ARTICLE: How to Buy and live with a Superbike in India

[manson]

There is hardly a dealer/agent into imports who has any principles, if you have landed yourself with a clean bike at a reasonable price from a dealer, consider yourself lucky.
Dealers are known to have priced a clean bike and sky high prices, why shouldn't they when they have people who buy at those prices.
Ideal way to go about buying one is get into the sbk web! Get to know people, agents, dealers, etc, and through the grapewine you can possible make way for something.

manson.

[GTO]

A gentleman - Samyak Modi - has written in with these comments:

in point no. 4, you have mentioned that KA/MP registered bikes have to be looked in cautiosly. agreed. but these days MH06 bikes are more easily available. and these bikes aren't properly registered. MP RTO has an online system where in a prospective buyer and punch in the bike's no. there, and find out what exactly is registered on the particular no.

more so, there are lot of people unaware of MH06 scandal. MH06 to most people mean Mumbai, which isn't the case.

in pt. no. 6, you have mentioned that the bill of entry is in 3 copies. which is not true. bill of entry has just 2 original copies. one is with the customs, the other has to be presented in the RTO at the time of registration. you can photocopy it and get it attested, but you never get the original copy back. The document is redundant once the bike has been registered. though one SHOULD ask for a copy of it because thats the only document which shows the real duty paid on the bike.

Things to be noted in bill of entry are pretty simple. 1. the amount of duty paid. 2. is there a chassis no. and engine no. written on the papers. most of the "genuine" import bikes have just the model name written on the papers. the others that have the engine no. and chassis no. mentioned on bill of entry, are basically assembled in india in the local mechanic's garage.

I think that should be mentioned here.

And yeah, as far as MP registered cbr 600rr are concerned, all of them have false no. plates, and false registration. how i know it?
just got my bike registered. It was a 4 month long tedious process, and it is the first and the only CBR600RR officially registered in MP. All the dealers, some with a good reputation, and few movies under their belt are cheating innocent buyers like that.
Met one yesterday, and he insisted that their bikes are all "officially" registered.
But the truth is what I mentioned.

[manson]

The Bill of Entry certainly has three copies. One is with the custom authority, the second copy is submitted to the RTO at the time of registration, and the third is given to the person who brings the motorcycle down.
I have an original copy for the bill of entry to my Thunderace alongwith other shipping documents.

To add to Samyakodi's post, there are no legal 600 & 400 cc motorcycles in India, unless they were brought down on Transfer of Residence as the Govt. does not allow import of motorcycles below 800 cc other than TR.
A dealer has recently apparently convinced the rule to be ammended, but I am yet to come across a 600 cc bike with full papers and any official announcement of the rule being altered.

manson.

[samyakmodi]

Originally Posted by manson

The Bill of Entry certainly has three copies. One is with the custom authority, the second copy is submitted to the RTO at the time of registration, and the third is given to the person who brings the motorcycle down.
I have an original copy for the bill of entry to my Thunderace alongwith other shipping documents.

To add to Samyakodi's post, there are no legal 600 & 400 cc motorcycles in India, unless they were brought down on Transfer of Residence as the Govt. does not allow import of motorcycles below 800 cc other than TR.
A dealer has recently apparently convinced the rule to be ammended, but I am yet to come across a 600 cc bike with full papers and any official announcement of the rule being altered.

manson.

very surprising...
bcoz this is onething i was very sure of,u just get 2 copies. as the person i bought my 600rr from even had the freight papers with him. and when i asked him about the original bill of entry he said that they are with the RTO. from RTO we got one copy attested. confirmed it with other people also. all said the same thing. and they said it when they knew i am not going to buy a vehicle from them.

how can a dealer convince our ohh so efficient government to ammend the rules??
All the 600s in india are either via TR route or have been brought down in parts.
The others that have come "officially" had to go through the homologation process. Even when i spoke to ducati people in mumbai, they said the same thing. if you want to buy a ducati monster, you have to wait for almost a month. as once u place the order, the bike's shipped within the week. comes to the port and then is homologated, which takes around 15 days. and then the bike's free to be handed over to the owner.

and if a dealer did manage it, then i think we all should also try our hands in changing some half century old rules. and not just for the motoring world, but for a better cause for the society.

[manson]

All clean imports that i have come across have an original copy of the Bill of Entry with them. In your case, there may just have been something misplaced.
However, you have got a print out of the RTO copy for your bike, so nothing should really bother you.

Adding to Samya's post:
Technically, going by the law you should be seeing nothing newer than a three year older motorcyclke brought down on TR at this point. This is because by the law, the individual bringing the vehicle down should have atleast owned the same in the other country for a period of one year, and cannot sell the same locally for a further period of two years.

Originally Posted by samyakmodi

and if a dealer did manage it, then i think we all should also try our hands in changing some half century old rules. and not just for the motoring world, but for a better cause for the society.

Some grease, rather loads of it may have done the trick.

manson.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by Rtech

....Hence, the owner, if caught, may have to pay the balance duty along with a hefty fine or risk losing his bike to the DRI.

What happens to the bikes seized by DRI? Will they auction the bikes if the owner has failed to pay the tax?

[14000rpm]

[quote=Rtech;480985]

What bike? Cruiser vs sports vs touring:

What type of rider are you? .....

Buying a 250 vs 400 vs 600 vs 1 liter plus:

In the nineties, a lot of 250 - 400cc bikes were brought into the country. These are mainly from Japan which has a huge demand for 400cc bikes due to licencing regulations. The most common of these are the Honda CBR250rr and 400rr. These bikes are tiny and great to learn on. ....

Soon to come: Official superbikes

The time is getting close....



thats a tonne of information.Thanks a lot.

[manson]

Originally Posted by kkr2k2

What happens to the bikes seized by DRI? Will they auction the bikes if the owner has failed to pay the tax?

They just rot in the custom warehouse for a really long time, serve for a good means of killing time for the rats in the vicinity too.
Then one fne day the customs house realises its time to free some space and then they auction the vehicles or other commodities which mostly find their way to sources of the custom officials.

manson.

[sajid33]

Brilliant article by Rtech , really enjoyed reading every part of it

[inline4]

Rtech: You need to be worshipped!

great stuff. I guess almost all my questions have been answered..
Thank you.

[jsmonu]

Originally Posted by manson

Ajay, one cannoth import a used bike older than four years unless he is bringing it down on TR, transfer of residence.
If one wants to get a vehicle down on TR, he has to own the same for a minimum period of one year before moving to the country.

manson.

As Barney Stinson would probably term in HIMYM.. this thread is totally, "wait for it", LEGENDARY!! Hats off to RTech and all the other contributors.

I was wondering of getting any more possible info about TR, and if the current requirements (period of ownership, etc)are also as mentioned.

A BIG Thanks again,

Regards,
J.

[Swordfish]

BEAUTIFUL article it is!
Thanks a ton Rtech.