ElectricMotorcycleForum.com
Makes And Models => Zero Motorcycles Forum | 2013+ => Topic started by: domingo3 on February 09, 2021, 11:40:08 PM
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Asking on the odd chance someone may have info. There's a chance I'll be moving to Germany for a US government job. Would I have any issues with getting service there? More importantly, would it be a problem to trade in a US origin bike if I wanted to upgrade after I'm there, or would I be stuck trying to find an American buyer? I'm extremely happy with my 2018 FXS and currently intend to ride it until the wheels fall off, but who knows how my mind might change in a new location. I'm pretty cheap, so wouldn't want to sell my bike here and buy a new one there unless there were compelling reasons. P.S. I don't even have a job offer yet, but I'm hopeful.
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I don't know the import rules, but there are some intentional loopholes if you're military.
The FX will charge fine on EU mains, and as long as you haven't changed anything in the lighting systems should be fine to be registered there.
-Crissa
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For service there is Zero headquarters in the Netherlands that are the backup in case your local zero dealer can't work it out. My SRF was picked up to go from Belgium to Netherlands when it had the insulation errors.
Charge tank equipped and SRF and SRS models use a different connector EU vs USA. The computer style 3 prong connector in the frame is the same. Not sure about 110V vs 220V voltage, if that just works or not.
Import depends on the rules in Germany. In Belgium its doable if it has at least 6.000 km on ODO. If not you pay tax (again) cause it's handled as new.
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Thank you for the info!
For service there is Zero headquarters in the Netherlands that are the backup in case your local zero dealer can't work it out. My SRF was picked up to go from Belgium to Netherlands when it had the insulation errors.
Charge tank equipped and SRF and SRS models use a different connector EU vs USA. The computer style 3 prong connector in the frame is the same. Not sure about 110V vs 220V voltage, if that just works or not.
Import depends on the rules in Germany. In Belgium its doable if it has at least 6.000 km on ODO. If not you pay tax (again) cause it's handled as new.
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Before the technical issues you need to research the legal ones.
I'm not familiar with the details, but depending on your status in Germany and the length of the relocation, you may be able to keep the bike as US-registered, without officially importing it into Germany. I know US servicepeople stationed in Germany commonly do this, not sure about other cases.
I'm not sure if you're .mil, but this may be helpful:
https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/military-installation/usag-bavaria/transportation/motor-vehicles (https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/military-installation/usag-bavaria/transportation/motor-vehicles)
Without special status, foreign citizens can drive a foreign-registered vehicle in Germany up to 6 months (intended for tourists, and may not apply in other cases).
If it does need to be registered in Germany, it'll most likely need to be formally homologated in Germany, which may or may not need various HW/SW changes, depending on what the differences are between US & EU models (Zero would be the source for that info); also, the bike will likely need to pass the tough TÜV inspection.
It's also possible, if the homologation requires non-minor HW changes, that bringing the bike back to the US afterwards will require undoing the changes and re-homologating it for the US.
I also expect, that if the bike isn't homologated & registered in Germany, selling it to a local citizen gets complicated, and requires both that person paying various import taxes on it, getting it homologated, and lots of extra paperwork.
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Thank you
Before the technical issues you need to research the legal ones.
I'm not familiar with the details, but depending on your status in Germany and the length of the relocation, you may be able to keep the bike as US-registered, without officially importing it into Germany. I know US servicepeople stationed in Germany commonly do this, not sure about other cases.
I'm not sure if you're .mil, but this may be helpful:
https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/military-installation/usag-bavaria/transportation/motor-vehicles (https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/military-installation/usag-bavaria/transportation/motor-vehicles)
Without special status, foreign citizens can drive a foreign-registered vehicle in Germany up to 6 months (intended for tourists, and may not apply in other cases).
If it does need to be registered in Germany, it'll most likely need to be formally homologated in Germany, which may or may not need various HW/SW changes, depending on what the differences are between US & EU models (Zero would be the source for that info); also, the bike will likely need to pass the tough TÜV inspection.
It's also possible, if the homologation requires non-minor HW changes, that bringing the bike back to the US afterwards will require undoing the changes and re-homologating it for the US.
I also expect, that if the bike isn't homologated & registered in Germany, selling it to a local citizen gets complicated, and requires both that person paying various import taxes on it, getting it homologated, and lots of extra paperwork.
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Back in 2006 I shipped a bike from California to EU. It wasn't expensive to freight it from Los Angeles (~$500), but it was quite a hustle to pick it up since it went to one of the crappier EU member countries. Long story short, it wasn't a huge problem to ride around Europe with a California-registered bike. The two issues that I ran into were finding an insurance company that would issue an insurance for a foreign vehicle, and crossing some borders (this predates Schengen expansion) with a US registration due to... date being backwards. At one point I got detained at Estonia border and missed a ferry to Finland while they were trying to contact US embassy to figure out if my registration is valid. Another experience relevant to the question here, I went to a festival in Germany on that bike and ran into a police checkpoint near the entrance checking for impaired drivers - they were perfectly satisfied with my California driver's license and I think didn't even check the registration despite seeing US number plate.