Advice on importing.

[bowser]

in a word NO.

 

you must have some sort of plate, export from country of origin, you can drive on them, but as I say have the documentation with you if stopped by old bill.

But you cannot drive a completely unregistered/unplated (by that I mean index plates) vehicle on the public highway, without trade plates, unless to or from an inspection, an mot or other examination, or for work to be done on it and that must be booked in advance, and you can not drive half way across the country to get to one.

 

I don't doubt that people do it, and get away with it, but if you do you are leaving yourself open to getting it seized.

 

lennyhb - 2014-09-01 8:56 PM

 

bowser - 2014-09-01 8:09 PM

 

I would advice anyone buying from abroad and bringing the vehicle in themselves, to get all the paperwork needed and carry it with you, to show your intention to register, by that I mean all the registration forms etc all filled in ready to go.

Its actually against the law for any UK resident to drive any foreign registered vehicle on uk roads, if you are importing and have insurance issued from a UK MID registered company insured on the VIN number and you have paperwork to show that you are intending to register you should avoid issues, just remember that once its in the uk you cannot use it on or keep it on a public highway, the exceptions being to or from inspections or work required to make it comply with uk regulations.

 

Yes, but if buying new it will not be a foreign registered vehicle and technicaly to comply with the law you should drive it back from the port without number plates.

[Guest JudgeMental]

lennyhb - 2014-09-01 1:42 PM

 

JudgeMental - 2014-09-01 12:33 PM

 

Get dealer to take photo of speedo with lights on..send to Lockwood and they should be able to replicate.

 

No don't do it that way my dealer took a photo of a van in the showroom it was different to the one on my van.

 

Obviously they have to take picture from your particular van speedo when it arrives. Called Lockwood, they don't have facelift speedo yet. They need to get hold of one to scan, this could delay registration a bit more if you had to send your own,....

 

Bowser seems to have some alarmist ideas, take a chill pill mon......Export plates with 3rd party insurance, cover European side. Once on UK soil you can drive an import vehicle from port (and I have done this many times) without plates, As long as insured on VIN. You're also allowed to drive it to a test station, covering journeys for VCA or MOT etc...obviously you will have insurance cover note etc...with you, would be pretty daft otherwise. Presumably you will have somewhere to keep motorhome off the road .....

 

Need to check if your insurance co will give 30 days cover, some don't, some only 14 days. you need 30 days because changes at DVLA, involving needing to do everything by post now a delaying factor.

[Derek Uzzell]

Advice on vehicle Importing is here

 

https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk

 

Bowser’s advice is correct - for as long as I can remember it has been illegal to drive an imported vehicle on UK roads prior to it being UK-registered and the DVLA has always advised importers to transport an imported vehicle from the port to its UK destination rather than drive it.

 

Never mind alarmism and chill pills, ‘private’ motorhome importers driving from port to home prior to the vehicle being UK-registered are failing to comply with UK law. Whether the motorhome carries temporary foreign plates or no plates is irrelevant - the law is still being flouted.

 

I guess it’s legal for a UK registered motor trader (eg Bundesvan) to fetch a motorhome from abroad and drive it back on trade-plates, but I’m very wary of a vehicle bought abroad by a private individual being legal to drive on the foreign vendor’s trade-plates. I’ve read about classic vehicles being imported using the latter ploy (as well as motorhomes) but I’m far from convinced that it’s legal as far as UK law is concerned.

 

I’ve discussed the speedometer issue off-forum with Brian Kirby as, if I do buy another motorhome, it will almost certainly be X290-based. The X290 dashboard-display closely resembles that of an X250 but the speedometer scale differs as I mentioned above, as do the icons. The assumption has repeatedly been made in this thread that it would be simple to modify the speedometer dial if Lockwood produced a mph/kmh replacement. This may well be true or it may not.

 

In the mid-2000s Ford changed the Transit’s instrument-cluster design preventing access to the speedometer face. Before the change a Lockwood mph/kmh ‘overlay’ could be fitted to allow an imported LHD Transit to comply with UK-registration requirements: after the change the only acceptable option was to swap the original instrument-cluster in its entirety for the RHD type. In 2005, when I imported my Transit-based Hobby, it was almost unknown for imported motorhomes to be inspected for UK technical compliance, so I never changed the instrument-cluster nor the original right-dipping headlamps. But the rules have tightened up since then and, if I import now, I know I’ll need to comply.

 

It’s easy to be dismissive about risk, but choosing to buy a motorhome abroad and importing it oneself is a riskier and more complex process than buying a motorhome in the UK. The late Mel Eastburn used to provide expert advice on motorhome importing. His ‘working aid’ didn’t merely say “It’s simple, safe and the financial benefits are huge”, it was a several pages long document that presented the potential negatives (and there are plenty) as well as the potential positives.

[lennyhb]

Now you are being alarmist Derek, from the DVLA site "UK residents aren’t allowed to use non-UK registered vehicles on UK roads. " As said before we are not talking about registered vehicles but new ones and providing it is insured you can legally drive directly home.

 

Before I imported my last Motorhome I had never done anything like it before and have now imported a second one I have yet to find any negatives only positives.

 

 

It does now take around 30 days to register when it used to be 5 or 6, but when my mate picked up is Carthago from a UK dealer it took over 20 days, had to cancel his train as they couldn't get it registered in time for the hand over date.

[rupert123]

Derek Uzzell - 2014-09-02 9:45 AM

 

Advice on vehicle Importing is here

 

https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk

 

Bowser’s advice is correct - for as long as I can remember it has been illegal to drive an imported vehicle on UK roads prior to it being UK-registered and the DVLA has always advised importers to transport an imported vehicle from the port to its UK destination rather than drive it.

 

Never mind alarmism and chill pills, ‘private’ motorhome importers driving from port to home prior to the vehicle being UK-registered are failing to comply with UK law. Whether the motorhome carries temporary foreign plates or no plates is irrelevant - the law is still being flouted.

 

I guess it’s legal for a UK registered motor trader (eg Bundesvan) to fetch a motorhome from abroad and drive it back on trade-plates, but I’m very wary of a vehicle bought abroad by a private individual being legal to drive on the foreign vendor’s trade-plates. I’ve read about classic vehicles being imported using the latter ploy (as well as motorhomes) but I’m far from convinced that it’s legal as far as UK law is concerned.

 

I’ve discussed the speedometer issue off-forum with Brian Kirby as, if I do buy another motorhome, it will almost certainly be X290-based. The X290 dashboard-display closely resembles that of an X250 but the speedometer scale differs as I mentioned above, as do the icons. The assumption has repeatedly been made in this thread that it would be simple to modify the speedometer dial if Lockwood produced a mph/kmh replacement. This may well be true or it may not.

 

In the mid-2000s Ford changed the Transit’s instrument-cluster design preventing access to the speedometer face. Before the change a Lockwood mph/kmh ‘overlay’ could be fitted to allow an imported LHD Transit to comply with UK-registration requirements: after the change the only acceptable option was to swap the original instrument-cluster in its entirety for the RHD type. In 2005, when I imported my Transit-based Hobby, it was almost unknown for imported motorhomes to be inspected for UK technical compliance, so I never changed the instrument-cluster nor the original right-dipping headlamps. But the rules have tightened up since then and, if I import now, I know I’ll need to comply.

 

It’s easy to be dismissive about risk, but choosing to buy a motorhome abroad and importing it oneself is a riskier and more complex process than buying a motorhome in the UK. The late Mel Eastburn used to provide expert advice on motorhome importing. His ‘working aid’ didn’t merely say “It’s simple, safe and the financial benefits are huge”, it was a several pages long document that presented the potential negatives (and there are plenty) as well as the potential positives.

At last a sensible and factual post about importing. I had given up on this to the 'its easy just do and save thousands people', it just is not easy if you wish to do it in a legal and safe way, sure you can save a few pounds by taking the risks and people like Eddie who live in South east England have not got far to drive but I would not even think about it all the way to North Wales. When we bought vehicles from both Europe and Japan they were either on a free on board deal or collect from dealer. In both cases we would either trailer the vehicle from euro dealer or the port of entry, usually Liverpool. We had both trade plates and trade insurance, which covered in Europe and still better to trailer, when we fetched vehicles from Liverpool we had a specialist company to do this. Since we stopped, about two years ago it has become even worse, we were well known at our local DVLA office in Bangor and could usually sort any problems direct with them, doing it all by letter to Swansea, no thanks. By the time you have sorted it all out, costed your time, including trips to Europe and risks involved is it worth it, to me no.

[Guest JudgeMental]

Rubbish......They simply "advise" to get it transported from port. No where do they say that this illegal and vehicle can be seized. your fully and comprehensively insured on your VIN, you could not get insurance if this was the case (^)

 

So I stick with what I said..its alarmist, probably from someone who has not imported. what do i care, put up as many excuses as you need!lol Have done this many times, and if you want be continually ripped off on treasure island so be it....but please dont make a mountain out of a mole hill, as many old timers on here tend to do, bean counters spring to mind.

 

by the time anyone on here imports, Lockwood will probably have a X290 speedo, if not just send them yours to scan, your going to be delayed anyway by the good old UK DVLA. shame DVLA did not get the message that its requirement to register in 14 days either, some of you wil be putting that up as another hurdle next*-)

[Derek Uzzell]

lennyhb - 2014-09-02 10:02 AM

 

Now you are being alarmist Derek, from the DVLA site "UK residents aren’t allowed to use non-UK registered vehicles on UK roads. " As said before we are not talking about registered vehicles but new ones and providing it is insured you can legally drive directly home.

 

Before I imported my last Motorhome I had never done anything like it before and have now imported a second one I have yet to find any negatives only positives.

 

 

It does now take around 30 days to register when it used to be 5 or 6, but when my mate picked up is Carthago from a UK dealer it took over 20 days, had to cancel his train as they couldn't get it registered in time for the hand over date.

 

OK, then I suggest you contact the DVLA and ask them to confirm that, if you import a new motorhome from abroad and it is insured but not yet UK-registered, it will be 100% legal for you to drive it from a UK port to your home address.

 

I’ve still got Mel Eastburn’s advice documents that list the pros and cons of importing and, dare I say it, the potential cons should be self-evident. That you haven’t found any negatives with your two importing exercises doesn’t mean they aren’t inherent in the procedure.

 

I hesitate to say this, but by now you ought to be aware how obsessive I am about this sort of thing. When I brought my Hobby back into the UK in 2005 on temporary German plates I was well aware that driving it from Portsmouth to my home broke UK law. I thought the risk of me being ‘caught’ was minimal, but that didn’t alter the law-breaking factor. This, plus the insurance difficulties, are two reasons why I’ve no intention of choosing the drive-it-home importing method I used 9 years ago.

[Guest JudgeMental]

DVLA? that bunch of clowns...good luck with that. If its a new or nearly new vehicle not needing an MOT which does change the driving home aspect, even that you are allowed to do if you have a pre booked inspection.

 

You dont have to drive it back do you, get dealer to arrange, or a transport company. unnecessary in my view but your choice. I do resent the implication that I'm cavalier, i am far from it especially on financial matters...

[lennyhb]

Saving 12, 00 pounds may only be a few quid to Henry but to me it's a lot of cash and there are only minor risked being transporting it on the ferry or tunnel. If you are really worried about driving it home pay a few hundred quid to get it on a transporter sill thousands in pocket. I know someone who recently had a Carthago Liner transported back from the factory in Southern Germany £1500 door to door.

[rupert123]

lennyhb - 2014-09-02 12:17 PM

 

Saving 12, 00 pounds may only be a few quid to Henry but to me it's a lot of cash and there are only minor risked being transporting it on the ferry or tunnel. If you are really worried about driving it home pay a few hundred quid to get it on a transporter sill thousands in pocket. I know someone who recently had a Carthago Liner transported back from the factory in Southern Germany £1500 door to door.

Its a lot to me to Lenny but from a previous post of yours on here it would seem the savings you claim are not available on all makes. I have still yet to see anyone post a full accounting of the costs on here, only brief outlines and big claims for savings. Brian came closest and his figures did not convince when everything was taken into account. Have you or anyone else really worked it all out including all your travel costs and time spent trying to register the thing, money lost at resale time etc. It would appear from your posts that Hymer in Europe do good deals, perhaps they are having problems selling the things, who knows? Eddie seems to have purchased second hand so almost impossible to work this one out. You are convinced which is fine but I am not, especially with the hassle now involved, the DVLA may well be the idiots Eddie claims but you still have to deal with the idiots.

[Guest JudgeMental]

"Eddie seems to have purchased second hand so almost impossible to work this one out."

 

whats the precise problem H, please explain and maybe I can answer. We have always imported new, but this van was 10 months old, as new, a real good deal, exactly what I wanted (including fancy rack) so I went for it.

 

Saved a fair bit on an identical new van. Only went for this as cost to change minimal. My health was getting worse, risk of financial loss to high at the time if i needed to sell. As it I missed Spain in the spring waiting for ops. but stable now and can continue to use it for now....

 

accentuate the positive?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUmAbi0Vm4

[Derek Uzzell]

Focussing solely on the legailty of driving a new imported motorhome from the UK port-of-entry back to the importer’s home address or a place of storage, is this legal or not?

 

This seems to be a simple enough question to me and appears to be covered in the Introduction section of the DVLA’s INFO106 booklet

 

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_199220.pdf

 

"If you are going to use a vehicle on the public road it must be registered, taxed and insured. A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK. To avoid difficulties, we advise you to:

 

transport, rather than drive, your vehicle from the port to your home or its first destination, and

 

keep the vehicle off the road until it has been properly registered, taxed and insured.”

 

Obviously the legal issue can be sidestepped by transporting the motorhome from the port, but that’s not the point.

 

I’ve seen it suggested on another (non-motorhome) forum that removing an import’s foreign registation plates before driving it from the port is 'less illegal’ (Hmmm...), particularly if you have booked in advance any mandatory inspection/MOT test. I’ve no idea how one would arrange the latter with an LHD motorhome, and it seems to me that driving with no registration plates is much more likely to attract the attention of UK police than having ‘foreign’ plates on the vehicle.

 

I don’t know how many people drive unregistered motorhomes from a UK port, but I suspect it’s the majority of private importers. If anyone planning to do this is advised that the practice is legal and the adviser is just stating a well-meaning opinion, it would be wise for the facts to be established. If it transpires that the practice is illegal (as I’ve always understood it to be) then at least the importer will then be aware of this and can decide whether or not to do it.

[Guest JudgeMental]

its all about the interpretation, that would have to be tested in court, I'm sure a lawyer would tell you chances of a prosecution nil. Police have commented on import forums before now, while they have stopped have left them continue once they knew vehicle safe ( look on american import forums). and this on older vehicles with no MOT's long as they are being driven to a test station. in the unlikelihood that police stop you surely they are pretty pragmatic, unless you get a wrong un...

 

I still maintain the wording "ADVICE" covers this. It does not say "MUST" which is unquestionable in law, but is DVLA paperwork statute law..I think not!

 

advice

?d'v??s/Submit

noun

1.

guidance or recommendations offered with regard to prudent action.

"my advice is to see your doctor"

synonyms: guidance, advising, counselling, counsel, help, direction, instruction, information, enlightenment;

 

"A 'brand new' vehicle can be driven to GB and registered as 'new' provided the vehicle:

• is registered within two weeks of collection - this may be extended to one

calendar month at peak periods, eg before 1 March and 1 September

• only has reasonable delivery mileage - DVLA considers reasonable delivery

mileage to mean the vehicle being driven from the pick up point to home using

a direct route

• hasn’t been previously permanently registered

• has been stored before registration and is a current model or is a model that

has ceased production within the last two years

Advice to importers is to transport rather than drive vehicles from the port to the first

destination."

 

no where does it say illegal..Like I said earlier, surely your man concern should be if its insured. as i mentioned the 14 days statement not being practical the document is just that a document. if insurance company not worried and fully comp why should you....

 

you see pro drivers with trade plates hitching rides all over europe delivering vehicles. if it came to it or a more expensive trailer transport job..whatever. Will continue as I and many others always have until situation changes which is pretty unlikely.

[StuartO]

I note that DVLA "advise" you to transport rather than drive a freshly imported vehicle, rather than declare it to be illegal in a "must not " way, and as long as you are insured and the vehicle is bearing some plates which allow its owner/driver to be identified, I can't see a policeman getting terribly exited about the journey from the port to home, unless the situation (such as an accident ) forces scrupulous investigation. Rather like towing a car on an A Frame, they just aren't likely to be bothered.

 

I understand that to export from Germany you have to get (or the dealer get for you) a set of German "export plates" because in Germany the registration plate/number is personal to the individual owner, so plates don't stay on a vehicle once it's been sold. This is therefore necessary for new and used MHs being brought to UK unless of course they are being transported.

 

One-off transportation would probably be expensive and difficult to arrange, compared with bringing them in in batches by transporter, as HymerUK used to do.

 

On the subject of VAT if you buy a used MH abroad in the EU on which VAT has already been paid, presumably you don't have to pay VAT again on arrival into UK?

[Guest JudgeMental]

StuartO - 2014-09-02 2:48 PM

 

On the subject of VAT if you buy a used MH abroad in the EU on which VAT has already been paid, presumably you don't have to pay VAT again on arrival into UK?

 

as long as its 6 months old and covered 6000 miles. (to evidence this I just had to give HMRC dealers VAT number and it was sorted)

[lennyhb]

rupert123 - 2014-09-02 12:32 PM

 

lennyhb - 2014-09-02 12:17 PM

 

Saving 12, 00 pounds may only be a few quid to Henry but to me it's a lot of cash and there are only minor risked being transporting it on the ferry or tunnel. If you are really worried about driving it home pay a few hundred quid to get it on a transporter sill thousands in pocket. I know someone who recently had a Carthago Liner transported back from the factory in Southern Germany £1500 door to door.

Its a lot to me to Lenny but from a previous post of yours on here it would seem the savings you claim are not available on all makes. I have still yet to see anyone post a full accounting of the costs on here, only brief outlines and big claims for savings. Brian came closest and his figures did not convince when everything was taken into account. Have you or anyone else really worked it all out including all your travel costs and time spent trying to register the thing, money lost at resale time etc. It would appear from your posts that Hymer in Europe do good deals, perhaps they are having problems selling the things, who knows? Eddie seems to have purchased second hand so almost impossible to work this one out. You are convinced which is fine but I am not, especially with the hassle now involved, the DVLA may well be the idiots Eddie claims but you still have to deal with the idiots.

 

Correcting error should read £12,0000.

 

I have always said the biggest savings are on Hymer's and if you read my earlier post you would have seen me say basically not worth while on Carthago.

The only hassle I had was it took a bit longer to register than expected and I had a trip to France booked, partly my fault as due to other commitments I delayed picking up the van for a month, if I had picked it up when originally intended would have been no problem.

 

What loss at resale are talking about I'm not aware of any, last van depreciation was 23% over just under 6 years approx 5% per year.

How much was it on your last van?

 

Yes, I have I have a spreadsheet with all costs, even includes 2nd lot of postage when I had to reapply to DVLA.

 

Example of costs:

Pick up cost,

Travel to station & across London - Free (Bus pass)

Train to London £8.00 (cheap advance ticket)

Eurostar to Lille - Free (Air miles)

Train to Belguim €7 (could have got dealer to pick me up)

Ferry £47.50

Fuel £20 (£35 less saving filling up in Belgium)

 

My mate paid £65 for train to pick up his Carthago in the UK.

[Guest Peter James]

lennyhb - 2014-09-02 4:06 PM

I have always said the biggest savings are on Hymer's

 

Rather like when Stella Artois advertised themselves as 'reassuringly expensive' in Britain but charged the same price as all the other beers across the channel?

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

 

Peter, that's the UK seen as treasure island syndrome again!

 

I don't think that's true Lenny, have always made same sorts of savings on different vans. You just have to look through sites like www.Mobile.de. and compare, have done this many times....

 

Van I just bought, had quote for new here was 50K + here. Better spec 40K Germany (before negotiated discount and half price extras). think its true across the board.....Why would someone bother importing otherwise (including dealers)

 

If if's were but's....... :-D

[lennyhb]

Peter James - 2014-09-02 5:11 PM

 

lennyhb - 2014-09-02 4:06 PM

I have always said the biggest savings are on Hymer's

 

Rather like when Stella Artois advertised themselves as 'reassuringly expensive' in Britain but charged the same price as all the other beers across the channel?

 

Too true across the channel Hymer's are probably considered top of mid range vans here they are marketed as a top end premier range. Then people complain saying they are not as good as they expected, having been brainwashed into thinking they have brought the best they could and been charged accordingly. Now if they have brought at sensible European prices they would be happy with their purchase just like me.

 

Actually, I have to disagree about Stella, it's the cheap muck abroad normally cheaper than other beers.

:D :D

[lennyhb]

I've just sent Henry a spreadsheet of my costs hopefully it will keep him quiet (wishful thinking).

 

The bottom line with all costs was £58,307, With current exchange rates would only be 56K.

UK List for same spec £75,995 so with a 10% discount £68,395

 

And we are talking about the following years model ordered to your spec not a van that's been in stock for a coulpe of years.

 

 

Even if you costed your labour say 3 days £600 still a hell of a saving, but unless you are turning down work to collect it & do the paperwork I don't see the need to cost labour.

[rupert123]

JudgeMental - 2014-09-02 1:04 PM

 

"Eddie seems to have purchased second hand so almost impossible to work this one out."

 

whats the precise problem H, please explain and maybe I can answer. We have always imported new, but this van was 10 months old, as new, a real good deal, exactly what I wanted (including fancy rack) so I went for it.

 

Saved a fair bit on an identical new van. Only went for this as cost to change minimal. My health was getting worse, risk of financial loss to high at the time if i needed to sell. As it I missed Spain in the spring waiting for ops. but stable now and can continue to use it for now....

 

accentuate the positive?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZUmAbi0Vm4

No problem Eddie but it is much harder to compare prices on second hand vans. If you got a nearly new van for a discount the best way to go but to compare you would have to find one of exactly the same age, spec, mileage etc in the UK, not easy.

[AliB]

When I imported my car from Europe 10 years ago it was a simple matter of purchasing Transit Plates.

 

These are valid for 4 days in all European countries. They are not issued by the DVLA and are nothing to do with them.

 

http://www.transit-plate.com/fragenantworten.html

 

http://www.export-plate.com/startseite.html

 

Arriving in Hull on the North Sea Ferry the customs officer saw the plates and pulled me over. A quick inspection of the documents and he waved me through.

 

Has this now all changed?

[Brian Kirby]

Derek Uzzell - 2014-09-02 2:07 PM

 

Focussing solely on the legailty of driving a new imported motorhome from the UK port-of-entry back to the importer’s home address or a place of storage, is this legal or not?

 

This seems to be a simple enough question to me and appears to be covered in the Introduction section of the DVLA’s INFO106 booklet

 

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_199220.pdf

 

"If you are going to use a vehicle on the public road it must be registered, taxed and insured. A British resident must not drive a vehicle displaying foreign registration number plates in the UK................................

This is intriguing, and deserves an authoritative reply. The same information also gets repeated on the Direct.gov website in two places. However, try as I might I can't see the logic, or what problem such a restriction seeks to prevent. There is a reference to the wording in an Honest John piece in which a reader claims to have written to DVLA asking why he could not drive a foreign registered vehicle temporarily in UK, and DVLA conceded their wording was unclear and said they would clarify the wording accordingly. That was in 2011, but the same wording persists.

 

I hate to make suggestions for someone else to pursue, but I wonder if it would be worth contacting DVLA, and asking them to quote the source of the restriction? They should be able to say which section of which act or statutory instrument imposes the restriction. (I believe that they are actually obliged to do so, if asked) It would then be possible to check the source wording to see what it actually says, as I suspect they have paraphrased something and the result is misleading. Anyone game? It would be interesting to know.

[lennyhb]

two quotes from leaflet IN106 "How to import your vehicle into Great Britian"

 

"we advise you to:

 

transport, rather than drive, your vehicle from the port

to your home or its first destination"

 

"Evidence showing the date you collected the vehicle

(normally the date of the invoice from the supplier), and

how the vehicle was brought into the country

(either the temporary registration form, if the vehicle was driven, or

evidence of transportation, if it was transported)."

 

 

[Derek Uzzell]

It might be better to ask the police about this.

 

It’s easy to see that, if a motorhome being imported is driven in the UK with no registration-plates and is ‘caught’ by an automated speed-camera, there will be no way to identify the vehicle’s owner.

 

I also wonder, in a similar scenario but where the motorhome carries temporary foreign registration-plates, how easy it would be for UK authorities to trace the owner by trying to back-track through foreign vehicle-registration systems.

 

When I was researching motorhome importing in 2004 it soon became evident that there were UK motoring offences that could relate to the process but were not always apparent. For example, a UK-registered vehicle’s speedometer needs to be able to register kmh as well as mph – having only an mph scale is an offence. I only discovered this by asking at the local police station and them digging out their Liitle Black Book of Motoring Offences.

 

This discussion may be worth reading

 

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=76735&st=0

 

as it indicates the potential complexity involved.

 

This webpage covers temporary imports and displaying non-UK number plates

 

https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/temporary-imports

 

but privately imported motorhomes won’t fall into that category.

 

It seems to be generally accepted (except on here!) that there is some sort of a legal prohibition forbidding UK residents from driving non-UK-registered vehicles on UK roads with very specific exemptions. For example, this website

 

http://www.directscot.org/article/driving-in-the-uk-with-non-uk-number-plates

 

says

 

UK residents driving non-UK cars in the UK

UK residents are not allowed to use non-UK registered vehicles on UK roads. The only exceptions are:

• if you work in another EU member state and use an EU-registered company car temporarily in the UK for business and private purposes

• if you lease an EU-registered car and use this temporarily in the UK

 

If anyone is prepared to argue that it is legal for a UK resident to drive an unregistered imported motorhome on UK roads from port to home, despite the DVLA plainly saying in the Introduction of INFO106 that it is not, then - as far as I’m concerned - it’s up to the person claiming ‘legality’ to validate their argument. This doesn’t mean bolting together cherry-picked bits of text as ‘proof’ - it means (as Brian suggests) asking the DVLA to justify their statement (or checking with the police). Logic doesn’t come into it: either the DVLA’s advice has a legal foundation or it has not.

 

Personally, I don’t care as I’m not going to import-by-driving again.