Germany?

Yes. Germany.

We looked at buying a GoldWing from Ireland and found the mileage and used prices were higher than brand new bikes in the UK. A new GoldWing DCT with airbag is listed near €41,000 and a used 2023 with 18,000 Km was listed at €38,000. A 2018 on the same forecourt commanded €32,000. They all felt too used and too rich. The younger 2023 was scuffed up and black too. The options were otherwise 'baggers' and pretty as they can be I really wanted the tourer for two-up riding.

Importing even used vehicles from the UK is made near impossible following Brexit. UK imports attract 23%VAT and Duty at 10%. Then there's the Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) that Europe told Ireland to drop years ago. VRT for bikes is €2 per CC to 330cc and then €1 per CC from there. It al adds up to a plus 40% on purchase price–albeit you can claim back any VAT paid to a UK dealer.

There's a little discount when you import a used vehicle. That's one with 6,000 Km on the clock and over 6 months old when entering the State. You can then avoid paying the VAT and needing to reclaim VAT from the seller. The difference may only be a thousand quid and well, that's a thousand quid!

We looked at Europe with a hopeful budget of €25,000. There were a few bikes around and again most were already exceeding 20,000 Km. French and Spanish GoldWings were over-ridden and way over priced. Germany was an expensive playground too.

Then MrsG spotted Sherbert at Bikemoto in Offenburg. His 4,000 Km needed some riding to make up 6,000 Km before disembarking from the ferry in Ireland and the asking price was unusually low. It'd been hired out, which had aged it lightly in places and otherwise represented a well serviced, dealer-owned, one-owner deal of the day.

Best of all, Sherbert is white.

Herbert, my CB-125 was blue and I sprayed him white when I bought and renovated him back in 1984. Dilbert, my first A-licence bike in 2008 was a 650cc Honda Deauville and yes, he was white. My two ST1300s, Shadowfax and of course Arod are each white too. White's the fastest colour for any motorcycle and although over budget, Sherbert was at a price hard to ignore.

Offenburg. That's not far from the French Strasburg and a couple of hours south of Frankfurt. Offenburg.

Yeah, we can do Offenburg, can't we?

Sherbert advertised in front of the Motobike dealership in Offenburg

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