Does anyone know of the costs and companies that can ship scooters from Taiwan to the US? Looking to ship from Taipei to San Francisco.
About 5 years ago, a good friend of mine shipped a scooter from Taipei to California. It is possible. I can’t answer your questions exactly, but just some tips that I remember. He found a shipping company rather easily. The bike was registered in his name, so it was easy getting it out of the country. Getting it into the US was another story. The US, especially California, has many regulations on the import of vehicles. His scooter was a 1979 Vespa with a two-stroke engine, so what he had to do to find a loophole, was to have the engine removed from the scooter body, and sent as either used spare parts or scrap metal. I can email him and ask how much it cost if you like. I remember he crated it himself, and the shipping company came to pick it up.
I myself imported a Vespa from Seattle. It was a nightmare. Because of US regulations, the bike couldn’t be shipped from the west coast. It was put on a train to somewhere on the east coast and put on a shipping voyage around the Panama Canal! Cost was as I remember around $1,500US for crating and transport, then I had to pay import fees here in Taiwan of close to $800US.
I should have had the engine taken off the scooter, but I wanted the title clear on import/export in case I ever want to ship it back to the US.
Several years ago I inquired at the Yamaha factory in Houkou, Hsinchu County about this. He put me in contact with a colleague in Seattle. Apparently, they had it worked out that my bike would go in on a standard shipment for an undetermined fee. I decided to stay so I don’t know what the outcome would have been.