Did he speak in French or English ???
No problem with my RH BMW. But I got my CoC (free - in French) from England before we came over. However if you have a relatively new car, your information will be online - all they need to do is put in the engine number - which will be in your V5C (logbook).
Lyn, he said it might not work to me, for a year old Touareg, but when I pushed him, he said that components might need replacing and tax to pay. He simply meant it’s not just filling in a form and waiting.
Yes, he spoke in English.
Well I’ve since spoken to two other people who do the paper work for carte grise and they’ve both confirmed there is o problem with RHD an I’ve checked out as much as I can and I haven’t seen any questions on whether the vehicle is LHD or RHD. So I’ll move the fog lamp and go back to see him.
Wish me luck!!!
1 Like
Hi Lyn
There is NO problem - it is simply that any imported car will need a bit more checking over and bits of paper.
RHD cars have special treatment - during the Contrôle Technique - allowing for Beam Benders to be used (properly applied).
If the gentleman insists there is a problem - ask him to be specific and then come back to us… 
I will keep you posted.
1 Like
Good luck Lyn.
A recent development with regard to EU certificates of conformity for UK cars.
I have had an import application request put on hold pending an inspection by DREAL. The reason I have been given is that the EU certificate of conformity is only valid for the UK.
The message is "Hello, The European certificate of conformity issued by the manufacturer, which you have attached to your application, indicates that the vehicle can only be permanently registered, without further approval, in Member States with left-hand drive. It is advisable to contact the Regional Directorate of Environment, Development and Housing (DREAL) in your region to request a Single Title Reception.
This is a concern because
A) An EU certificate of conformity is exactly that - valid in every EU member state
B) EU regulations (C2007/068/04) says "3.3.1. EC type-approval
All series-built passenger cars approved since 1996, motorcycles approved since May 2003 and tractors approved since 2005 are in principle subject to EC type-approval. This is a procedure whereby a Member State certifies that a type of vehicle satisfies all applicable European safety and environmental protection requirements. The EC type-approval is valid in all Member States."
There is no mention of any exemptions so I cannot understand why ANTS have suddenly created this issue & I am in the process of getting an answer from them.
No. That is a “man-in-bar” myth. The V5c needs to include other details as well, such as the CNIT ot TVV number next to D.2. This is often incomplete, totally wrong or not even present. There may be other details missing as well but you would not know what is incorrect/missing unless you have a COC to compare it with.
The type approval number by section K on the V5c applies to a series of model & does not identify individual vehicles.
Sometimes DVLA get it right though, so far this year I have had four vehicles accepted without a coc, but I have submitted over a hundred since January. To be fair most of them had the coc anyway so the success rate might have been higher.
The government web site service-public.fr has this -
"Si l’ancienne carte grise ne peut pas être fournie ou si elle ne comporte pas toutes les informations techniques nécessaires à l’immatriculation, justificatif complémentaire correspondant à votre situation :
Certificat de conformité européen délivré par le constructeur, édité si nécessaire dans une autre langue que le français
Attestation d'identification à un type communautaire
Procès-verbal de réception à titre isolé (RTI) établi par une Dreal."Small but contentious point, Richard, if you are not actually domiciled in France, what address did you put on the carte grise?
The Connexion & The Local have both published articles claiming that there is no requirement to prove full time residency. Good if it is true.
I just wonder why the word “domicile” rather than “address” is always used when referring to documents required for vehicle registration. Also, the new on-line system requires individuals to log in via FranceConnect. To authenticate via FranceConnect, you must meet at least one of these conditions:
work in France,
study in France,
be in the health system in France,
be affiliated to the national insurance system (social security)…
One would assume that none of the above would apply to holiday home owners or new arrivals which would explain why “newbies” have to use a third party service until their domicile status has been established.
This does beg the question; If non domiciles are permitted to register cars to an address other than their principle address, why are they prevented from accessing the very system that they need to use in order to do this?
EU regulations also seem do disagree with this new idea as C2007/068/04 has this “Every individual must register his vehicle in the Member State in which he is normally resident.” & europa.eu puts this in its Q & A section " I am Italian and every year I take a 3-month holiday in my second home in the French Alps, travelling by car. Can I register my car in France?
NO — You can only register your car in the country where you are permanently resident."
You would think that the french government & the EU would be able to get this right & not need an ex-pat paper to correct them (even though not a single official source has been given to substantiate this new change).
Hello Mark,
The vehicle is registered to our home address in France, I was required to provide proof of address at my French property (utilities bill) along with ID passport, driving licence a very straight forward process and nothing further was required or asked for. Carte grise arrived 24hrs after everything was completed on the ANTS website.
Regards Richard
Mine is 2003 and we had to change them!
I would guess that you used a third party as none of the government sites asks for just “proof of address”. Because an EDF bill is sufficient as proof of domicile it is often translated as merely address.
Presentation of such a bill fulfils the “domicile” element of the process but if it is not your domicile (which refers to your principle residence & does not have “in France” tagged on the end) then the evidence is false.
The above is worded for people who already live in France but the principle refers to others in other countries too. You cannot register your car in a department where you have a second home. Of course, it may be that the UK has a favoured status that puts it above the rest of Europe.
Despite the above I doubt that this is the crime of the century.
I suspect many of us know folk who leave a car here, registered at their second home. As you say Mark, it is not the crime of the century…
But, the French address where the vehicle is registered, is the address to which any Notice of Infringement (or other legal stuff) will be sent. An Owner might find themselves with a rather large fine (and whatever else) if the Infringement is not dealt with within the accepted time-delay.
Just something to bear in mind.
1 Like
Sadly this is completely rubbish advice.
There is no problem, currently, registering RHD cars in the rest of the EU.
If the V5 has the required information you may not even need a CoC.
Sounds like the garage doesn’t want the business.
I received this a few days ago from ANTS & have had similar messages since.
"Request sent by CERT on: 10/07/2019 11:56
Hello, In order to be able to use a vehicle, it must be registered, and as indicated previously in our message, in order to be able to register the vehicle in France, we need a Single Title Reception because the European Certificate of Conformity issued by the manufacturer, which you have attached to your application, indicates that the vehicle can only be permanently registered, without further approval, in Member States with left-hand traffic. If we do not receive the requested document, we will have to reject your application."
Other communications from ANTS :- " the COC provided mentions that the vehicle can be registered in all Member States where driving is on the left; the regulations have changed, so you should contact the services of DREAL to obtain an Individual Reception (RTI). "
Request sent by the Remote Declarant on: 30/07/2019 11:18
“Hello I would like to have a copy of the regulation that has changed please because I can’t find any trace on the government sites. cordially”
Request sent by the CERT on: 30/07/2019 12:18 “I have no way to scan you anything, this is a directive from the Ministry of Transport. Thank you”.
So far this year I have registered a considerable number of imports (I am a garagiste) & this is a recent thing.
I’m impressed that you do not have any problems registering RHD cars here!
Hi Mark… thanks for keeping us up to speed.
wow - surely this is a new type of CoC then? Having checked the one from my 2005 vehicle, it makes no mention of restricting to “driving on the left”
and if all RHD’s have to go through DREAL they’ll have to recruit more inspectors I would have thought. The poor chap who covers the South is rushed off his feet already. 
But, if the worst comes to the worst, DREAL is not a battle, just a bit of a drag.
I have a few cocs in my files & most of them say the same thing. It seems to be a standard phrase.
Here are examples from Hyundai in english, GM Vauxhall in french & VW in german.
I wonder why these never raised any eyebrows in the past ??? Perhaps it was because the Contrôle Technique done for Registration would show that the lights et al… met the necessary French regulations … ???
Surely cannot be anything sinister