I understand that there are three main steps to importing a car into France. 1, Shipping it to France and getting it through customs. 2, Getting approval to have it registered. 3, Actually registering it. Each step has a myriad of steps within of course.
After the car has been shipped to France and cleared customs, is there a time frame or time limit for when it has to be registered in the French system? I read that you can drive a foreign registered car for some number of months before it must have a French registration to continue being driven, but what if you donât want to drive the car right away and just want to store the car in a garage for a year or so before getting a French registration for it?
The reason I ask is because I have a 1997 model and it should qualify as a vehicule de collection in 2027, but I plan to bring myself and the car over in 2026. I read that itâs far simpler to import an American car that qualifies for vehicule de collection status, and that itâs an exceptionally onerous and expensive task to import an American car through the regular procedure. So I would like to avoid that by waiting one year to get it registered in France after it turns 30 years old. I donât want to leave the car in America for a year because I plan to import it along with some other household goods so that it would qualify for the import duty exemption.
Not sure that would work. I could be wrong as not an area I know that well. However three factors at play which I believe are inter-related. In France you have to insure your car even if stored off road. And to do that it needs to be registered. And if importing a car you have a month to start tge registration process.
I am not sure you will get a definitive answer as your situation is not run of the mill.
France has some strict rules, the first will go sgainst you in that an import must be registered within six months. However, I think the process must be started immediately.
Have you had confirmation that your car is a vehiCule de collection? I have tried to bring in a car that is generally regarded to be in the collection catergory, but France said a firm negative!
What marque is your car? Was the same model ever sold into France?
I suggest that you in the first instance, contact the FFVE with these questions as it is they who will be the gatekeeper after customs. They are very helpful.
I strongly urge you to contact them and have their positive answer before you commit to the physical import.
Thank you for the advice. I will try contacting the FFVE next. I believe that my car will qualify for vehicule de collection in 2027 once it turns 30 years old because it is completely factory original, and it is no longer produced since the Pontiac marque was shuttered in 2010. The same model was sold in France, but with several changes including a different and far less desirable engine.
Can I ask why your car was denied vehicule de collection status even though itâs normally regarded as a collector car? Iâm curious if I might face a similar issue.
France does not follow the 30 year rule on special registration status. The reason being that in the nineties - I cannot remember exactly when -the EU decreed that all cars sold in the EU had to conform to a set of norms and be issued with a certificate of conformity. All cars made before this time imported into France had to get a special certificate from FFVE - and still do.
Now, if your model was sold into French retail outlets, and in 1997, then the model will have a certificate. You will need this to import your car. If your model is covered by a certificate but you cannot find it, FFVE cannot issue a special - you will need a full and expensive inspection to import the car.
I fell into this trap in wanting to import a 1996 Evante from Germany - a modernised Elan by a UK specialist of which only nine were ever made. The seller did not have the certificate and the specialistâs records to print a copy from, were lost. FFVE could not do anything for me.
As it happens, I care not as I bought a Porsche the other day by accident, and now wonder why I wasted all my years on Lotus
You must therefore write to FFVE asap and ask them if your car is covered under their remit. Give them every detail you can, even photos. As I said, they are really helpful.
Are all the vehicles in the various auto museums all insured and thus registered? I find that very hard to believe, surely there is some display only exception to the reg? Maybe consult an attorney about setting up a âmuseum â?
And what about race and track only vehicles? Are they required to be registered and insured as well? Why canât you simply import it on a bill of sale for display purposes only, like any other piece of machinery in a museum? Or as a track day only vehicle that will travel the public roads on a trailer and be driven on private property: race tracks. Then once the 30 years have passed begin the regularization process.
There are hundreds of historic and current race bikes and cars derived from production vehicles that do just that all over the world, including France.
There are quite a few american car clubs in France, my previous dept had one and three people in my commune owned great big classic imports. One was for sale a few weeks back and one other chap had imported a big stretch limo for hiring for weddings etc although he did have problems getting round some of the narrow streets and corners. I am sure the OP can find a way through the maze of bureaucracy and it obviously can be done. Otherwise is it easier to import via shipping to Belgium or Germany first? The US forces stationed there often have american models brought in.
Thank you for the extra information, thatâs very helpful. It seems the EU began requiring the certificate of conformity as you mentioned starting in January of 1996. The car I want to import is a 1997 Pontiac Firebird, and I can not find any 1997 models that are French/Euro versions. The differences are easy to spot because the Euro version has extra lights (which are ugly).
There are some Firebirds which are newer than 1997 in France, but they are all US versions. This leads me to believe that Pontiac stopped importing cars into Europe when the certificate of conformity was required, and that all of the 1996 Euro spec models found in France were probably actually manufactured in 1995 as early models. That also means there is no certificate of conformity for my car, at least not for the 1997 model year.
What happens when there is no certificate of conformity because none ever existed? I suppose it would be the same if you wanted to import a car of the same year that was never sold in Europe like a Ford Thunderbird or Mitsubishi Eclipse. Or maybe nobody knows yet because there currently arenât any cars that are 30 years old and would have needed a certificate of conformity, but donât have one. Currently a 30 year old car would be from 1995, which is before the certificate of conformity was required.
I was wondering this too, but I would be afraid to go the route of âshow and displayâ or ârace carâ because it may not be possible to revert the status back to a normal road car after the year is up. Just like I read itâs not possible to revert the status of a car once itâs been granted vehicule de collection status.
However, I have read numerous accounts of it taking multiple years to complete the importation of a car from the US into France when there are complications. So what happens with the car during all that time, it must be parked somewhere for those years.
Trawling around the internet, I cannot find any post 1997 Firebirds for sale in France (other than a UK registered one) - plenty in Germany, Holland, Spain and Belgium, but none here.
Not what you want to hear - a pity your car is not a corvette. Plenty of these in France. Annoying because the engineering both models are pretty well the same. It is unfortunate that GM chose to market the Corvette, and not the Firebird, here.
Went past the Corvette factory and museum when I was visiting family and we went over into Kentucky. Son in law wanted a Firebird the other year and drove for a day to view one but it was not to his liking and he couldnât see it online. He still looks now and again but is happy with the Hellcat for the time being.
I think that is true, I have an Ape 3 wheeled van which has never been registered (not needed before 2009 as it was classed as a scooter with a scooter engine) and the insurance company said it should be insured when I took it off the road. They relented when I said the wheels were off it and the battery removed.
I emailed both the FFVE and the FIVA with my question and the FIVA emailed back with this response:
Yes, it is possible to bring your Pontiac Firebird to France and store it without registering it until 2027, when the vehicle reaches 30 years of age.
Yes, once it turns 30 years old, you will be able to obtain an FFVE certificate. With an American Title, the French customs 846A document, and the FFVE certificate, you will have everything required to obtain a Historic French title of circulation.
I havenât heard back from the FFVE yet, but the FIVA response is encouraging. I assume once a âHistoric French title of circulationâ is obtained, that means it can be registered without needing to change dozens of parts?
I had a plainjane â96 Camaro with the 3.8l Series II (was it? 200hp) and stick. It was a pretty decent car until I wanted to work on it and then it was a royal PITA. Also, just not great as a one-and-only car for a family, with the huge doors and limited trunk. Loved the engine though. Lots of plasticâŠ
Excellent! We shall watch your progress with great interest.
Just wondering if youâve actually received the FIVA reply in French and (if so) how well itâs been translated⊠âHistoric French title of circulationâ doesnât sound quite right, unless itâs something newly available. ?
The FIVA reply was in English, I just copy/pasted it here directly. The person from FIVA who responded is actually from their office in Torino Italy according to the contact information in their signature. I bet they were confused as to why I emailed in French, but at least I included both French and English versions. Since the contact information I found for the FIVA was on a link from the FFVE site, I thought it would be going to a French office.
Itâs just a regular Firebird, not a Trans Am. I think a person would go broke trying to feed an old 5.7 liter V8 with French fuel prices. And I imagine the âpuissance fiscaleâ would be quite high for a 300 hp car. To me, the standard Firebird is a much better fit for Europe, and as you said, the 3.8 Series II is a great engine. As far as Iâve been able to tell, French market Firebirds only got the 3.4, which is not so desirable. But at least some of the French ones came with T-tops - a solid requirement for a Firebird in my opinion.
