Hello,

My parents are coming over to England from the states for my graduation this spring and are thinking about buying me the new Yamaha Motif XS and bringing it along. As you know, it's about half price if bought in dollars instead of pounds, plus if it's a gift, they can't be charged VAT on it when they enter the country.

When I moved to England, I bought my keyboard along in an SKB hard case as checked luggage and had no problems whatsoever. However, I'm a bit leary this time as this will be a brand-new, expensive synth.

What do you think? Can they get travel insurance that would cover the cost of the keyboard if it gets lost or damaged? I'd tell them to just ship it across, but it would get stuck in immigration for weeks and weeks as they would try to charge VAT on it. When I shipped my own equipment across, immigration wouldn't let me have it until I paid them VAT, then I had to fight for my money back!

Thanks,

Carrie

Congrats on your graduation - nice prezzie, too!

Last year I took my Korg over to the U.K. with me as checked baggage and had no problems at all. Nobody questioned if the keyboard was new, ten years old, or anything. I just picked it up at the counter and rolled on through. Same thing coming back to Canada. I mean, they don't have to know if it's a new board, do they?

Hi Renig,

You're right, they don't have to know! If they can't get travel insurance that will cover it, I'll tell them not to risk it though. We'll see what they find out I guess!

The only thing that bothers me about the new Motif is the fact that it's not expandable.

Thanks,

Carrie

Hello,

You might want to check on warranty coverage for the keyboard if it's bought in another country. Could be expensive if you had to send it back to the USA for warranty work.

Thanks.

Ooooh yeah, didn't think of that! I doubt the warranty would cover repairs made here in the UK. I suppose it would be a risk...

So far the only repairs I've ever had to make to a keyboard is a key replacement, which my husband did for me!

By the way, thanks for the congrats Renig It's taken me a while to finally get thru college (I'm 33!), and I'm the only child to have done so, so it's quite a monumental occasion