The mandatory technical inspection for second-hand motorcycles in Flanders will be abolished in mid-2026, barely three years after its introduction. Pretty unpopular among bike riders, it resulted in 21,000 fewer second-hand motorcycles sold in 2024.
Motorcycles will no longer have to be inspected when sold or after an accident, and no periodic inspection will replace it, the cabinet of Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder (N-VA) confirmed to the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws.
The measure, introduced in 2023 by then-minister Lydia Peeters (Open VLD), was meant to improve road safety and comply with EU vehicle inspection rules. In practice, however, it proved unpopular.
Extra cost and time
An inspection costs €55.60, requires an appointment and a lot of extra time to complete, and — according to the trade federation Traxio — pushed up prices and discouraged transactions.
Wallonia applied nearly identical technical criteria but allowed slightly more flexibility in scheduling appointments and pricing through its operator, Autosécurité. Brussels, which shares inspection centres with Wallonia under the same operator, followed the same legal framework but with its own registration and enforcement authority.
The key difference now is political direction. While Flanders plans to abolish the inspection by mid-2026, both Wallonia and Brussels have so far given no indication that they will do the same.
Unless they follow suit, motorcyclists could soon face different resale requirements depending on where they live — an echo of Belgium’s long-standing regional patchwork in transport policy.
21,000 fewer motorbikes sold
In 2024, around 21,000 fewer second-hand motorcycles were sold, a drop of about a quarter compared with the previous year. Some companies even began specialising solely in preparing bikes for inspection.
When Flanders introduced its motorcycle inspection scheme in January 2023, GOCA Vlaanderen’s early figures showed both its reach and its limits. In the first three months, 4,244 inspections were conducted, almost all for second-hand sales rather than accidents.
Roughly one in five bikes failed the test, mainly due to faulty lighting, missing reflectors, worn tyres, or noise and emissions issues. Most others passed without significant problems.
The data suggested that while the system did uncover safety defects, it also imposed extra cost and bureaucracy on sellers. Now that the Flemish government plans to scrap the inspection entirely by mid-2026, those initial findings highlight a key tension: the checks caught real issues, but their market impact quickly outweighed their perceived safety benefits.
The abolition now fits into a broader overhaul of vehicle inspection policy. De Ridder also plans to reform the periodic car inspection system by 2028. Her cabinet argues that existing measures, such as post-accident checks and road safety awareness campaigns, already provide sufficient safeguards.
Different rules across borders
Within Belgium, both Flanders and Wallonia currently require an inspection when a motorcycle changes hands, but there is no periodic inspection regime in any region, including Brussels.
Across Europe, the rules vary widely. The Netherlands has no motorcycle inspection at all, while France introduced a mandatory periodic inspection in 2024 for bikes over 4 years old.
The European Union has been urging member states since 2014 to implement technical checks for motorcycles, but the directive allows considerable flexibility, leading to a patchwork of approaches. Some countries have opted for regular roadworthiness tests, while others, like Belgium, limit them to transfers of ownership or accidents.
Safety versus bureaucracy
The European motorcycle manufacturers’ federation, ACEM, supports regular inspections as a tool to improve safety. But the Federation of European Motorcyclists Associations (FEMA) takes the opposite view, arguing that technical defects play a minimal role in crashes — only about 1 to 2 percent — compared with road infrastructure or rider behavior.
Data from Belgium’s road safety institute, Vias, supports that claim: the number of motorcycle crashes with injuries has halved over the past decade, to 2,571 in 2024. However, 57 riders still lost their lives.
For the second-hand market, the end of the inspection requirement is expected to bring relief. Dealers and buyers are already delaying transactions until the rule disappears, which could soon stabilise prices again. Until mid-2026, however, the second-hand inspection remains in force, which means that patience, for now, may literally pay off.
Vehicle inspection reform
Flanders also plans a sweeping reform of its vehicle inspection system by 2028. Much of what Annick De Ridder is now formalising builds on the groundwork laid by her predecessor, Lydia Peeters (Open VLD). During her term (2019-2024), Peeters already launched studies and stakeholder consultations to modernise the technical inspection system.
However, Peeters’ government never moved beyond preparatory steps because the detailed reform needed broad coalition approval and time for regulatory change.
De Ridder, who succeeded her after the 2024 elections, effectively revived and expanded those plans: adding concrete measures, a clear 2028 timeline, and the political decision to proceed.
The overhaul aims to make inspections more efficient and customer-friendly by allowing certified garages — not just official centres — to perform checks, reducing inspection frequency, and scrapping extra requirements such as resale and identification inspections.
Pricing will become more transparent, with digital certificates linked to citizens’ online profiles. The reform also seeks to eliminate “gold-plating,” meaning Flanders will stick to EU minimum standards unless stricter rules clearly improve safety or air quality.
Some changes could take effect as early as mid-2026, though trade unions have warned about potential quality and oversight issues.
