Registering Tamora in France - European CoC

[JockyWilson]

Hi guys,

This might be a tough one...

I've got a bit of an issue with getting hold of a European CoC for a 2002 Tamora. I'm going to be in France for the next few years with work and want to take the car with me; in fact it's just been transported down there and the clock is already ticking on my 30 days european cover on my current insurance policy.

It'll be easier to register the car in France whilst I'm there rather than try to insure it on UK plates whilst based outside the UK (in order to avoid the issue of UK insurance and MOT being required). Plus the difficulty of finding someone that will actually insure it on UK plates at a reasonable price.

I know people have registered Chimeras on the continent in the past and that there was a CoC for the Chimera, but has anyone tried to register a Tamora / T350 or seen a CoC for one?

Any help appreciated...

Cheers,
Allan

[Tom74TVR]

Hi, I know a French guy who last year imported a T350 into France. If you contact me i can send you his mailadres.
Tom.

[floatingjimi]

The only way that you would get it through is with the french equivalent of sva in france as there were never any coc's for a tamora.
It is a long process and costly and you ar not guaranteed to get it registered.
The vehicle would ideally have a certificate of non conformity.
You then pass a control technique.
Once you have that - which is not too difficult you will need to go via the DRIRE adn UTAC.
The inspections are expensive at the time that I had us cars going through it was over 1500 eur

Good luck

[NCE 61]

CoC is now available from TVR

[Mattt]

250 quid?

Robbing gits.

[Quentin1]

250 quid is nothing compared to the cost of a single registration overseas. A Sagaris can easily cost a grand in Euros just to make it road legal document wise.

[Mattt]

True, but for one letter?

[markSTI]

I lived in France for eight years and I have found registering cars to be very department specific. One department would register the car but another department wouldn't. Each department DDE in France is like a seperate country. My advice would be not to re-register it, just get it insured by a French insurance company. I did this with all of the sports cars I had when I lived in France, this included a few STI's, EVO's and Lotus. I dipped my toe in TVR registration when I lived there and I was told no way by my department which was 37, Loire et Indre.

You wont have any problems with the police at all and its all legal and above board. If you need an insurance company let me know and I'll pm you the details.

[floatingjimi]

the coc from tvr is not the same as a europena type approval - which is what you will require to register in France.

[floatingjimi]

bit naughty really - people will buy these thinking they have what is required but far from a euro coc or ECWVTA.

[RIP_puffsorted2]

Mattt said:

250 quid?

Robbing gits.

lol - well if 60,000 owners move to Europe Nik will have recovered his 15 million quid investment

[JockyWilson]

Thanks for the advice.... the saga is still ongoing for the moment. Just received my LHD headlights in the post from TVR Power so passing the Control Technique (equivalent to an MOT I believe) shouldn't be a problem once they're fitted. Incidently; fitting the headlights... I understood the lamp units are fitted by removing the front wheels and installing via the flap in the wheel arch. However a Chimera owner was telling me recently that the lamps might actually need to be changed by removing the headlight fairings i.e. cutting the sealent; does anyone know if that's the case?

I've been in contact with TVR about the CoC... contact itself is very slow via e-mail. I agree that 250 quid is pretty steep for a letter, and it's not even a European CoC as they didn't apply for one for the Tamora. So, as my work should refund the cost of the CoC I figured I'd give it a try and go to the French authorities and see if it's accepted.... risky I know.

If not, I guess it's back to insuring it on UK plates while in France. The cheapest quote I have so far is 1200€ though.... nearly double what I'm paying in the UK...

[Quentin1]

JockyWilson said:

However a Chimera owner was telling me recently that the lamps might actually need to be changed by removing the headlight fairings i.e. cutting the sealent; does anyone know if that's the case?

Guess he was lighting his pipe at that moment...

Tamora lights are changed through the flaps in the wheelarches. Takes about 15 minutes per side. The lamps are secured by four screws each side. Oh, an they are regular VW items...LT 28 and Golf II, IIRC. Regular Hella items.



The Chimaera owner was remembering the Griffith. This job is a hassle...

All the best,
Björn.

[V8 GRF]

Quentin1 said:

The Chimaera owner was remembering the Griffith. This job is a hassle...

All the best,
Björn.

You can't get at the Griffith lights by cutting the sealant either as the lens is wider than the hole in teh bodywork so again it's done from the rear as the whole pod unit is offered up from the inside.

[Quentin1]

Believe me, you have to. Just finished a conversion for mainland Europe. You cut the sealant, take out the whole pod, remove the cover glass from pod and then you can remove the light from the pod. There is no other way to to it on a Griffith.



Tamora is easier, since the lights can be removed through the back panel. The problem on the Griffith is not the size of the cutted whole in the wheelarch, but the fact, the you cannot remove the light from the pod without removing the cover glass. So it is a pod out job.

Regards,
Björn.

[dave1963]

Please don't forget the positions of the reversing light and fog light. On the continent they should be the other way around. Only way to do this is to cut the lenses out out and re-seal them after switching the lamps around.

[dave1963]

Please don't forget the positions of the reversing light and fog light. On the continent they should be the other way around. Only way to do this is to cut the lenses out out and re-seal them after switching the lamps around.