Import - if I buy a scooter in Italy...

[badfelafel]

If I happened to be in Italy,... and happened to buy a nice Vespa there... and happened to bring it back...

what would I need to do to be legal in the UK?

How long could I ride it on Italian plates before I had to do anything?

Would love to know!!

Cheers all

[sirscootalot]

hmm me thinks a plan is being hatched

[badfelafel]

the most cunning plan ever hatched by a baldrick...

involves an van (italian of course), lots of driving, and italy being 200kg lighter by 1 vespa whilst the uk becomes 200kg heavier...

[badfelafel]

.... of course, if i had any style, it wouldnt involve a van at all, just one very long scooter ride!

[afscmik]

You would need to convert it to right hand drive :-)

[badfelafel]

actually thats an interesting point - does the light on 'continental' scooters point to the side like car lights do, meaning i'd need to adjust it?

[Spence]

You'll be lucky if the light on a continental scooter's strong enough to reach either kerb mate.

No, they are just dipped or full beam.

You could get away with riding a bike on foreign plates indefinitely, that is until you get stopped and asked to provide documents for it. Or have an accident and realise you're uninsured. Then you might just end up in court, and you're definitely going to have to register it with the DVLA as an import on top of your fine.

There might be a way round this however. If you buy a really old scooter, say pre-72 for example, you could say to the DVLA that it was a barn find, that it's been in the UK gathering dust in a shed for 30 odd years but never appears to have been registered. You might, and I say might, then get away with not registering it as an import. You'll just have to get it dated using the frame number, insured and MOTd, then you can be issued with a new registration by the DVLA.

[jaz]

I don't think it's much of a problem to register it here if the scooter is over 10 years old. Anyway, all the info you need should be here.

[badfelafel]

... and got to admit... how cool would it be to be riding a vespa with italian plates

[skrappey]

The headlights will be left hand drive, You need to get an English spec one fitted. The MOT will pick it up and you will fail. Be careful buying though, some shops may not know the difference, specify what you want and any shop worth it's salt will sort you out. I've had this problem buying from England so be wary.
I borrowed one from my other Vespa and replaced it once the test was done, never caused a problem.

[freespirit]

Ahhh
this is  wee old topic but as I've just joined and it was this topic I keyed into google I'm just adding a note ..
lim looking to do same ..
that is if I can get over my anger at piaggio for the disgraceful way they dealt with my last dodgy Px..lol 
but as the Px will soon be no more I'm tempted 
ps on the lights thing I think the technical and Legal phrasing is " British " not English lol ??

[ianmartin40]

while on holiday in Italy I looked at scooter prices and they were similar to prices here, and the classic scooters were expensive as they are sought after now as so many have been exported out the country.
There was some rule that if a vehicle had been off the road for more than a couple of years it was difficult to re-instate it so they were sold as spares only, I think it was to encourage the Italian public to buy new scooters as they were cleaner to run and it supported their industry and economy.
Years ago the streets of the big Italian cities were littered with old scooters chained to lamp posts etc for years, they got ticketed and if the fine was not paid the scooter got lifted by local council and sold at auction as spares only.

Remember all those tatty Italian imports that came over here 15 to 20 years ago at rock bottom prices all in need of restoration, some even still had the huge wind shields still fitted?

[henri]

ten years ago italian scoots could be got for scrap value in italy , the "5 years off-road n needs re-registering " rule an the very stringent got to be perfectly stock to be a "classic" vehicle made em worthless . use to see pk's abandoned in hedges an used as communal transport in villages.then italians wised up that there junk was gold-dust to english idiots an made out like bandits . i stopped cruising italian e-bay about 5 years ago as prices made it useless . H

[italianige]

Coincidently, i happen to live in Italy.
Ive just exported a lammy to the Uk for my brother in law. I think it went something like this....

1. Find the desired vespa/lambretta.
2. When purchasing - obtain some form of hand written receipt as proof of purchase. To clear borders as may pass through Italy, switzerland, germany and france before arriving in UK.
3. On arrival in UK obtain dating cert with VIN number from VCoB.
4. Obtain new doc's from DVLA who will register for you.

I'd have to check but think the procedure was fairly easy.

Generally, prices in Italy on ebay and classifieds are the same or more than UK prices when the seller realises what they are selling. On the other hand there are still bargains and barn finds that pop up at great prices but you have to quick.
Recently saw a lammy sx200 in decent condition for €1400 - genuine ad but someone beat me to it.
Likewise, there are scammers so as a rule if its to good to be true then its probably a scam.

[henri]

yep , theres still bargains ,but ya need to be on the ground lookin in sheds n barns yaself . by time its listed its export values known mostly ,thats the reason its been dragged back into the light . H

[busysod]

I’m bumping up this thread as the topic is still importing from Italy only it’s about spares rather than the finished article. I have been buying Vespa parts for a while now on www.subito.it which is basically an Italian Gumtree of some sort, I solved the problem for those who won’t post items to the UK by using a parcel forwarding service (www.sourcingitaly.com), the problem I often encounter now is that 90% of Italian sellers only accept PostePay top ups as means of payment, it’s basically a debit card which so many use to pay one another. Do we have here in the UK some similar card I can use to top up their cards? Or does it have to be of the same circuit? Hope I made sense. Thanks.