Re-registering UK To France - Or Loopholes?

[systemjakob]

Hello, Long time reader first time posting, and I'm sure my question has come up a lot I was hoping someone could view my specific problem and advise...

I own a 5500kg Citroen Relay (Fame Conversion / ex Police). It is legally a PHGV, though for my purpose, it's a motorhome, but the DVLA rejected my request to change it to Motorhome.

I live in France, I work all over the EU, and UK and use my vehicle to go between these places. My Main residence is in France, though I have spent a lot of time IN UK returning to my parent's house, where I used to live, and the vehicle is registered to.

As far as I can see, the rules say If you're resident in france you must register the vehicle in France within 1 month (or within first 12 months of living there). Well, i didn't quite realise this, and now its past 12 months.

At the moment I am selling the vehicle, as it seems to be the easier option, But I'm hoping someone can give clarity on if any of the following options are possible.

I had read, though i think this is not correct information, that as long as the vehicle returned to the UK home address, and I do the MOT, it's okay....unsure how true that is now.

I can't find a lot of information on exporting private vehicle over 3.5T - and even if I did manage to get it exported etc.... what steps need to make it officially a motorhome in France....can I even do such a thing?

Or are there any amazing loophole, that are Legal

[996TT02]

Generally speaking all over the EU and beyond, if you are resident in any country you are not even allowed to drive a foreign registered car except for the grace period after importation. So in all honesty you are simply just getting away with it as there are insufficient checks on your residency / can pass for a non resident when stopped. It's not about returning to the UK for an MOT etc but simply about where you are resident. You must either sell in the UK or import officially and register in France, this should still be (grey area) possible if you export and re-import but may lose all rights to any allowances against registration and other fees like duty etc that may apply, these allowances exist for people moving residence but to be availed of, there is a time limit from the move. If you are just living informally in France not tax resident / officially resident then you may figure something out.