Helpinformation needed about a high-priced numberplate (on an A10 in GB)

[twintom]

Hello, i am Tom from Germany.

In british advertises about classic bikes sometimes
it contains a reference to the expensive number plates.
In Germany you don`t need the original papers and no number
plate from the country you imported from.
You only will need a bill of sale and a document
from the german government enterprise that the vehicle is not stolen
and than you will get german papers and a numberplate here.
I want to buy an BSA A10 in England. It has an expensive number plate.
Is this a way to get the bike lower priced if i propose to the seller that i don`t need the number plate ?
Or is it better i sell the number plate by my self?
I look for a far-sighted person with a little help for me what i should do?

With the author's compliments

cheers

Tom
 
 

[LJ.]

Phew!... This is complicated enough for us in the UK without the extra complication between different countrys!

Basically it depends on who wants the number plate. I would think that it would be better for you if the seller reduces the bike price and sells the number himself. I would also think you may have a much more difficult problem if you bought the bike and tried to sell the number back to the UK from Germany. I think there maybe export difficulties in this situation... Hopefully someone else may give better and fuller information than I can give. phew!

[stratcat]

I would agree with LJ.
Get the guy to drop the price and buy without the reg number .The bike will be allocated another reg no anyway, a non transferable one, not that that is any use to you in Germany. It may take longer to buy the bike as he would have to go through the DVLA (our registration people) and that could take time.

Rob

[groily]

Agree with both LJ and stratcat.
Getting the seller to sell a transferable plate and reduce the price for the bike would be much better. Also it would prove whether the seller's often inflated view of the value of the registration number was correct! However, sellers aren't always keen on doing this. I have tried twice, but in the end all that has happened was I got the price reduced - a bit - and the same number - which would then have been given back to DVLA in the UK by the French authorities following registration here. With non-transferable UK numbers, obviously there is no option but to lose them as stratcat implies. I have not thought of trying to resell a UK plate from France, as here we do need the original plate and documents for simple re-registration. Although I am sure there are ways round it if one has no documentation for a machine, I haven't wanted to go there. Once re-registered, the UK V5C and the plate are lost - and therefore not mine to sell. That's the downside - the upside is that if one does have the paperwork, a motorcycle can be registered in the collectors' vehicle category without any further inspection or checks being required.

[Lannis]

I just bought an A10 in England and (after riding it around a few thousand miles on holiday on the Isle of Man, Derbyshire, Yorkshire, etc) had it shipped home here to the USA.

It had an original registration number on it.  The fellow who was helping me with the sale had a go with some of these outfits that will advertise that you can get "hundreds of pounds" for old registration numbers, but we never heard a thing back from any of them, so I figured it was just a scam.

I haven't transferred the "title" for the machine over to me yet, so I assume that if someone wanted it, it would still be salable in the UK, but it seems a lot of trouble to go to.

I really like the big aluminum embossed number, and the front fender number too; I'll probably just carry my US license plate in the pannier and show it to any policeman who might stop me.  Their reaction is normally "Wow, cool bike!"

Lannis

[LJ.]

Hi Lannis... Great of you to join us here and hope you enjoy your new A10! I'm supprised that you only need to carry your U.S type licence plate with you on your bike and not have to display it at all. Simply would not do here.

Any way keep us posted on your tours and the what like.

Cheers
LJ.

[Lannis]

Hi Lannis... Great of you to join us here and hope you enjoy your new A10! I'm supprised that you only need to carry your U.S type licence plate with you on your bike and not have to display it at all. Simply would not do here.

Any way keep us posted on your tours and the what like.

Cheers
LJ.

LJ -

Well, the written law is that you have to display it. 

However, my experience over the last 30 years of riding old bikes is that if there IS some reason for the bronze to stop you, they are normally so interested in your old bike that they don't even notice things like license plates.  There are just so few old bikes on the road, and the riders are generally harmless and riding very gently in proper gear ....

Lannis