I’ve heard recently from a few local Brits who have been involved in car accidents that, in their shaken up position, they have accepted the other motorist’s “kind” offer to fill in the standard accident form. This has ended up in very unfortunate & unfair insurance claims - one woman, turning right off the road into her driveway, was rear ended by a dozy driver who then “helped” by filling in her form. She was found to be the one at fault (!) & lost her no claims bonus.
Perhaps part of the problem is that some of us lose our grasp of French in these circumstances so I include here a copy of the standard accident form in English. Please print it out & add it to your car papers.
I have always filled them in in English on the basis that it is a European document rather than a French one, never had a refusal from my insurer.
When I was losing my rag with my neighnour's insurance company over a dog bite I ended up writing my letters in English.
Bugger! I’m sure you’ve already done so but just in case - get it blocked asap!
Just had my mobile phone nicked, with associated prolems, so I feel another rant coming on… lets see if THAT will top the 100!
Me too but I had this comical Mr Bean style scene in my head of someone trying to get an English one signed… some of the Brits I’ve come across, not on this site of course 
are capable of that 
Bt the way… good thread Mark, but I don’t think we’ll get this one past the 100 mark !
I think, Andrew, is that you would use your english copy as a template so you would fully understand what the french form wanted, rather than submit the english version.
a copy in English to understand the French version, if needed, is a good idea but I can’t see a French person agreeing to sign a version in English or it being accepted by the insurance company
I appreciate that it must be difficult if someone doesn’t speak a lot of french or understand too well, especially after an accident, but I’m under the impression that you have to fill out a constat and you should have one in your car anyway - that way you’ll have already had a look at it when putting it in the glove box and have an idea what it’s all about. No I’m not telling any one what to do or preaching… just trying to avoid that others find themselves in a rather nasty situation feeling a little lost.
Here’s a link giving more info:
http://www.assurantis.com/dossiers/constat.htm
A woman skidded into the back of me at traffic lights got out of her car and tried to tell me it was my fault as I was driving too fast and she was following me at the same speed… that her other half was a gendarme and that she was going to call him… I asked her to calm down and call him pointing out her error… half an hour later, yes she took half an hour to calm down in the rain, she appologised and we filled out the constat. her husband called me the following day to try and sort it out without going through the insurance which we did.
Hi Mark,
Thank you, hopefully will not need it, but better safe than sorry.
This is really great - thanks 
Thanks Mark,
Great job done - I’m sure this will give a lot of people the confidence to report accidents correctly instead of simply accepting the other parties version. I had a very minor bump last year and, although the other driver admitted full responsibility, as there appeared to be very slight damage to my car and none at all to his, I declined to fill in the accident report simply because of the language problem. Unfortunately there was a lot more damage to my car than I thought and I wished that I had persevered.
Regards,
Roger Godsmark.
Cool, thanks (both) for responses.
Trucks! Now there’s a thought. I now have to measure my driveway.
Had another query, but decided to start a new thread instead of taking this one way off topic!
http://www.survivefrance.com/forum/topics/classic-cars-and-the
Oh gawd - please don’t let James see that…
Yes thanks for that Mark - our landy was classed as a utilitaire
Hi Greg,
A CT lasts for 2 years unless your vehicle is classed as a commercial vehicle, such as a van, when it is subjected to an annual emissions test. I suspect that Catharine’s Landy fell into this category. Your Fiat could be put on to a collection carte gris for vehicles over 30 years old. You would only have to test it every 5 years. If you collect bigger toys they don’t have to be tested at all!
Oh, how do you find out if you need an annual CT? Do you know what the rules are now? We have a '71 Fiat 500… no one has mentioned to us it should be tested annually. I guess it should say so on the sticker in the windscreen? I’ll check anyway.
Thanks Mark
That is utterly brilliant - thank you. Exactly that happened to me last year and I got a bloody fine from the gendarme as well as our CT was over a year old and apparently, driving an old landy, I was required to renew it every year…