Exporting an S1 to France

[ben2]

Hi

Has anyone exported a TVR to France?

One of the members in our region is moving over there and wants to export his TVR S1 when he moves.

Has anyone done this in the past? The French apparently need a Certificate of Conformity, which hopefully the factory can supply, but it needs to be in French! What other documentation is involved?

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks

Mark

[Ballistic Banana]

Dont know the laws etc etc but if you friend needs anything translating my Gf is French and i am sure would help for a few bottles of wine and a couple of garden snails Honestly thouigh would be glad to help if needed.

BB

[Driller]

Be prepared for a long hard slog. I live in Paris and I sold my Griffith 500 before coming over in 2002. However what I did bring over was a brand new Triumph Tiger (motorbike). You wouldn't believe the shit I had to go through to get a French vehicle licence on a bike which was not only new but sold in France with French dealerships. At one point they wanted me to pay French VAT on the bike (6 months old at that point) and get the English VAT refunded! Without the French vehicle licence (carte grise) you cannot get French insurance.

I had a good long talk with Jacques Savoire the (old) importer of TVR's in France as I was interested in buying and running a Tuscan. Oh how he laughed...

It's all about this Eu4 homologation thing, it's TVR UK's responsibility to get it organised but they won't and have even let the homologation they had on the Griffs and Chimps lapse so that these no longer have homologation in France. IE the cars are not recognised here because of emissions not conforming etc and if they're not recognised you can't get a carte gris if you can't get a carte gris you can't get insurance, same old story.

If and when homologation is achieved you will have to get a certificate of conformaty from a dealer in France IE Jacques Savoire- except he told me he was finished with TVR as they just couldn't come to an agreement on many fronts.

The only other possibility is to run the car with a british plate and take a british all year green card insurance which I was quoted at being £2600 for the Tuscan.

To be fair I don't know what the situation is regarding homologation for the S's but all the same: Bon Courage, you'll need it!

Driller

From France where if you try to step outside the norm, you are quickly hammered back into it...

[Frenchtvr]

Hi Mark,

Whilst i didn't actually get around to importing it into France i did use my Wedge out there for 2 1/2 years. I spoke to the factory and they sent me a PDF copy of the homologation papers which you will need for the Carte Grise. Other than that it is a fairly straight forward if time consuming process. Take the car to the local prefecture and collect the necessary paperwork. Then take the car for a Controle Technique (MOT). Then once it has passed you can take the paper work back to the prefecture where you will be issued a carte grise etc. Then you have to take the car for another MOT on it's new french plates. Once it has pased this you can actually buy the plates. Obviously you will need l/h drive lamps, which if you are interested i have a set of for sale.

Also i drove my car for two years on french insurance with the English plates on. Also you will lose the UK number when you export it, worth bearing in mind if it is a private plate.

Regards,

Mick

[Driller]

mmmmm you make it sound simple! Maybe with the ford engine the conformation is easier. How the heck did you find a French insurance company to insure you with a British vehicle licence and plates though??

[reliant_fr]

Hi, There is an important things to know to importing a car in France: if the car was sell in France as new the same year as the car you want to import= there is no problem, the model was homologated, I'm sure the S1 was imported but I don't know how many years.

Driller, I live in Paris too !

[Frenchtvr]

Insurance on British Plates try AGF in Calais Tel:[phone] Speak with Thierry Marcq if ur French is not so ggod as his English is excellent

[Le TVR]

ben2 said:

Hi Has anyone exported a TVR to France?

ben2 said:

Has anyone done this in the past? The French apparently need a Certificate of Conformity, which hopefully the factory can supply, but it needs to be in French! What other documentation is involved?

The factory does have the C of C for the S1 (ask Terry Lendrim if he's still there).
The C of C also covers the S2 as well.
Actually I wrote the C of C as the originals went AWOL - a long story.....

You will probably be 'invited' to present the car to the 'service des mines' for checking it is according to the C of C.
Also a recipt for VAT will be needed for registration. Cant remember the ref number but the local douanes will help.

The rules for import have recently changed. Give me an email adress and I can mail you a copy.