Everything you need to know about a single vehicle approval for a motorcycle (MSVA) in the UK? 

When importing any kind of vehicle to be used for road traffic in United Kingdom, several documents are needed for the purpose of vehicle registration, one of them being a European Certificate of Conformity, which serves as a manufacturer’s declaration justifying the production parameters of a vehicle and its conformity to EU norms in 51 technical points.

For registration in the UK, you can apply for registration of your vehicle at the nearest DVLA local office. However, to ensure the registration process runs smoothly, it is advised to check which side of the road the vehicle is intended for. Restrictions regarding the country’s traffic lane and speedometer units are specified in the point number 0.6 on the Certificate of Conformity.

When do I need to undergo a single vehicle approval for my motorcycle (MSVA)?

Has your motorcycle been manufactured for the right-hand traffic (point number 0.6 on the COC includes the following sentence: the vehicle can be permanently registered without requiring any further approvals in Member States having right hand traffic and using metric units for the speedometer), or does the certificate say your vehicle is incomplete (any vehicle which must undergo at least one further stage of completion to meet the relevant technical requirements)? In this case, you need to modify the vehicle and then bring it in for a partial MSVA test.

If you do not have COC, the procedure is more difficult and more costly as you need to apply for a full MSVA – Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval. So do not hesitate to order your COC directly at EUROCOC to ease administrative matters.

How to adapt a motorcycle to left-hand traffic (right-hand drive) to be able to finally register it?

There are certain technical items that need to be adjusted which will subsequently be inspected during the MSVA test:

• headlamp dipped beam pattern – to check that the headlamp is suitable for driving on the left without blinding oncoming drivers
• speedometer – unit of measure needs to be changed once the car is imported to a country using a different speed unit (miles per hour vs. kilometers per hour)
• mirror location – this only applies to models fitted with a single mirror – to make sure a single mirror is fitted to offside (right) of the vehicle

Prices for inspection vary and depend on the type of approval (full or partial), on the type of motorcycle (low power moped, 2-wheeled vehicle), as well as on the type of test (inspection, re-inspection, or duplicate certificate).

For more information, an application to fill out and a list of inspection locations, click here.

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