Warning: Septic infection impending

You have at least 2 months to prepare. Stick an ale in the fridge,
hide the babes, oil and sand the roads if you must. A Yank is on his
way.
Yesterday I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a motorcycle halfway
round the world, sight unseen. It's a '08 BMW R1200GS (I know, hack,
ptooie, a BMW) stored in Heidelberg. I'll fly over around May Day to
pick it up and take a little cruise around the Continent. I figure to
hit the Isles by the time the sun comes out. (I'm practicing my
boorish behavior, just for you guys.) And don't be surprised to see a
bike on the right side of the road, OK?

 

you might find these GPS POIs helpful
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84453

 

erm, I meant to say RIGHT side of the road. I think it's a language
problem.

 

Ta, although the seller claims the bike has every farkle imaginable,
including shop locs.

 

LOL

 

Thanks, Mark. This is a California bike, with California plates, and
if it's all the seller claims, ridiculously cheap. After my trip, I
can either store it there or ship it home. We'll see.

 

RT, not GS.

 

Uh-oh. Hope he doesn't want paying via Western Union...

Heidelberg *might* be military but it wouldn't be on Cali plates
unless he's just had it shipped over. They're using less conspicuous
plates if you're US military over there and it's your private vehicle.

 

No, it's at Knopftours. There are pics and a description on the
website - knopftours.com. Stefan Knopf has a good reputation among
tourers. The seller is local to me. We met in person in San Diego and
did the transfer yesterday. The seller did me a huge favor, saving me
the hassle of flying it over. He flew it over a year or two ago, did
one tour from Germany to Greece and back and left it there.

 

Ah, OK. Makes sense if you put it that way. Heidelberg is a pretty good
place to start. And if you're interested in a museum full of interesting
contraptions (including IIRC one Concorde), the Auto+Technik Museum in
Sinsheim is less than an hour away.

 

If it's been in Europe for that length of time it'll need to be
registered properly by now before you can use it with a degree of
legality. You might find it impounded if you get pulled somewhere along
your trip.

 

I've just come from the AAA. California wants $1374 frickin dollars to
register it! Sales tax, road tax, penalties for lapsed reg ($195), a
dollar here, a dollar there, 15 separate fees! AAAARGH!

hmmm. So where can I register it on the cheap? I think I'm screwed.
Besides needing a street address, I think any other jurisdiction will
want to look at it first to verify the VIN. IIRC, besides the import
duties, Germany doesn't allow much in the way of aftermarket add-ons
for the TUV inspection.

 

can't you just pay a few $ to get it registered in Mexico?

EU/Swiss authorities won't give a toss as long as you have a valid
registration document, insurance and a credit card for the fines.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ has lots of useful info inc. links to
insurers for foreign registered bikes.

 

<slaps forehead>
Of course. Pay a few bucks and you can do _anything_ in Mexico.

 

Surely the world will have ended by then?

 

Heh. California tried to garnish my wife's wages for supposedly lapsed
registration and back registration fees for a car that had been
registered outside California for at least three years at that
point. Strangely enough, the backpedalled rather quickly when they got a
faxed copy of the Nevada title for it.

The practise of having to pay sales tax on a private vehicle sale is
also a tad annoying, isn't it?

I think you're better off keeping the bike registered in California. The
only issue will be that if someone notices that the bike has been in
Germany for longer than a year without moving out of the country, they
might feel compelled to make you officially import it into
Germany. Otherwise it's a bit of a grey area - this was a big loophole
for people self-importing cars from the US who had a US address a while
back. Keep an address in the US, take the car to Germany,
"export/import" it via another EU country at least once a year and you
could keep your vaguely legal US reg. Don't know if they closed that
loophole as it's essentially a tax dodge and they don't like that (car
tax is by displacement in Germany; paying taxes on a 5l V8 without any
sort of emissions classification falls into the "I bought road legal
cars for less" category).

Oh, and regarding TÜV & accessories - if you don't have an ABE form for
the accessories that show you've got on the bike, you get to unbolt all
of them. Plus you potentially need a Certificate of Conformity from BMW
and I don't know how easy that is to get. Plus potentially a new speedo
etc etc.

 

I can provide interim storage between owners, if you like

 

Hmmm. I'm starting to think this could be a real money-making deal.