Modern Vespa

My wife is military, and we are currently stationed in Germany. We picked up a 2009 LX50 for her to commute to and from work. I figured we would ship it back to the States with us when the time came, it still has less than 1000km on it. However, this week she was talking to a co-worker who also has a couple Vespas. He is trying to sell a Primavera 50 because it can't be shipped back, or it would cost too much to make it legal. Not sure the exact details. Does anyone have any smarts in this regards? It never occured to me that it would be a problem, as 50cc scooters don't need to be registered in the States. Even here in Germany they just get an insurance plate, not an actual license plate.

What legality is there? Is it the same 25 year rule as cars? Hell, you can buy all kinds of random Chinese crap off eBay with no issues.

That's not the case everywhere in the US -- it is very much a state-by-state issue. I don't know what state you intend to ship and use, but you might want to check your local laws, or the MV wiki: Scootering Laws by Locality

Do you get free shipping? Usually you'll have to drain all fluids from the Vespa for fire regulations, have a wooden box built to protect it etc.

The cost of shipping alone is likely to just about go into 4 figures… unless you get a deal with the military?

They could ship as part of household goods.

For a vehicle that is a European model, a vehicle needs to be 25 years old as you mentioned or brought into US specs typically through a Independent Commercial Importer (ICI) to be titled and used on the road. There is some difference for motorcycles, there used to be a list of authorized motorcycles I believe, and I assume it applies to 50cc scooters.

Legal importation and state registration are different matters.

Motorcycles must also be brought into conformance or meet US requirements as constructed (typically need a manufacturer letter). This is often expensive.

Per this, must be EPA certified:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/documents/mcimports_0.pdf

Must meet DOT regulations:
https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-297?language=en_US

NHTSA FAQ page with lots of good info:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/importing-vehicle/importation-and-certification-faqs-0

EPA/ICI:
https://www.epa.gov/importing-vehicles-and-engines/independent-commercial-importers-icis

More EPA regulations for motorcycles. There is some info on less than 50cc in the Final Rule link.
https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/regulations-smog-soot-and-other-air-pollution-non

Not so easy and quite expensive, it seems. Still.

In the early 80's we bought a BMW R75. It belonged to a US-citizen.
He had been living here in Belgium for some years as an expat and during the stay he had bought the BMW.
He moved back to the US and since he liked the BMW he planned to take it home.

But that turned out to be difficult and expensive and so he decided to sell the BMW and buy one similar in the US.

Him being a bit in a hurry we could buy his BMW for a very reasonable price.

When I was stationed over seas, the military paid to ship back any cars motorcycles that you owned. Back then, there were no rules about emission standards or anything. I think they still will ship for free, but as Jess indicated, there are rules by State in the USA.

Most of us sold our European Motorcycles to other troops on the base.

Bob Copeland

I have recently moved countries, UK to Australia. I think it's only worth doing if the bike is special.if it's a model that is current at your destination you are better selling and finding something similar at your destination.


It's a long process and through the import and registration process there can be lots of unexpected costs. It can also take a lot of time to ship too, in my case it was nearly 5 months.

Hmm, just went through the process of shipping one of my motorcycles across the ocean the other way this summer.

Did not have to drain all fluids. It was just only allowed to fly with a certain amount of gas in the tank. Oil, coolant, and brake fluid was untouched. From every company that I spoke to (there were many because I'm frugal af), this is not unusual at all.

No box of any kind was built. The bike was rolled onto a pallet, strapped to the pallet, and then wrapped and loaded as any other pallet would be. This seemed to be hit and miss depending on the airline. Some will refer you to place to crate them or crate them themselves, others just keep it simple, put em on a pallet, and load em in.

They all want your battery disconnected, but that's an 8 second process and is no big deal (unless you're this guy )

8s long YouTube video is not loading for me.

You just can't help yourself can you? You actually took time to get a link from a different thread just to take another shot at a member who rightly and politely called out your asshole behavior on that thread. Bouncing you before any escalation. No response necessary.

adri has been ejected from this topic

Yes, the shipping would be free. It would get crated and put in with our household goods (which is also free, up to a certain weight limit).

50cc to Michigan is easy peasy.

In the realm of the random, one of our potential retirement locations is Nebraska. Nebraska law states if it doesn't have pedals, it isn't a scooter/moped, must be registered as a motorcycle. Wow, welcome to the 1970s. When was the last time you saw a 50cc scooter with pedals?? I remember around '76-'77 our next door neighbors having mopeds that you kind of crank started with pedals.

I remember the US moped era quite well. I didn't have one, but some of the wealthier kids in my town did.

That said, the pedal exception you cite is an anachronism that hasn't needed to be updated, simply because the modern thinking is that scooters (which are NOT mopeds) should be registered as motorcycles. And I agree.

Some jurisdictions carry this all the way down to 50cc. I'm officially Swiss on that.