Registering UK car in France? Ups & downs...

Registering UK car in France? Ups & downs...

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LDN

Original Poster:

8,905 posts

202 months

Sunday 5th April 2015
quotequote all
We are planning on leaving a car in our garage in France so that we can fly over and have a vehicle. We have a couple of cars that we are considering... note; our place is in the Alps.

First is a Jeep Wrangler 1999 / 2000. Bit agricultural but 4wd. Not sure it would meet any strict emissions tests... second is a brand new Fiat Qubo - Im sure there'd be no issue getting this registered in France...

  • how easy (hard) is it to get a car registered in France - to avoid having to bring it back to the UK for an MOT? Is there any such thing as a UK MOT station in France? If not, we need to really register a car there. Would an old Jeep be easy to register or is the Fiat a safer bet?

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Sunday 5th April 2015
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Errr - why not just buy a car in France ?

Fatt McMissile

330 posts

132 months

Sunday 5th April 2015
quotequote all
This link may interest you:
http://vehicules.flivistic.fr/resultats/FR/Alsace/...

To register either car in France you will need to take the following to the vehicles section of your local prefecture:

Certificate of conformity (in theory not necessary now if previously registered in EU state, but many prefectures and MOT stations are still asking for them)
UK registration document

Your passport or other means of ID

A services bill or letter showing your address in France

This form, completed https://www.formulaires.modernisation.gouv.fr/gf/c...

Quitus Fiscal - take the UK sale receipt (make sure it has a VAT number) to the local tax office and they will give you one

A controle technique (French MOT) from a CT center such as DEKRA. If the car passes an MOT it should also pass the CT but you will have to change the headlights to dip to the right, and possibly the rear foglight if there's only one and on the left. There's a few specialists about eg www.rogersheadlights.com

The cost of registering a vehicle in your department will be similar to these charges for Alsace. http://droit-finances.commentcamarche.net/faq/3350... The Tarif/CV is the fiscal power of the vehicle. You'll have to research that for your model, and note there's an extra charge for more polluting vehicles. Note that you would also have to supply the proofs and pay the registration charge if you buy a car in France, but there's no road fund license - at the moment.

I think that's everything, someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

I see from another thread that you've been getting on well with all concerned.......importing a conventional car is also easy if you do it correctly, but the reg dept in the prefecture can be very busy, so prepare to queue.....
Steve

smifffymoto

4,527 posts

204 months

Sunday 5th April 2015
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If you are not resident why bother?

LDN

Original Poster:

8,905 posts

202 months

Sunday 5th April 2015
quotequote all
Wow, thanks for the replies; much appreciated. Will read through all the links.

As for buying car there; could do; but we already have these vehicles so would be nice to give them a new home. As for why... we will be going over a lot - mostly driving but flying sometimes and it'd be great to have a permanet vehicle that lives there. No need to hire or mess about borrowing.

crossy67

1,570 posts

178 months

Monday 6th April 2015
quotequote all
One thing Fat might have missed is the ECO tax (yeh, cos taking money off you will off set your pollution wink )

This tax is based on the emissions (I think) and can cost more than the registration fee. The cost decreases each year until the vehicle is 10 years old then it disappears completely.

Just to clarify the typical costs. A friend of mine brought his 2007 1.6 petrol Megane here he paid (guessing at numbers here but quite realistic) 200€ for lights, 65€ for CT, 250€ in petrol, tolls and ferry then a mahoosive 600€ in registration fees and ECO tax. That's over 1k€ to register a 2007 Megane.

The other thing to consider is a LHD car will have a big potential market here where as the French will not touch a RHD one so you're left trying to sell to the English who will all see $'s and £'s as being the same value and will look on Ebay to see just how cheap they are in the UK and forget the 1k€+ it will cost to import it.

Personally, I wouldn't bother importing a car, they loose so much value and cost so much to sort here a proper French car doesn't really work out any more expensive and you won't look like a rich holiday home owner every time you pop to the shops wink

LDN

Original Poster:

8,905 posts

202 months

Monday 6th April 2015
quotequote all
crossy67 said:
One thing Fat might have missed is the ECO tax (yeh, cos taking money off you will off set your pollution wink )

This tax is based on the emissions (I think) and can cost more than the registration fee. The cost decreases each year until the vehicle is 10 years old then it disappears completely.

Just to clarify the typical costs. A friend of mine brought his 2007 1.6 petrol Megane here he paid (guessing at numbers here but quite realistic) 200€ for lights, 65€ for CT, 250€ in petrol, tolls and ferry then a mahoosive 600€ in registration fees and ECO tax. That's over 1k€ to register a 2007 Megane.

The other thing to consider is a LHD car will have a big potential market here where as the French will not touch a RHD one so you're left trying to sell to the English who will all see $'s and £'s as being the same value and will look on Ebay to see just how cheap they are in the UK and forget the 1k€+ it will cost to import it.

Personally, I wouldn't bother importing a car, they loose so much value and cost so much to sort here a proper French car doesn't really work out any more expensive and you won't look like a rich holiday home owner every time you pop to the shops wink
Thanks; it does indeed start to look best to simply buy a French car... it's just a shame as we have this old Jeep which is brilliant and perfectly suited to the Alps; it basically sits under a barn and has done for years. I liked the idea of giving it a new life in the mountains! But that's perhaps a silly sentimental, irrational, stance.

Thanks again for everyone's help.