Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
berin
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Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by berin »

Has anyone tried recently to take a van with their own and some friends bikes from the UK to Spain and on into Portugal.

There was a lot of talk earlier in the year about having to get carnet’s and paying duty and such, so I wondered if anyone has real life experience


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Mickdb1
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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by Mickdb1 »

Me and me mate john took both our bikes on tunnel to france then spain.
Took all documents of course for the 3 vehicles. No one asked for anything else and folks on both sides had a look in the back as we went though customs/immigration
This was last september = well last september you could go before covid. like 2018.
If you have concerns ask gov.com or maybe frenchcheese/winegov.com
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You grow old when you pack up biking
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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by daveuprite »

Mickdb1 wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 7:02 pm
This was last september = well last september you could go before covid. like 2018.
It's got little to do with covid. That travel crisis will pass. It's got everything to do with brexit. Last September you could still do whatever you wanted as a member of the EU. Import/export/buy/sell across the border/s. Since January that's all changed, as we all know.

Re. the carnet situation, it particularly applies to UK race competitors taking bikes to EU circuits for races. The carnet acts as a deposit guarantor scheme to make sure you don't sell the bike in the EU country. The ACU are very concerned about it indeed. The deposit is hefty, it's multiplied by the number of bikes being transported, and it's paperwork-heavy - as is everything post-brexit. Privateer racers or lowly funded teams can not afford it and have largely pulled out of international competition.

As far as I know, a van with a couple of road bikes inside with V5s corresponding to the passengers, being transported just to avoid road miles for a touring holiday, should be fine. But as with all things brexity, make your own checks first - it's all up in the air.
moto al
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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by moto al »

HI IM am a great advocate of company called euro biketrans ,they offer a great service at a reasonable cost. iv used them a few times. ask for TONY a good guy ,also a fellow biker .AL
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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by Snaf MKII »

If you're carrying third party goods above the duty free limit you will need a carnet or have to pay duty. I'm not sure what the score is with vehicles accompanied by the registered owners if transported by van.

To be clear I've not done this since brexit but had to do it pre '97 or when ever it was in the past when transporting vehicles to events and believe that we have gone back to those rules.
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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by moto al »

IMG_E1781.JPG
IMG_E1781.JPG (81.88 KiB) Viewed 5293 times
once again my bike being transported , sadly due to covid and shite politics , things have changed . so sad.....
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berin
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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by berin »

Mickdb1 wrote:Me and me mate john took both our bikes on tunnel to france then spain.
Took all documents of course for the 3 vehicles. No one asked for anything else and folks on both sides had a look in the back as we went though customs/immigration
This was last september = well last september you could go before covid. like 2018.
If you have concerns ask gov.com or maybe frenchcheese/winegov.com
Yes, thanks, done it several times pre Covid and pre Brexit, no problem.

It was post Brexit experience I was after


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berin
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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by berin »

Snaf MKII wrote:If you're carrying third party goods above the duty free limit you will need a carnet or have to pay duty. I'm not sure what the score is with vehicles accompanied by the registered owners if transported by van.

To be clear I've not done this since brexit but had to do it pre '97 or when ever it was in the past when transporting vehicles to events and believe that we have gone back to those rules.
Some of the owners will be in the van, but not all. But it’s not a commercial arrangement, just mates on holiday, they are road registered bikes so no ACU sponsored carnet available and CDP doesn’t apply in Europe.

Like Davuprite said, it’s Brexit is the particular issue here, not Covid.


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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by Richard Simpson Mark II »

It's all part of 'project fear' from the Remoaners.
Just fix the French Dounniers with your steely British eye, remind them that the blood of Farage and Rees-Mogg courses through your English veins, and they better jolly well remember what happened in 1940.
They will crumble, and let you pass.



Or, there again....they might not.

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Re: Transporting bikes to Europe in a Van

Post by Snaf MKII »

berin wrote: Wed Jun 09, 2021 9:51 pm
Snaf MKII wrote:If you're carrying third party goods above the duty free limit you will need a carnet or have to pay duty. I'm not sure what the score is with vehicles accompanied by the registered owners if transported by van.

To be clear I've not done this since brexit but had to do it pre '97 or when ever it was in the past when transporting vehicles to events and believe that we have gone back to those rules.
Some of the owners will be in the van, but not all. But it’s not a commercial arrangement, just mates on holiday, they are road registered bikes so no ACU sponsored carnet available and CDP doesn’t apply in Europe.

Like Davuprite said, it’s Brexit is the particular issue here, not Covid.


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Did I mention covid? I assume you're correctly referring to someone else's post.
Commercial or not your transporting goods across a customs border that don't belong to you, you could argue that they are for your personal use but there's a risk.
There is very little information from Gov.uk on this for private individuals and my experience is from decades ago and mostly business/motorsport use where the RAC provided a carnet service. However there were instances where for expediency we shipped third party goods all over Europe and the world in peoples hand luggage declaring they were personal use, every time I did it I went through the "something to declare" channel and only once had to pay duty.

Like you I'd like to hear from someone who's done it this year.
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