Hi All.. Not sure where else to put this, so thought I would post it here. I was going to take a look at a cheap Spada this weekend as a project. Gizziracer advised that to be aware of a few grey imports going cheap that may not be able to be re-registered if the paperwork is not included. So whilst the VIN check with PPSR came up. There were some details missing which I thought was strange, like, Year of Manufacture and also the model of the bike - both details missing. I sms'd the owner and asked if this was a grey import or does it have a proper Aussie Compliance plate. No answer yet after several hours. Did a bit of search on things and I did a check on https://motorcycles.honda.com.au/PUD Interestingly putting in my honda VFR Vin - all details come up. Same thing happens when I put a mates Honda VIN number in. Just brings up that there are no recalls. But if I put in the VIN or engine number of the Spada I am looking at, I get a warning that it is an invalid number for both VIN and Engine number. Bike was previously registered and ran out in April 2019 and not re-registered. I'm thinking I might give this one a miss. Thanks to Gizziracer for the heads up.
I'd wait for confirmation. I've done checks that come up with 'no details', but registration (in VIC) was okay. My wife's Spada was registered by the importer as 1999 build. I had to show Vicroads that this was an error (actual build was 1988) before they would allow the bike to be club registered. I guess the importer wanted to make the bike seem "newer" when they sold it. Before the recent changes for Club Registration in Victoria, it was pretty easy to import and instantly register a bike as long as it was given an engineer's certificate.
Yeah, I think I'll be giving it a miss. I've had bad experiences with grey imports in the past with a Mazda MX5 that was personally imported by the owner after living in Japan for several years. Had too many hassles trying to get parts with Mazda dealerships not wanting to know you. I was living in Canberra at the time and the only way I was able to get parts was that I joined the MX5 club and one of the members worked in spare parts at a Mazda trucks place in Fyshwick. He knew that the grey import cars were the same as the Aussie model, so he got any parts I needed. Don't want the hassles with a bike, no matter how cheap it might be.
The spadas imported into nsw that were not fitted with a compliance plate were issued a modified vehicle certificate and the new owners were told/warned that the certificate hade to live with the bike for the term of its natural life. Without the certificate they can be issued a pink slip but not a blue slip, so if the certificate is lost, as most are, and the rego lapses, they effectively become un registerable.. bikes change hands, certificates get lost, bikes are stored in sheds then re sold and un suspecting new owners find out the hard way they cannot put a perfectly legal, sometimes rebuilt bike back on the road. It’s possible spadas built in 1988 may get around this as they are pre compliance plate but I have never attempted this. Non compliance plate spadas can be put on club plates as no blue slip is required and a pink slip will suffice.. I regularly have folk contacting me who have been disappointed by the blue slip inspector/rta.
As for “grey imports” , just tell the Honda shop it’s a 1990 VT250 L model Spada. This is the official Australian distributed model, when ordering parts. There is absolutely no difference between official Honda Australia models and any grey import I have ever seen. Wemoto, at Bombadery on the nsw south coast can source official Honda spares anyway, have a huge range of genuine and aftermarket parts and the have absolutely no bias against grey imports.
This is what got me concerned as the guy didn't seem to have any idea about the certificate. I wasn't going to waste my time driving to Maitland to take a look etc and if I did buy it, then get stuck with something I couldn't register. here is a link. https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/east-maitland/motorcycles/honda-spada-250-project-bike/1222852317
Yep, sounds and looks dodgy. That license plate (OIS32) does have some details, but it does seem there are some shenanigans going on. probably only good for track work or drag racing at Gunnedah.
Yeah, I hope people don't get the wrong impression from me here. I don't have an issue with grey imports as long as all the paperwork etc is there. But this guy let the rego lapse. He said he only had the bike for 3 months, so must have bought it just before rego ran out and never re-registered it. Says the previous owners never had issues registering it and he spoke to a "Spada Expert" and said that his bike would not have issues re-registering it. But for the fact that the VIN and Engine numbers come up as being invalid on the Honda website - indicates that it must be a grey import. Which as I said I am still OK with, but the current owner seems to not know anything about the grey import certificates which will be needed to re-register the bike. So, I'm not willing to take the risk.
Surely if they had previous Rego papers that is all that is needed... no further need for Grey Import papers I would have thought... but I could well be wrong... it wouldnt be the first or the last time.
It’s only a problem if it doesn’t have a compliance plate and the original inspection “engineers certificate” has been lost. Part of the original registration system for non compliance plated grey imports was that the engineers certificate must stay with the bike for life. No official body keeps copies, If the”modified vehicle certificate” is lost your basically screwed and have to pay$ for a new inspection.
Having said all that, and just looking at the pics of the bike in the ad, it has a compliance plate on the right frame downtube section.. I don’t think there is a problem with this bike. It won’t come up on an official Honda web site as it wasn’t imported by Honda and as such, according to them , doesn’t and shouldn’t exist in australia
Yep, I agree. Should be easy enough to register once you have a Roadworthy Certificate or the equivalent NSW requirement. Good pickup at $400 and as Andy said, plenty of negotiation to bring the price down further. I wonder what @kiffsta would offer for it? $150? $200?
I made a cheeky offer on this today https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/vaucluse/motorcycles/honda-vtr250-2006/1223078585?utm_source=copylink&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialbuttons&utm_content=vip_test I threw an offer of $750 but no response just yet.