Only available to residents and open to new members Tues 10.00 to Thurs 16.00. (1) Driving in France - French Licence Application | Facebook (DIFFLA)
Alternatively the basic Driving in France group open for residents, 2nd home owners and visitors.
(1) Driving in France | Facebook (DIF)
You are now required to exchange your licence in France as a resident here, but as it’s taking 6-8 months you need to get a wriggle on.
If it’s only your photocard 4b that is expiring you can drive whilst waiting to be processed, but you need to check with your insurance company and your local Gendarmerie if you are concerned.
If it’s your actual licence column 11 that is expiring then you will not be able to drive until you are asked to submit your original licence to CERT, when you will receive a temp licence whilst they produce your French one.
Renewing in the UK would be an offence as you make a false statement as to your residential status on an official document. There is no such thing as an admin address in the UK, this myth is passed around all the time.
Hello Kim,
Having just looked at the ANTS website, it clearly states that one of the documents to be supplied for an exchange of driving licence is “Une attestation des droits à conduire de moins de 6 mois délivrée par les autorités étrangères ayant délivré le permis de conduire.”
So then, I’m wondering how a person with an expired UK licence due to having attained 70 yrs of age can obtain the required attestation when their right to drive under their former UK licence no longer exists.
Are you saying that DVLC will issue the attestation that a person has the right to drive in the UK when they clearly do not, due to age expiry of their UK licence ? I admit that I haven’t posed the question to DVLC, but somehow I doubt that they would be willing to issue the attestation required by ANTS.
Alternatively, are you saying that the ANTS website is incorrect when they say that they require said attestation in order to process a licence exchange ?
I propose a hypothetical situation for consideration :-
A person who has lived permanently in France for 10 years is 75 years of age.
Their UK licence expired by reason of age 5 years ago, and has never been renewed or extended.
Clearly they no longer have the right to drive in the UK.
If they cannot obtain the attestation (required to have been issued not more than 6 months ago) of having the right to drive in the UK from DVLC, which I doubt would be the case, then they cannot submit all of the obligatory documents to be furnished to ANTS in order to exchange their well expired UK licence for a French one.
So, their only route to obtaining a French driving licence is to take a French driving test.
Sorry to be a nuisance, but when you say “A UK licence is exchangeable regardless whether the card 4b date or column 11 date has expired.” it seems to me that this is inconsistent with being able to furnish the list of required documents listed by ANTS in order to process a successful exchange of licence.
I was involved with the new U.K. agreement so can 100% guarantee that an expired U.K. licence will be exchanged.
If your licence has expired you contact the DVLA and ask them to email you a copy of the D737 certificate.
Your right to drive never expires unless your licence is taken away from you but your physical licence does. This is why you are allowed to exchange an expired licence. The D737 evidences the categories you have a right to drive.
If you passed your test pre 2021 your licence is still processed as an EU licence and the same conditions apply.
The only difference is that any category achieved by grandad rights will not be exchanged.
And the same re the reg of the vehicle.
I have a sort-of friend - he’s so flaky I am somewhat ‘at two’ [Woody Allen] with him, esp regarding this topic.
For years he’s been driving a GB plated moho in FR despite being res of FR. I presume his licence is also GB. He’s getting it MoT’d in UK as we speak. When I sent him the link to the story in SF of the Brit couple who were expensively pinged by Douanes for their GB plated moho - “We’ve been doing it for years!” - his reaction was "Yikes!" but nothing by way of going legit.
He’s bring back from UK a window for my van. He’s fretting about this -“I’ve heard nightmare stories” - tho’ I have told him I don’t expect him to try to hide it from Douanes. The invoice of the thing and all my details are pasted to the package in an envelope. The price is some €300 short of his tax free allowance. If they want paying, I’ll pay.
However, it seems not to have occured to him - he hasn’t mentioned it ever since “Yikes!” - that long before they get started on my window they surely will have busted him for the status of his vehicle.
As a GB plated RHD moho arriving in Brittany in July I don’t doubt he’ll be waved thru’. All good for him, his moho, my window and the jar of horseradish sauce - if he’s remembered it.
But it’s only a question of time. He has rental property in Edinburgh. He needs to come and go. One day …
Hi Kim - it sounds an interesting thing to be part of. As an aside to this, you say that for people who passed their test pre 2021 their licence is still processed as an EU licence and the same conditions apply.
Do you know when it comes to applying for car insurance what licence pre-Brexit residents declare? Do we now have to say we have a non-EU licence (even though our residency terms are Brexit) - assuming that could increase premiums?
Just thought it was worth asking considering you seem to know the detail on the licence subject. No worries if you don’t. Thanks.
Hello Steph, you just tell them you have a UK licence.
It depends on the insurance company, if your 4a date is after 2021 be prepared for fight on your hands as they have interpreted the date off their own backs being this date as the date your licence was issued, but it’s not its the date you achieved your driving rights, ie, date you passed your test, column 10.
Some insurance companies are twonks others are good.
Thanks. I’ve just kept our insurance with the same company who we were with before Brexit to save making a false declaration about our licences. Obviously we were in the EU before so it was slightly less complex (as with most things)! 
Not sure I understand, your licence, if you were here before Brexit will have an EU flag on it, even though it’s no longer an EU licence, it doesn’t really make any difference.
The agreement is that anyone who passed their test pre 2021 would continue to use their UK licence until they met the criteria for exchange, 12 months before the card or original paper licence expires, lost, stolen, damaged or points.
So if your 4a date is pre 2021 there really isn’t a problem.
Thanks Kim. It makes a difference when you apply for an insurance quote and they ask whether you have a permis B, EU licence or foreign license. I don’t know if that makes a difference to cost. Maybe I’ll do a comparison and report back. 
It shouldn’t make any difference as you hold a B category which is still the same as an EU licence, the format hasn’t changed.
If you had a non-EU licence in the traditional sense then you wouldn’t have the same category on your licence.
I am intrigued when you say that you were ‘involved’ with the new UK agreement and would like to know in what way ? Are you perhaps a staff member of the British Embassy here in France ?
Separately, can you tell us if it is necessary for a person aged 70 or more to supply some form of certification of medical fitness to drive in order to obtain the D737 certificate from the DVLA ?
No I don’t work for the BE but have close relationship with the dept that negotiated the UK deal, I had many issues regarding the agreement bounced off me.
I also have a privileged direct relationship with CERT who actually process exchanges, ANTS is only the application platform.
If you read the exchange criteria on ANTS you will have seen no reference to medical due to age, only categories lourdes require medicals but only if you passed a separate test for these, the D737 is just a certificate evidencing the categories you have a right to drive, it’s not a certificate saying that you can drive if your licence has expired.
What exactly is a moho?
Indeed so, but that is not the question I asked. I understand that all that ANTS require is the D737 certificate and that they probably don’t worry too much about what the applicant had to do to obtain it.
Let me rephrase my question in the hope that it aids understanding;
If a resident of France aged 71, who has in their possession a now expired UK licence which they wish to exchange for a French licence, does that person need to submit a medical certificate as to mental and physical fitness to drive to the DVLA in order for the DVLA to issue the D737 certificate ?
Seriously !! There is nothing shady you have to do to get a D737 Certificate other than ring the DVLA and ask for one.
There are no medicals for anyone once you reach 70 either in France or the UK, only UK you self cert saying you are ok to drive and are given a 3 year licence. In France you get a 15 year card.
The only medicals required in France are for if you have a medical condition that has to be declared or you have poids lourdes on your licence and want to keep them but only if you passed a separate test for it.
Do they ask for the D737 when you do the application, or when they ask for the " other information" 6 or so months later?
If you know, you supply it when you apply by adding it to the 7 additional sections you can add yourself to supplement your application.
If you don’t supply it, yes I know it doesn’t ask for it other than on ANTS, then it significantly slows your application down.
You only need the D737 if you have lost or had your licence stolen, or your actual licence has expired. Other than that the DVLA check code pdf will suffice.
It’s not for me (my licence is already exchanged) but for my OH who is deciding she might want to drive again 
