Buying Clothing From Germany

I used to buy hard-to-find Honda parts for my 30+year old bikes from CMSNL in the Netherlands. About 18 months ago I put in an order for around £50. When the shipping, tax and duty were added it came to almost double! And these parts would have fitted into a large envelope. I cancelled the order.
So thank you people who voted brexit. I hope you have got some personal benefit from it because it has made my life more difficult and cost me money (and I mean in more ways than just buying bike bits). As a country Britain has yet to see any significant benefit either, only negative affects. Sorry if it seems I'm sidetracking your post Royston Jones, hopefully someone will be able to give you a more positive answer.

 

I have bought from FC Moto and they are a very good retailer, but if you are not sure about sizing be very careful. In my experience you need a degree in import/export to return anything. I cannot fault the company, they came to my rescue at their own expense.

 

Bought from Kult Mopeds in Germany who do MZ parts. All my stuff was below £130 and I think the threshold is around that as I didn’t pay anything extra.

 

Recently bought an off road helmet from Motocard in Spain which was under £130ish so no duty etc. No hassle and saved a fair bit but...... its too tight
Couldn't be bothered with the hassle of returning it, as said above, so will hand it onto one of my sons.
Some saving there

 

Helmets are vat free on import I believe as they are classed as ppe
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/protective-equipment-and-vat-notice-70123

 

Funny years ago I put an insurance claim in on my ten year old sons behalf for theft of his motorcycle gear from the garage.
Boots you can claim for on house contents "as you could walkaround the house in them!"
Helmets are classed as ppe so I was told so come under the motorcycle policy
I went on to explain my 10 yr old could quite happily walk around the house wearing his helmet and naturally he didn't have an insurance policy...... total waste of breath!!!

Government bodies and companies can categorise however they see fit and we, the proletariat, just need to conform.

 

Jackets with armour do.

 

I just got nailed for VAT on a helmet from Louis Moto (Germany), I didn't know it was classed as PPE (although that makes infinite sense!), but Louis Moto sorted it out, as they promise to pay VAT and relevant taxes, which they subsequently did... So, I have a delay while I wait for it to be released by customs!

 

Weird

 

TMI if you ask me!

 

Potentially saved a Son !

 

Hey dude. I live in Berlin now and often travel back to the UK. Before you go spending import duties let me know, if I'm scheduled a visit I can bring it back for you FOC.

 

Weird, as there is no VAT on helmets in the UK.

 

Also if you buy a helmet that you can add integrated comms to and get them fitted prior to time of helmet purchase I believe the comms then become part of the helmet so you can save the VAT on them.