the country - you'd still get a bill for the VAT - so make sure your insurance covers the full value of the bike including the tax should you buy a new one.

Good luck!

 

[LiquidLAN]

If its going to cost you 2,000 euros regardless of how old the bike is, you might as well buy a new bike. Whatever you do, you should make your money back when you come to resell.

The problems you might have are insuring an imported bike - I know they've got very sniffy about it here in the past with bikes and cars.

Personally I wouldnt buy anything that I hadn't seen, you just open yourself up to problems. The issue with buying from a dealer will be there's going to be a delay between ordering and receiving the bike... this is going to make it pretty much impossible to do it all in one trip.

Id definately vote for the ride back option, plan your route well and you should be able to get the first service done on the way

 

[Leasouth]

Vines who were formerly Coombs have always been very good to me and most of the Beemer riders I know. Duncan at Vines would more than likely jump at the chance of helping you.
Nothing is ever to much trouble for them is my experience.
I live ten minutes away from Vines Guildford near Woking. As an ex Cyprus Famagusta resident of 3 years, I would be pleased to help check out a bike. I've been a biker for 40 years so have a reasonale idea of what's an aceptable purchase.
I also have a race shuttle racing car trailer that will carry bikes fully enclosed, if you need a bike delivering to a shipping agent and will cover my reasonable costs. I can also help with that as well !

 

[Leasouth]

Grimaldi ships go to Limassol from Southampton UK and carry passengers with motor cycles.

http://www.grimaldi-freightercruises.com/freighter/england/htb.htm

 

[kokkios]

To clarify the road tax issue. All bikes in the UK need to have it before they can be ridden on our roads. However, chances are, the bike you buy should already have some on it if is being used on the roads at the moment (it is renewed either every 6mths or 12mths). If not, the current owner could probably tax it for 6months (£36.30) in their name if they still have a current insurance policy on the bike.

If the bike is less than 3yrs old it will not need an MOT certificate, older than that and it will need one but to be honest, if I was buying a bike over 3yrs old I would expect it to have the MOT certificate - be wary if it doesn't!

Regarding insurance - I doubt you would find any insurance company in the UK who would insure you if you do not have permanent address here so the easiest option would be to insure it in Cyprus then add European travel to the policy if it isn't already included.

Of course, if you decide to buy new it's a different set of rules to do with VATand road tax but the dealer you buy from can arrange 'exempt' (ie free) road tax which allows the bike to be ridden on the roads here providing it is exported within a certain time limit (2mths I believe). This does require a certain amount of form filling (VAT411 if I remember rightly) but on the plus side you can buy it without paying VAT in the UK, although you have to pay it on importation to Cyprus or other EU country. Should you for some reason decide to stay in our wonderful country and the 2mths pass without the vehicle being exported, you will receive a hefty bill for the VAT and the registration will be cancelled. Same goes if the bike should be written off before you get it out of the country - you'd still get a bill for the VAT - so make sure your insurance covers the full value of the bike including the tax should you buy a new one.

Good luck!

Thanks for clarifying the tax status. I will definitely keep that in mind and crosscheck from the officials here in case i will decide to ride home or buy new.

Vines who were formerly Coombs have always been very good to me and most of the Beemer riders I know. Duncan at Vines would more than likely jump at the chance of helping you.
Nothing is ever to much trouble for them is my experience.
I live ten minutes away from Vines Guildford near Woking. As an ex Cyprus Famagusta resident of 3 years, I would be pleased to help check out a bike. I've been a biker for 40 years so have a reasonale idea of what's an aceptable purchase.
I also have a race shuttle racing car trailer that will carry bikes fully enclosed, if you need a bike delivering to a shipping agent and will cover my reasonable costs. I can also help with that as well !

Thanks that would be a big help.
Where exactly did you stay in Famagusta?
Lovely area especially during the summer.

LiquidLAN "If its going to cost you 2,000 euros regardless of how old the bike is, you might as well buy a new bike. Whatever you do, you should make your money back when you come to resell"

I am actually thinking of buying new now but i have to check to be sure because i believe when buying new there is extra taxation apart from the one based on the engine capacity.

P.S. In order to pm someone here you have to be a subscriber?

 

[kokkios]

ok people. i found this bike here
http://www.buysellmoto.com/layouts/index.php?view=5&mot_id=2825&wlan=en

It was imported in Cyprus 4 months ago from an Oxford dealer but seller claims to be selling because he is left now without a job. Its clearly at least 2007 and not a 2008. Aparently no ABS. It was imported with 4500 miles which seems kind of low for a two year bike but it is possible i guess. What do you guys think?

Does anybody here work or have access to a BMW system that can track and forward the history of this bike if a give him the VIN number?

 

[Pathologic]

HPI check

Hi Kokkios,

It looks very new and has some nice additional features. If the seller is prepared to give you the UK registration number (if it ever had one) you could do a HPI check. This might pull up some history. The website is here. This is the cheapest on the net and someone might be along with a better site. Note that this site does not check for outstanding finance.

Best of luck. This looks like a simpler option on the face of it.

Regards,


Path.

 

[Littledumptruck]

It was imported with 4500 miles which seems kind of low for a two year bike but it is possible i guess. What do you guys think?

Wouldn't worry too much about the mileage. There's a hell of a lot of Garage ornaments kept by wannabe bikers that only cover a few miles a year. I bought my other half a 1990 Virago last year that only has 4000miles, lots of MOT's that only show a few miles extra year after year.

 

[Mrs C]

Does anybody here work or have access to a BMW system that can track and forward the history of this bike if a give him the VIN number?

As it happens, yes

Rather than post your VIN on a public forum, if you email me on sharon AT bahnstormer.co.uk (replacing AT with @ obviously, just trying to avoid some spam!) I will send you the info.

 

[kokkios]

A big thanks

As it happens, yes

Rather than post your VIN on a public forum, if you email me on sharon AT bahnstormer.co.uk (replacing AT with @ obviously, just trying to avoid some spam!) I will send you the info.

Thats great Mrs C
That would be hugely helpfull. I will go this weekend to see the bike and get the VIN number as well. I cant thank you enough. I take it you work there? If that is so, maybe we can do business in case i decide to import from the UK since Bahnstormer is getting good reviews anyway

 

[Leasouth]

Hi Kokkios.
Sorry, I had a MS update issue and no pc for a day

I lived in Zenon Street from 71 to 72 and Bach Street until 74, both just off Kennedy Avenue. I was a civilian and worked at Ayios Nikolaos 4 mile point
Just shout or PM if you want help.

 

[kokkios]

Hi Kokkios.
Sorry, I had a MS update issue and no pc for a day

I lived in Zenon Street from 71 to 72 and Bach Street until 74, both just off Kennedy Avenue. I was a civilian and worked at Ayios Nikolaos 4 mile point
Just shout or PM if you want help.

Great thanks

 

[kokkios]

I have another question that just came to me

Someone here said that VAT is going up 2.5% in the UK from January onwards.

Does this influence the used bikes price also?

I mean the government already collected VAT when thw bike was first registered. It seems logical that VAT does not apply to used bikes

Can anyone explain?

 

[Bahnstormer]

Qualifying and Non Qualifying Used Bikes

Hi Kokkios

There are two types of used bikes, the majority come under the non qualifying banner, which means that the VAT was paid at point of sale and never reclaimed, which is the case for almost all private sales / purchases.

Qualifying bikes are those for which the VAT has been reclaimed (by a VAT registered company / person) and would attract VAT at time of resale. However, unless the price clearly states ex VAT you can safely assume there is no VAT to pay.

Regards
PD

 

[karlp]

Hi Kokkios

There are two types of used bikes, the majority come under the non qualifying banner, which means that the VAT was paid at point of sale and never reclaimed, which is the case for almost all private sales / purchases.

Qualifying bikes are those for which the VAT has been reclaimed (by a VAT registered company / person) and would attract VAT at time of resale. However, unless the price clearly states ex VAT you can safely assume there is no VAT to pay.

Regards
PD

This may be true for used bikes bought privately but my understanding is that VAT is paid on the profit made by a dealer on selling a used bike - maybe you can confirm