South Korean man rescued from drowning near Koh Racha, Phuket

[eek]

Any advice on getting a bmw f650cs (reg 2004)over from the UK to Thailand?

Import tax etc.

Thanks so much.

[justcruisin]

I too have thought about importing a bike,but ended up paying the exhorbitant prices here for my 3 bikes.

The reason being it is fraught with peril.I know one friend who ended up buying his own bike back from a customs auction after it was seized and held by Bkk customs for three years.

The temp import route is favored by some people as well but you must be on a tourist visa at time of importation and the bike must leave the country,visa run bike?..every 3 months.

Check out customs dot go dot th, the import taxes are crazily expensive!

If you decide to go ahead please keep us posted.

[KRS1]

ship it as parts in 2- 3 shipments, then get a wrecked bmw and transfer the vin.

[katabeachbum]

ship it as parts in 2- 3 shipments, then get a wrecked bmw and transfer the vin.

highly illegal

importduty is 80% on customs value, problem is to agree on value. assume it isnt worth much in Uk, so could take the chance, keep ECU and other small expensive essentials, and if it goes bad, buy it on auction

excicetax I belive is 5% on bike and duty, and 10% Interior tax on excise tax. then ad 7% vat to it all

if you pick it apart and import parts, importduty is low, then assemble here again

Now the nightmare starts, thai emission requirements and tests at 30k each. expect 80k

[thaicbr]

ship it as parts in 2- 3 shipments, then get a wrecked bmw and transfer the vin.

And exactly WHERE are you going to find a Wrecked booked BMW f650 here in Thailand?????

[Richard-BKK]

Just follow the official channels to import your motorcycle, it's only way you can be sure that it ever becomes road legal. For importing a 2004 BMW F650GS, I'm not sure that you will have much benefits in saving money by importing it to Thailand.

Importing your motorcycle as parts, will set you on the way of endless offices to get your motorcycle registered. Registering a motorcycle build from parts is difficult, so difficult that many have give-up the quest. It involves endless paperwork with, if you unlucky – even have to show invoice with tax paid of parts you bought in Thailand. And if everything is finished the discussion of the build year of the bike, as your bike is a 2004, it will change to 2011 so you pay more Excise Tax.

Currently your 2004 BMW will have a import tax of 19.5 percent, that is because it is over 6 years old so you get 60.5 percent discount on the import duty. You need to pay Excise Tax which is 30 % over the import value, plus Interior tax which is import value + Excise tax +10%, and as last just the ordinary sales tax of 7%.

[Richard-BKK]

And not forget to apply for a import permit if you want to import your motorcycle, this will also give you a indication if your motorcycle will be able to get license plates... If your motorcycle is too dirty and not EuroIII+ capable you likely not get a import permit.

[submaniac]

Eek, every day I am more and more impressed with you as a motorcycle chick. All those bikes that I have seen your photos of, I am like "ok, here's a chick that knows about bikes, and which ones are cool and not" The BMW F650CS is also an incredibly cool bike that would be wonderful for Thailand, BUT FOR the price. The options for you are to 1. Bring the bike as a whole unit, and pay about 300% tax, 2. Break the bike down into parts and ship into thailand as parts (paying the import tax on each individual part which will be cheaper than the 300% on the whole bike, or 3. import the bike as a "temporary" import, ride it in Thailand for 6 months, and when the 6 months is up do a "visa" run on the bike. Basically take it to the border, out of the country, then bring it in again for another 6 months.

Is there a reason you are asking about the BMW funduro? Like you got a friend that has one that they want to bring over, or are YOU looking to import one. The reason I am asking is, if YOU want one, they are alot cheaper in the states than in the UK. They could probably be picked up for $1500 here. If you need help on the import, please let me know.

[Richard-BKK]

Okay I will make a calculation....

According to the Thai customs your 2004 BMW F650GS has a value of 2,000 GBP* (about 95,580 Bht)

The import duty on a motor-vehicle from 2004 is 19.5% of the value so including import TAX your bike is 114,218 Baht.

Then we need to calculate the Excite Tax, which is 30% of 114,218 Baht what makes 165,360 Baht

Now the Interior tax, which is 10% of 165,360 Bht makes 181,896 Bht

Calculating VAT 7% on the base VAT value is 15,843 Baht

Your BMW F650GS will cost in Thailand 197,739 Bht

Of course you still need to get it registered which will also set you back about 80,000 Bht.

* The Thai custom value is often open for discussion, but it seems that the Thai customs is using European Insurance values to verify the given import value...

Edited January 26, 2011 by Richard-BKK

[BigBikeBKK]

Then we need to calculate the Excite Tax, which is 30% of 114,218 Baht what makes 165,360 Baht

Excite tax? That's a new one!

[craigt3365]

One inappropriate post and a reply have been deleted.

[Richard-BKK]

Then we need to calculate the Excite Tax, which is 30% of 114,218 Baht what makes 165,360 Baht

Excite tax? That's a new one!

Of course this should be "Excise Tax", it is still 30% ... Sorry just a typo

[katabeachbum]

Okay I will make a calculation....

According to the Thai customs your 2004 BMW F650GS has a value of 2,000 GBP* (about 95,580 Bht)

The import duty on a motor-vehicle from 2004 is 19.5% of the value so including import TAX your bike is 114,218 Baht.

Then we need to calculate the Excite Tax, which is 30% of 114,218 Baht what makes 165,360 Baht

Now the Interior tax, which is 10% of 165,360 Bht makes 181,896 Bht

Calculating VAT 7% on the base VAT value is 15,843 Baht

Your BMW F650GS will cost in Thailand 197,739 Bht

Of course you still need to get it registered which will also set you back about 80,000 Bht.

* The Thai custom value is often open for discussion, but it seems that the Thai customs is using European Insurance values to verify the given import value...

all above if you are lucky with customs and reg/emission

and a brand new 2011 Kawasaki Versys650 is 285k baht

[Richard-BKK]

I agree with katabeachbum, the offerings from Kawasaki are surely a better option.

It's very unlikely that the 2004 BMW F650, single-cylinder with 33mm Mikuni carburettor will pass the Thai emission tests.

Kawasaki offers the ER6N as a good alternative, the Kawasaki Versys is even an better option for Thailand.

[eek]

Thank you all. Will need a bit of thought on this.

Eek, every day I am more and more impressed with you as a motorcycle chick. All those bikes that I have seen your photos of, I am like "ok, here's a chick that knows about bikes, and which ones are cool and not" The BMW F650CS is also an incredibly cool bike that would be wonderful for Thailand, BUT FOR the price. The options for you are to 1. Bring the bike as a whole unit, and pay about 300% tax, 2. Break the bike down into parts and ship into thailand as parts (paying the import tax on each individual part which will be cheaper than the 300% on the whole bike, or 3. import the bike as a "temporary" import, ride it in Thailand for 6 months, and when the 6 months is up do a "visa" run on the bike. Basically take it to the border, out of the country, then bring it in again for another 6 months.

Is there a reason you are asking about the BMW funduro? Like you got a friend that has one that they want to bring over, or are YOU looking to import one. The reason I am asking is, if YOU want one, they are alot cheaper in the states than in the UK. They could probably be picked up for $1500 here. If you need help on the import, please let me know.

Sub..thanks! AND..thats very kind of you to offer to help import one...blows me away really.

The Scarver is already mine, a gift from a family member who has upgraded. Just wondering if its worth it paying to get it over. Its a nice bike, but ive also got my eye on a ksr and a honda sonic..^^^ (ok, not anywhere in the league of a scarver..but cost factor dictates) Decisions decisions. ..oh and d-trackers are pretty nice too. ^.^. ....and cbr's.....ahh..if only i were rich...sigh..

Edited January 26, 2011 by eek

[LivinLOS]

The 650 GS is not unusual or cheap enough to really make sense in doing this IMO.. I know for a couple in the 200 - 300k range in cost and thats instant and without the hassle.. Or you could just import it on temp import and visa run, or import and and go rogue and run the risks..

It makes some sense financially with upper end bikes.. Or with bikes that are not on the Thai market.. But not much sense with a GS650 IMO.

[submaniac]

Well Eek, if you really want it in Thailand I (as well as others) are certainly willing to help. But you have to think how much you are willing to spend on the venture. I mean you already have a free bike, which is a plus, but it will cost a bit of cash to bring it in. Since you already have a fino for daily use, the "Scarver" (my apologies to referring to it as the "Funduro" which was the first generation F650 ) would most likely be for a fun "toy", yes? The cheapest bet would just be to bring it in on a temporary import (like the same as those that ship their bikes to different countries to ride around the world). You would not pay taxes, but you would have to 'visa run' the bike out of the country at the border every 6 months. If you bring it in legitimately, in once piece, RichardBKK has given you a preliminary breakdown of the costs. I actually think his estimate is low as from my understanding Thai customs calculates the value of the bike not at the used price, but based upon how much the bike sold for BRAND NEW. Thai customs is notoriously unpredictable, so one never really knows what they will assess until the bike is already in their clutches. The only economical option is to tear the bike down (engine, frame, other bits) separate, and import each piece as a used part, then assemble it. But even this method, as has been alluded, requires that you pay 80,000 baht for the emission testing in order to get it registered.

ALOT of us have thought about and discussed bringing in our bikes before, so this topic is well known among the members on this forum. I myself am going to ship my Harley in as parts (in bits and pieces) but just have not gotten around to it yet because it is a hassle and it is expensive. In about 5 years the free trade agreement that Thailand has with Japan will kick in so I can bring in my CBR1000rr. I bought an FZR400 in Thailand just because it was cheaper than shipping in a bike. Besides that, with the way that Thailand works (like insurance coverage is a joke, and people don't care about wrecking your ride) I am hesitant to have any bike of real "value" here. If anthing happens to it, you really are just out a bike.

[Richard-BKK]

The only economical option is to tear the bike down (engine, frame, other bits) separate, and import each piece as a used part, then assemble it. But even this method, as has been alluded, requires that you pay 80,000 baht for the emission testing in order to get it registered

If you build a motorcycle from imported parts you also need to pay excise tax 30% from the year you build the bike, so build a 2004 motorcycle from parts in 2011 in Thailand makes it a 2011 motorcycle. Think how much a "virtual" 2011 650cc BMW motorcycle will be valued by the revenue department... Most of the time importing a motorcycle as parts is not an option if you want to ever register the motorcycle.

Edited January 27, 2011 by Richard-BKK