The result of the 2016 Brexit vote was always going to impact freedom of movement for both people and goods, so it wasn’t surprising that problems began to emerge when British riders tried to take their bikes into the European mainland. This has been especially prevalent if they weren’t travelling with them and had instead sent the bike ahead with a third party, for example to fly out and meet it in Geneva as we did with the Northants-based Bikeshuttle which has unfortunately gone under.
The decision to leave the EU has effectively returned things to a long-forgotten time of customs regimes and carnets, (which at least means the travel adventure begins on the first border!) but the problem is lack of clarity on exactly what the position is. For the last few years there have been multiple answers to questions about transporting bikes into the EU depending on who you asked.
Thankfully the National Motorcyclists Council (and particularly Overland friend Craig Carey-Clinch) has been working to get UK and EU authorities to agree on the rules for all scenarios and make sure that border officials know what those rules are!
There are things that riders need to know if they are transporting their bikes, so the NMC has prepared a guidance document, aimed at preventing problems and offering sensible practical advice for entering the EU from the UK with a bike, or sending it ahead, even if it’s with a mate in his campervan.
You can download the info directly from the NMC here