Importing Foreign-Made Bikes Bought OVerseas

IwakuniDiver · 06-27-2007, 11:59 PM

Hey everyone,
I have a 1988 Honda VFR400R that I want to bring back to the states from Japan when I finally do decide to go back. Probably by then I will have purchased a few more bikes to bring back as well.

Has anyone ever done it? I know of a few Marines here that TMO'd them but since they left, I wasn't able to get back in contact with them to see how the process went.

Just wanting to know what I can expect.
Scott

rekab_tx · 06-29-2007, 04:55 AM

I am not sure what it is like for japanese-spec bikes, but I know that it is rarely done with German/Japanese spec cars. From what I understand it can be done, but at a very heavy price (otherwise I would be on the hunt for a Alpina BMW 850 to take home with me

) I will walk down the hall and see what the TMO has to say about it, at least from the German side of things. But I would expect that you would need to be prepared to shell out some serious $$$ and enter paperwork hell

rekab_tx · 06-29-2007, 07:57 AM

Ok here is what I got.
Non conforming vehicles have to be shipped directly to a conversion company, it can be done with Cars/Trucks using your government entitlement, still not sure if this is the same with a bike, I don't
see why it wouldn't be off hand. Now I *think* the cost of the conversion comes out of your pocket, but that price should be much less for a bike in comparison to a car...I know in the case with my beloved Alpina that the cost to convert it would almost exceed the worth of the car... Now if you were looking to keep the current specs on your bike, that is a whole different can of worms.

IwakuniDiver · 06-29-2007, 09:37 AM

thanks for the response rekab. I know all about sending cars back to the us simply because every 19 year old jackass from the states that's seen 2F2F wants to bring a Skyline back and one of my close friends owned a car dealership. Naturally everyone came to me for advice.

For bikes, I do know that the speedo has to be changed to mph, the headlight must be hard-wired to come on with the ignition and it must pass emissions. All that stuff is pretty straight forward. What I am wondering about is customs, will they simply let the bike go through with some kind of waiver? Will I have to bond it? Will I have to pay taxes on it? That kind of thing.

Scott

rekab_tx · 06-29-2007, 12:57 PM

lol, I was going to bring up the Skyline. I will send up an RFI to TMO about what actually happens once you ship your bike off to the conversion company. My guess is that they will make the mods to meet US spec (probably want to do what you know needs to be done yourself and save some cash) and take care of the paperwork for a fee. Big thing to come out of that is a permanent label on your bike that says is complies with US specifications. Then you will get to deal with customs. Expect to pay a fee for every damn piece of paper you sign there. Then hopefully bike will ship to the US where you will have to go through the whole customs BS again (to include a lengthy inspection), and shell out even more money.

From what I understand, one requirement for the import of a nonconforming vehicle is that a bond in an amount equivalent to 150% (!) of the declared value of the vehicle must be given to U.S. Customs at the time of importation to ensure that the necessary modifications are completed within 120 days of entry. Ouch. You might want to see if you can find a list of registered importers from the TMO on your end and make a few phone calls to get specifics on the paperwork and prices of what all this is going to cost, both in taxes and in fee's.

That pretty much exhausts my very limited knowledge on the subject until Monday. Its beer-30 here in Germany and I am falling behind the power curve!

fordfreek · 07-05-2007, 07:50 AM

If I remember, you have to have a RI(Registered Importer) do all the conversion and not all of them do bikes. I would call one up that does bikes and talk to them. That is what I did, but the car cost $2000 and the fees to make it legit was around $15,000!! Now I just have to wait till it is 25 years old!! LOL
Also, check this site for info and to see if someone else has already brought your same bike into the states. That make a difference on the cost. Check the last one for a list of "approved RI's.
http://www.importexporthelp.com/importing-cars.htm
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/

Good Luck