Driving in the UK with a French registered car

Cars / Motoring / Insurance
1

For the 1st time, we are taking our French registered car to the UK.
Assuming we need headlight deflectors!! Can we can obtain them here
in France ? Do not recall seeing them anywhere.

2

Hi Joyce…

What car do you have… and what year ?

(Many modern cars have headlights that go up and down (rather than from side to side)… and others can sometimes be adjusted manually.)

3

We have a Citroen DS. Bought in the Uk and re-registered here earlier this year, which meant replacing (not cheaply !!) the headlights.
They do not adjust so would need something to deflect the direction of the light (I think ?)

4

So you have a classic car… what did you do with the old lights?

But, as I recall when we go to UK with our Paris pals… they never worry about their headlights (I’m talking about 1950/60’s cars).

5

If you are going over on Eurotunnel you can buy the deflectors in the Coquelles Terminal. (W H Smiths?), and I would assume you can in the ferry terminals too. They are a bit more expensive here so we tend to buy them at Halfords when we are in th UK and bring them back to use on our next trip back. (Please note, this tip comes from a Yorkshireman so you may not feel it is worth all the bother just to save a couple of quid!). :slight_smile:

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6

Thanks Dave,

7

you do not necessarily need “beam benders”… you only need to kill the kerb pick up beam. when I travelled here before moving permanently, I used simple insulating tap to block that part of the beam, having used the Kia genuine tapes too often and ruined them. So you effectively have a flat beam without the kerb picker, which is the bit that dazzles oncoming traffic. Just for info, a friend here still has beam benders on their car and it has passed the CT 3 times without quibble. As a truck mechanic in UK, we had to present a foreign vehicle for the Type Approval test and it sailed through with European light units with beam benders, I think the law states headlights must not affect on coming traffic… it doesn’t state how that is achieved.

8

That’s interesting Bob,
We took our car to the CT garage and asked if it would pass with UK lights and beam benders, were told absolutely not :smirk::smirk:
Should have gone to another garage !!!