Sorry - I wasn't clear enough. I have the new CG in my name based on very current CT. My concern is that I had organised 3rd party insurance cover and they covered me for 2 or 3 weeks pending receipt of all my paperwork (which they already had btw). Out of the blue, they then refused to insure me but I couldn't work out any reason. I arranged replacement with AXA and again got temporary cover till paperwork sorted but now need to return to OZ and wont be back for at least 6 months. Car will be parked in security car park whilst I am away and temptation is to pay AXA for their current 1 month cover but not have cover for next 6 months till I get back and take up the AXA insurance then. But I had heard a rumour along the lines of Andy's experience that there can't be a gap
What is the cause of the delay?
If you have all the paperwork you can get a temporary cg from the prefecture in less than an hour & the new CG is usually with you in about 3 days.
Take the cession form, the old cg, the CT, which should have been carried out less than 6 months ago ( or a failure cert within the last 2), your passport, proof of your french address (EDF bill) & a demande form, which you can either download or fill in at the prefecture.
Sorted in less than a week!
I recently had a gap in cover and there were several options open to me.
In the end, the easiest was to take a one day cover with a temporary insurance, and I could then state that the car had been insured until the day of starting with the permanent insurance.
That was the idea of the insurance company, but I also read the same story elsewhere.
As I have been living in Africa for last 6 years and not allowed to drive (landmines) I have no NCB anyway. It was more a concern that any gap in cover would preclude me from getting any cover at all
You car must be insured by law even if it is off the road (3rd party only), but I'm sure lots of people have managed to get around this. When the cover note expires the insurance will just fall away.
If you have a break in insurance for 6 months then depending on the insurer you should be able to keep you proof of no claims bonus from beforehand. Setting up the insurance should be an easy process so if you are having a 'horror' then if you want to contact me I'll help see what is making it hard for you.