Can you temporarily bring into Europe a US-registered pickup with a bull bar?

[tacototheworld]

Hi everyone. I'm planning to take a highly modified Toyota Tacoma around the world with CBI aluminum winch bumper stock picture below. Our first continent will be roughly 6 months in Europe. My question is will Customs allow it in? It will be registered in the State of Oregon. I understand that these type of bumpers will have been banned for about 10 years due to pedestrian safety regulations.

 

[grizzlyj]

Hiya
I think that banned might not be the correct description, insurers not willing to cover such metalwork is possibly why they are less common, but not entirely gone even now. Although fitted on brand new vehicles by the dealer might be different to older vehicles. You could always take it off if you're worried? Do you have EU legal lights, kph+mph speedo, and all the other differences? If your licence is legal and you can get insurance then a temporary import probably means no changes are needed. Customs would be interested if you were importing to sell on without taxes paid. Police would be interested if not correctly licensed and insured. Can you get insurance?

 

[grizzlyj]

Bull bars: safety standards

Bull bars for vehicles should comply with safety standards before they can be sold or fitted.

www.gov.uk

"It is not illegal for vehicles to be fitted with bull bars, but the Department for Transport doesn’t recommend it unless it has been shown that they don’t pose an additional risk of injury to other road users. "

 

[tacototheworld]

Darn good question about insurance for the truck. I’d thought that one would buy liability insurance at the border not sure though

 

[otis24]

You might want to post in another forum that’s more specific to your question. This one is more about custom campers.

Maybe this one?

Expedition and Overland Adventure Planning

To discuss planned expeditions and overland adventures throughout the globe.

www.expeditionportal.com

 

[tacototheworld]

Will do. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[grizzlyj]

"The Border" will probably be a fenced off holding area stuff gets dumped after being unloaded from the ship. How release from that works I don't know, but each port will probably have one and I doubt there will be an insurance company office right there but I may be wrong. The internet now rules. Shipping companies may be able to advise? When I worked in Liverpool I often drove past a holding area containing a wide variety of stuff from the USA. I also lived near the Lakenheath/Mildenhall UK air bases where plenty of USA registered vehicles were driven round with zero apparent changes, USA Police cars too. Vehicle insurance within the Schengen area probably covers all countries within that due to the EU free movement thing. My UK insurance cover while over the Channel depends on insurer and what you want but many are limited to 90 days or even less out of the UK, sometimes per trip sometimes per year. Brexit means no one knows what will happen after that. Some folks on this forum post up about their plans to buy a German G Wagon or similar while deployed in Germany for instance, so maybe try to hunt down someone on here who is sometimes in the EU not the UK and ask who they're insured with? An EU address you could use would maybe make things much simpler too.
There's the HUBB forum too.

 

[AlfA01]

I live in the EU. For vehicles that are registered here, we are required to have a safety inspection every two years. During my most recent inspection, I was required to remove my Kia Sportage factory bull bar.

All vehicles are photographed during the inspection and the pics are logged into a database. The inspector told me that I could reinstall the bar after the inspection, but he couldn't legally let me pass without removing it.

Similar laws have been enacted for tow hitches that extend beyond the rear of the vehicle. Receiver hitches are not that common, but are very convenient for passing these inspections.

 

[charlieaarons]

For insurance I have used tourinsure.de
My USA registered U500 has a massive bullbar; no problem entering the EU in Antwerp and Latvia.

 

[dreadlocks]

Similar laws have been enacted for tow hitches that extend beyond the rear of the vehicle. Receiver hitches are not that common, but are very convenient for passing these inspections.

Thats must be why I see in europe factory equipped bosal hitches that electronically retract when not in use, and here I thought it was because your parking spots were tiny..

 

[sg1]

According to the UN Convention on International Road Traffic a vehicle that meets the legal requirements of the country it is registered in may be temporarily driven in any other country which is a signatory of the Convention. EU countries are signatories. In other words a car which is street legal in its home country (USA) can legally be used in the EU for the duration of the Temporary Import Permit without modification.