Buying a classic car from France advice please ?

[roocarl]

Hi my French is not great but I am looking for a Citroen DS and not sure which French sites or owners clubs to look at my google searches are returning nothing and my attempt to access French ebay came up with 1 DS ?? !!
I must be doing something wrong so any tips on the best french classic car selling sites would be great thank you ??
also does the classic 5% tax apply or not as it is an EU car ?

Cheers Carl

[TooMany2cvs]

No, there's no duty or VAT to pay on a car coming from the EU, and you'll only need an MOT to register it here.

LeBonCoin.fr is a good place for a lot of old French tin, but there's plenty of others.

Remember that the CT is a lot more flexible on structural repairs than the MOT is, and French attitudes are... different... as a result. Do not be surprised if a car with a fresh CT gets you a long fail sheet. Unless you really know what you're looking at, I'd strongly suggest talking to a lot of people in the UK first, and maybe thinking about getting one of the UK specialists involved in your search. It doesn't take much of a pup to blow any savings you'd make...

[4F6]

As above, no VAT or tax to pay on imports from the EU. You'll need the Carte Gris to register it here and also have to complete a NOVA declaration within 14 days of it arriving in UK.

Probably worth picking up some of the French classic mags and checking out prices and specialists. Theres a couple of Citroen specific mags and Gazoline is worth a look too.

[sunbeam alpine]

There's a guy in Belgium who specialises in Citroen DS's. My brother in law gets his DS serviced by him, and the guy lives and breathes DS's. He also has a couple of Citroen SM's? - with the Maserati engine.

If you're interested (and it's not against the rules), post a reply and I'll put up his details.

[chrispmartha]

Get intouch with Graham Morton at GMV vehicle services in Holmfirth West Yorkshire he will (for a fee) source and get you a good DS (he got mine) but be warned there are very few if any bargains left, but you are doing the right thing getting a french LHD one, that's how they are meant to be.

Be very careful there are a lot of very good looking but ultimately rotten DSs out there, you need someone who knows what they are looking for otherwise you could end up with some very very large welding bills

[chrispmartha]

Also the french use leboncoin.fr rather than ebay, if you want any more info PM me and I'll help where I can

[chrispmartha]

Sorry for multiple replys, what's your budget? dSs are 5 figure cars these days

[rallycross]

No import costs to worry about
Take a look at autoscout Europe and set your advanced search to France and old timer or Citroen to find them.

[6pi]

chrispmartha said:

Also the french use leboncoin.fr rather than ebay, if you want any more info PM me and I'll help where I can

+1

Being French myself I completely agree. You can also take a look at laCentrale.fr alternatively but I suspect you'll find more cars on leBoncoin.

[roocarl]

Cheers guys i will check those out, I have been looking for a while there seems to be quite a few dodgy £5k cars or nice ones for £15k plus that just dont sell my budget is £7-£10k but just not that many for sale in Uk so thought of more choice in France preferably a 65-69 car with the earlier dashboard

[chrispmartha]

You'll struggle on that budget for a car with the early dashboard.

Make sure it runs on green fluid not red as this is higher maintenance.

I'd also be looking at an ID, or later they are DSupers or D specials (mines a d special) don't look at ful DSs or Pallas variants as you won't get a decent one of under £18k.

This is a really nice early dashboard ID to give you a guide to how much they have gone up

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/571474490.htm?ca=...


Mine was a barn find from Holland it had been in fry storage for 25 years and has never been welded and is rust free (chassis is key here body panels are easily replaced) mine was under 5,000 euros but I'm at least 12k in now to get it in decent running order.
I'll post some pics when I'm at my laptop

[roocarl]

Anyone know this guy the green one looks tidy . I dont mind an id and i am not expecting a 2.3 5speed pallas lolwww.citroen-ds-id-forsale.co.uk/stocklist.html

[chrispmartha]

It looks nice (apart from the seat covers which are easily replaceable) but does seem fairly cheap, I'm sure I've seen this for sale before a while ago. I'm personally not keen on IDs with Pallas upgrades as I like originality but that doesn't mean it's a bad car, the big thing is getting someone who knows what they are looking at to give it a good looking at.

[chrispmartha]

This mine

[chrispmartha]

This is a good site for all things DS

http://www.nuancierds.fr/entreeuk.htm

its all in french but fairly easy to find stuff out, its good for checking original colours etc

For instance it shows that the Green ID you linked to is in a correct colour for that year.

[Smiley198700]

chrispmartha said:

This mine

That is lovely I've always wanted one of these but prices are on the up

OP if you get one please start a reader's cars thread, would be a good read

Nothing useful to add other than I have an unhealthy obsession with these cars

[chrispmartha]

Smiley198700 said:

That is lovely I've always wanted one of these but prices are on the up

OP if you get one please start a reader's cars thread, would be a good read

Nothing useful to add other than I have an unhealthy obsession with these cars

Believe me the obsession gets a lot worse when you get one, they are simply sublime cars, very very special indeed

[roocarl]

That is a very nice Ds :-) I looked at 3 cars a couple of years ago a £5k safari looked like it was dragged out of a lake a £7k 23 pallas but filler everywhere , £17k one at specialist nice but not that special ! When I stopped looking and bought something else i saw a bare metal resto Pallas on ebay no reserve went for £13 !!! Which i would of happily bought :-( always the way lol

[roocarl]

Thanks Chrispmartha I thinking of flying over taking in Retromobile and viewing these -

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/761835968.htm?ca=...

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/571474490.htm?ca=...

http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/756132271.htm?ca=...

What do you think , I love the blue one but at the top of my budget ...

[benjj]

I'd be tempted to save up another 5k to add to your 10k and try and get something solid.

Like most older cars the greatest expense on these is the bodywork and paint.

The engine can be made to work with bits of twigs and rubber bands.

The suspension isn't something to be afraid of an is not expensive to fix if it breaks.

The interior and electrics is all a piece is pissior too.

Bodywork, bodywork, bodywork, bodywork.

Good luck