Yearly renewal of bike documents

[Diaveldav]

Hi all,

May be someone could help me with that. I own a Benelli 600 GS with a Beijing B plate. The bike is registered under a company which i don't know. I bought the bike with "full documentation" and need to run through the yearly checks now. I need to renew the insurance and need a yearly inspection it seems.

My question, does anybody know what is now the process? Insurance should not be a problem, but what about the yearly inspection?

Does the company owner need to be present during inspection?
Can I do the yearly inspection myself or not?
Where are places which i need to go to do the inspection? I'm living in Houshayu in one of the famous compounds...
Is it a problem that the documents expired in 11/2014? I parked the bike till then...
Anything else what I need to consider?
Will it be very difficult to keep the bike legal?

Would be great if someone could help me, as i would like to ride only legally....

Thanks
Dave

[Diaveldav]

No one out there who could help?

[ZMC888]

Sorry Dave,
Missed your thread somehow.

Anyway my advice would be get new insurance asap and get riding. You used to need the ID card or company ID of the person under whose name the bike is registered to get insurance. Although I think the bike documents only are OK these days, not 100% sure on this.

Don't sweat the other stuff, I'm sure there is some kind of grace period for inspection.

From what I understand the yearly inspection starts after the bike or car is two years old. I'm not sure about Beijing, but where I am nobody cares about the annual bike inspection and I've never even seen or heard of anyone bothering with it except for cars.

If possible you should try and change the bike into your name. Obviously there is some money tied up in the registration plate. However with all things in China this will be very difficult as you are dealing with communist bureaucracy, and then being a foreigner will make it twice as hard. That can and should be done with the person that sold you the bike with their ID card or some other company documents and your passport at the Gong An Traffic Division. There will be some counter for dealing with it. As with all things in China go at 12.15pm-1.30pm as everyone else is eating or asleep. The bike is still legal to ride while you wait, probably weeks. I once tried to change the name on a bike and they wouldn't let me as doing the work was too annoying for the police. However I now believe they will do anything for a fee, and they have civilian staff for this to do the actual work, so police can sit around on their fat arses as usual and eat Chinese donuts.

The annual inspection is also done at a Gong An traffic Division. I've never bothered but apparently they are very keen on the original photo of the bike and will fail it for any difference, even for things that actually make a bike safer. However they are usually corrupt and will accept cash bribes for passing anything.

However if you don't know the person or company under whose name the bike is registered you may just have to leave the inspection and transferring the name. Having a license, registration and insurance will usually be enough in most of China, but be smart and don't stop for the police unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

Hope this helps.

[prince666]

No one out there who could help?

The only time I have had a bike inspected was last year and the bike was in my wife name ? At no time did the Inspector ask to see my wife ID card , so I am not sure , I would suggest you just take the bike down to the local office for a inspection and you will soon find out !!
That is the best I can surgesst , if you was closer I would lend a hand

[Lao Jia Hou]

Hi Dave

I have lots of Beijing experience with inspections, both A and B plates. I've probably done at least a dozen. There are no easy answers to your questions.

With a company-registered B plate, there are generally two ways the original registration is done:

1) The motorcycle dealer registers it in its own company name (Dadihengtong, the largest dealer in Beijing, does it this way). The inspections are best done by making arrangements with the dealer, and it will charge about 100-200 rmb (plus disbursements) for the service. Well worth it, as there are often long line-ups and confusing bureaucracy for the newbie.

2) Other dealers use agents, and each agent uses his own particular company. This is where it can get complicated and it is best to return to the original dealer.

In the past, it was very easy for an individual to pop down to the testing station for the inspection, regardless of whether it was an A plate, or a B plate. But, like many things, times have changed in Beijing. There has been a crackdown on company-registered B plates in Beijing. BUT, like most things, the enforcement depends on the particular testing station. Dealers and/or agents, who do this stuff day in, day out, will know which are the easy stations and which are the tough stations.

Over on the Chinese motorcycle forums for Beijing, there are some horror stories of a company-registered bike showing up for the annual testing, and all hell breaking loose, with the bike being flagged as "illegal" and not being able to be tested / insured without first being replated with an A plate (many Chinese owners do the company registration for the lower plate cost). There was also a big mess a couple of years ago when one agent's "company" (a fake furniture company - it was just a shell company that had never manufactured a stick of furniture) went bankrupt after being charged with non-payment of the minimum tax. That company "owned" about 30 motorcycles which were "assets" of the now bankrupt company. What a mess.

The bottom line is ... it is very difficult to provide a credible & reliable answer for company-registered B plates. I have zoomed through inspections with such bikes in the past, without so much as a sideways glance, and also had substantial difficulties where i had to go back twice (the testing station by the G1 and 5th ring road seems to be the strictest).

My advice would be to go back to the dealer and ask for help, or at least put you in touch with a reliable agent. Agents are relatively cheap and they save a lot of headaches.

Good luck.

[bikerdoc]

Some good advice...

However I've had numerous motorcycles, and many that I've owned long enough to know the inspection drill. HOWEVER as with all things TIC and what works here today, might not tomorrow - so with that LOGIC FREE ZONE (LFZ) mentality in mind, OP, you may find that things run real smoothly, or not as the case maybe depending on a constellation of OTHER factors for which you have little to no control over. TIC the LFZ

For motorcycles, and in particular your BJ600/BN600... inspection is due every TWO years for the first FOUR years after initial registration. Meaning the bike would need to be inspected TWICE during those first FOUR years. Inspection then falls due annually for the remaining duration that the motorcycle can be registered/plated before the plates are to be surrendered (meaning the motorcycle is no longer allowed on any public road). This period can differ depending on the locale motorcycle is first plated in. Usually between 11-13 years. So first check, when was the date the BJ600/BN600 was first registered orginally?

If inspection has expired and is past due... theoretically, the bike is not meant to be ridden on a public road, not even to go to have the inspection - that's the official line. Your call... just putting it out there what the official rule is.

OP, you'll need to determine which Traffic Management Bureau PSB, your place of residence falls under, and if they deal with motorcycles. You also might need to determine if the bike has to go to a specific Traffic Management Bureau PSB, despite the situation if there is one closer to you. Basically determine which Traffic Management Bureau PSB the BN600 was registered at, and go there...

Having determined that, you need to take your bikes blue/black wallet containing the photo and registration card, insurance (which you may not be able to renew until the bike is 100% legal e.g. valid inspection etc). Often the insurance is at a counter or office co-located on site. Here we have two insurance choices for motorcycles PICC and another big one which I can't recall at the minute (I think it's CTCC).

It wouldn't hurt to take your passport and the PSB residence registration slip just in case the powers that be, ask for it. You'll have to complete a form, which here is only in CHS. May differ where you are at.

I know that motorcycle plates in place likes SH & BJ are very different 'animals' to elsewhere. You may find that the plates on your BN600 cannot be transferred from the 'company', 'agent' or a person who has offered their name to the 'company' as BJ has a minimum period that a plate must remain in the first registered owners name, BEFORE it can transferred. I know this first hand as I attempted several year ago to buy a near new JH600 from a foreigner in BJ who had had a 'company' and 'agent' deal with the sale and obtaining the plate. The plate could not be transferred for 3 years from memory, only made more difficult as I'm an out of town-er. LJH helped me out on this one as he was living in BJ then, and knows the ropes real well having been a long term BJ expat.

Couple other pointers.

If your BN600 does not have current/valid, insurance, plate or inspection, or a rider with a suitable PRC valid drivers licence/category/class (e.g. C1E or C1D) (pick any one), and you are unfortunate enough to be stopped, or involved in an accident, you can be held liable even if all the other ducks line up. In the case of a Police STOP, your BN600 could be impounded, and you fined. In the case of an accident, you could be found to be 100% liable even in the case where it might have been found that you would not have been liable if all your ducks were in a row. Just saying... At the end of day, it might be worth contacting the initial dealer if you are able, and get them to assist. My car dealer does this annually for my car for a couple hundred kuai. I went with them one time early on in car ownership, then another time on my own, but in the end, it's easier and more convenient to have the dealer handle it. My time is worth more. YMMV

Whatever you choose, choose wisely.

[Diaveldav]

Hi guys, thanks a lot for these valuable advices.... Really helpful to me!

Ok, what I have found out is that I need to do annual inspection in 10.2015 not as assumed in 2014. That's good, but I need to do it anyway.

The insurance is expired and I will go to the insurance office next week and ask for a new one. Hope this won't be difficult. But I don't think so....

At the moment the bike is more or less dismantled as I would like to foil it with gunpowder foil as I don't like the ordinary white color. Will this be an issue during the next annual inspection? Don't want to remove the foil anymore...

Further I have modified the bike a bit, fitted a "China Leo Vince" exhaust system for the sound, which was a right decision. Will this be a problem during next inspection? Is noise a issue?

If I have to choose, I will contact the company which actually is written inside the documents and see whether they can help me to do inspection at the end of the year. May have to pay some money, but as You said, no hazzle or trouble therefore.... Let's see whether the company still exists.... What to do if not?

Thanks
Dave....

[Lao Jia Hou]

The insurance is expired and I will go to the insurance office next week and ask for a new one. Hope this won't be difficult. But I don't think so....

Well, I'd guess at a 75% chance of no trouble if you go to the same insurance company, and the same office, that issued your last insurance policy, and you smile a LOT. Technically, the insurance cannot be issued without the registered owner's ID Card (Chinese individual) OR passport (Foreigner) OR business registration document (company owned), but the application of this "rule" seems to depend on how strict the office is on the particular day you try to renew. Also, keep in mind that there are now only a few offices that issue motorcycle insurance. For example, although PICC has dozens of offices, only 3 will issue motorcycle insurance. The entire system is set up for car owners.

At the moment the bike is more or less dismantled as I would like to foil it with gunpowder foil as I don't like the ordinary white color. Will this be an issue during the next annual inspection? Don't want to remove the foil anymore...

Further I have modified the bike a bit, fitted a "China Leo Vince" exhaust system for the sound, which was a right decision. Will this be a problem during next inspection? Is noise a issue?

The bike has to be 100% identical to the picture in your registration booklet (blue book), including color and accessories. There is a provision that permits you to change the color of your bike, but you need to get the approval in advance ... that means taking the bike into the inspection yard before the color change, getting provisional approval, and then coming back again after the color change, to have a new document issued with a new picture. The testing yard is a real stickler over that picture - the new one must be identical to the old one.

During the inspection, they do a decibel test at 2,500 rpm (I think ... my memory is fuzzy). When you go through the inspection process, everything is computerized and the "computer" will not pass your bike if it fails anything - it is out of the control of the attendants. However, one day when I was there, I saw the folks tape an old rag over a Harley's very noisy exhaust outlet to get the computer to record a Pass. The rag was removed at the end of the "test." This Is China (TIC).

If I have to choose, I will contact the company which actually is written inside the documents and see whether they can help me to do inspection at the end of the year. May have to pay some money, but as You said, no hazzle or trouble therefore.... Let's see whether the company still exists.... What to do if not?

Good luck with contacting the company - it could be a shell company, or a company owned by some agent's cousin's brother-in-law, who may not even know there are bikes registered in the company name. Seriously, TIC. If the company no longer exists, you need to enlist the services of one of the better agents, to get it transferred into another company's name.

If you have a Chinese wife, girlfriend, current squeeze, have her look around the Chinese motorcycle forums for more information about the ins/outs, advantages/disadvantages of company-registered B plates in Beijing. Seriously, most B-plated topics are covered, and the threads are HUGE. Lots of horror stories there, but people somehow always manage to figure out solutions.

Good luck!