How to Ship a Motorcycle to New Zealand

Welcome to the New Zealand motorcycle shipping guide. If you’re planning on shipping a foreign registered motorcycle to New Zealand, have a read of this packed guide first.

Shipping a Motorcycle to New Zealand

By Carl and Isabel Abrams

Round the world motorcycle travellers:
Life 2 on Tour

We’ve just shipped our motorcycles from South Africa to New Zealand, and it turned out to be the most administratively involved border we’ve ever crossed. Our container arrived on 1 February, but we didn’t clear the final hurdle until 2 March.

Because the process is surprisingly complex, we’ve put together this guide to explain exactly how to ship a motorcycle to New Zealand — including the paperwork, inspections, delays, and everything we wish we’d known beforehand. If you’re planning to bring your bike into NZ, here’s how to make the process as smooth as possible.

Before arrival

Ensure your Carnet is valid well beyond arrival (ours had only weeks left).
Clean your bike thoroughly before shipping.
Budget time.
Budget money.
Extend your accommodation… just in case.

Cleaning and quarantine

Just like with shipping to Australia, your motorcycle must be incredibly clean. We spent a long time getting them showroom condition clean. We were warned that if the bikes didn’t pass muster, there would be additional charges.

There was a price of NZ$90/hr + travelling + admin costs – there didn’t seem to be an upper limit… So, make sure they are free of any dirt, grime, grease and especially any foreign matter like grass, bugs etc.

Paperwork and info for New Zealand

Have a read of the New Zealand motorcycle travel guide for more detailed info regarding visas and paperwork requirements for entering New Zealand.

Arrival in New Zealand

The shipping company you use should collect the container from the dock and store it in their bonded warehouse. Customs will visit their warehouse to do their thing.

Your Carnet will be sent with your motorcycle along with the keys. The shipping company will manage the stamping in as part of the customs clearance and you won’t get the Carnet back until the bikes are cleared.

Carnet

You can enter New Zealand with a Carnet or a Temporary Import. However, a Carnet is much better because you can go through the below requirements like ACC and WOF for very little cost. If you Temporary Import, then technically you should comply the unit for NZ roads which is very time consuming and costly and a bond is also required which NZ Customs will take a very long time to refund after re-export.

Your motorcycle can stay in New Zealand as long as your Carnet de Passage is valid – your bike must be checked out of the country on a valid Carnet.

We only had until mid-March left on ours, so we had to renew them. This involved the AA office (under instruction from CARS UK) to ask Customs if it was OK to renew, and then renew the existing hard copy. I don’t want to think what would’ve happened if Customs said no.

You can only renew a Carnet once and each term is 12 months. We will need to arrange a new Carnet somewhere in Indonesia or thereabouts.

Speak to your Carnet supplier before you go.

READ MORE: What is a Carnet de Passage?

Customs, Biosecurity and Carnet

Once the container arrives:

Customs inspect the bikes.
Biosecurity inspects the bikes.
The Carnet cannot be processed until Customs complete their inspections.
The Carnet is handled by the shipping agent, not you directly.
The Carnet cannot be released until inspections are signed off.

This stage can take up to three weeks and we timed our arrival in Auckland to be near the end of the three weeks. Nothing else can move forward until this stage is complete.

Luggage clearance

Your personal effects are processed separately.

Ours took an extra day because Customs required proof of our NZETA (visa), despite it being digital and theoretically accessible to them.

In reality, you won’t collect bikes without luggage cleared too — so treat it as part of the same waiting period. We arrived in Auckland on the Friday and collected the bikes the following Tuesday (allowed our body clock the time to adjust to the 13-hour difference).

After Customs clearance

Even though the bikes are not strictly legal, we were able to ride the bikes from the warehouse to our Airbnb once they cleared customs. This is the point where some people just start their travels – either oblivious to the additional requirements or just not caring. There are very few Police around and zero roadblocks. You’d have to be involved in an incident for it to be flagged up…

ACC Levy (Registration on NZ System)

The Accident Compensation Corporation (VTNZ) office is in Auckland, just a short Uber away. We didn’t think it right to rock up on the bikes as they were not strictly legal. Join the queue and wait your turn.

ACC Auckland office location: Google Maps

Once Customs release is complete:

Attend a registration office.
Complete paperwork.
Pay the ACC levy.

Cost: NZ$68.61 per bike

The ACC levy:

Covers basic third-party personal injury.
Does not cover property damage.
You are issued registration tags.
Tag holders are provided (we won’t use them — locals say they’re easily stolen).
Our tags will stay in our documents folder and be shown if requested.
Note that the ACC tags should legally be displayed on the bike. Most mount the tags behind the rear number plate – the tag holder can swivel so a traffic warden can see it and check. Apparently (Wellington being a hot-spot), the fines for not displaying tags is north of NZ$1,000 and the traffic wardens are hot on it. So, if you park in a public place, you are running the gauntlet. Traffic wardens and police are very separate. But we have also been told that if we display them they’ll get nicked. Your call.

Compliance Inspection + WOF

If you ship your motorcycle to New Zealand on a Carnet, then technically a WOF should be obtained for the motorcycle prior to driving around NZ.

There is nothing to stop you riding the bikes and no-one is going to be overly bothered – our host had been driving her car for four months before realising her WOF had lapsed. There are no ANPR cameras around and the Police cars aren’t equipped with them either – it’s all very relaxed – but you do technically need it.

Compliance office location: Google Maps

Once ACC is paid and you have your receipt and tags:

Book a compliance inspection (enhanced inspection).
This ensures the bike meets NZ standards.
A WOF (Warrant of Fitness) is issued if passed.

Cost: NZ$115 per bike (including WOF)

We dropped the bikes at Fasttrack (the irony was not lost on us) on the Friday and collected them the following Monday – a day earlier than they ask you to allow.

Note that some WOF stations will also arrange for the ACC levy too.

Insurance

ACC covers personal injury only. We strongly recommend arranging additional Third-Party insurance to cover property damage. You don’t want to hit a Ferrari without it. We arranged cover online with Star Insure before arriving in NZ.

Costs

Customs handling, plus biosecurity plus shipping company fees:

Total for two bikes: NZ$1363.77
Per bike (rounded up): NZ$682
ACC levy: NZ$68.61
Compliance plus WOF: NZ$115

Possible storage:

14 days free from warehouse arrival
Minimum weekly charge thereafter: NZ$25
Our customs delay exceeded 14 days but no storage was charged

Total cost per bike

The total cost to get our motorcycles into New Zealand works out at approximately:

NZ$866 per bike. But note, this figure excludes insurance and any additional cleaning charges and the actual shipping cost from South Africa.

Final observations

Docked: 1 February
Fully legal: 2 March
A month of sequencing, waiting and form-filling.

We know riders currently travelling in NZ who have not paid the ACC levy or completed compliance. You roll the dice. For us, we prefer to sleep well at night.

Shipping companies

See the International Motorcycle Shipping Companies Finder on Mad or Nomad for more info on agents and forwarders in New Zealand.

READ MORE: Shipping Company Finder

About the authors

We’re Life2onTour — a husband-and-wife team riding our own motorcycles around the world.

We left the UK in 2023 and have since crossed continents, climates and cultures on two Yamaha Ténéré 700s. From the Americas to Antarctica to Africa and now into the South Pacific, we prefer to ship our bikes rather than hire locally. It keeps the journey continuous. Same machines. Same scars. Same stories.

Follow Carl and Isabel’s awesome adventures here: