Help, car in France from Uk

Hello,

Long story will try to keep short. Was dating a man living in France- Turns out he is a big scammer… I bought him a car he asked for this exact car(Played a sob story to pressure me) and wanted only a Uk plate for reasons I didn’t comprehend, so I bought him one some 7months back now, believing he would register it in his name export it…

Now I received 3 speeding fines in my name, the car is not even taxed and he has not even bothered to register it in his name or export it legally… I have contacted dvla Uk and sent a letter stating he is the Owner.

Is there no one in France to report this too?, How can he get away with driving a British car for so long and how could his insurance even be valid without being the owner or the car taxed? Are the french that lax??

Go to the gendarmerie or commissariat de police (depending on where you live) : file a complaint and tell them you have been the victim of an “escroquerie”. They will at least give you a copy of the dépôt de plainte, which you could provide to the DVLA.

This used to happen more frequently in France with second-hand person to person car sales, where the new owner wouldn’t register the car in their own name and then drive around with the old vehicle registration allowing the previous owner to receive the penalties and points on their licence.

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The French vehicle registration system is in many ways a victim of its bureaucratic success. If your vehicle doesn’t have a French number plate, you can potentially get away with a lot of things before anyone catches up with you. Whether or not they have insurance, or are even insured assuming they have a policy, is yet another matter. I know of at least a few Brits in the Auvergne that drive around with UK licence plates and yet live here permanently. That topic has been discussed on this site many a time.

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Amanda… please can you complete your Registration with Full Name (First and Last)

If you are not sure how to do this, simply put your full name on this thread and I will amend it for you…

cheers

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You need to report him to the Gendarmes and to inform the authority who are sending you the fines as well. This man is acting illegally in so many ways he really needs to be stopped. By informing the authorities there is far more chance of this happening.

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An assumption might be made that he is also probably not insured.

What have you done about the speeding fines? I’m sure you have a right of reply to them, give them chapter and verse about this character and point out that the Police/Gendarmes need to be informed.

Been away for a long time, but in the UK it was a requirement to notify DVLA of change of ownership.
I Imagine the French authorities would have traced you as the owner by contacting DVLA. So if you haven’t already done so you should notify them now.
But the system isn’t foolproof. I once sold a car to a part-time dealer and a couple of months later answered the door to a grim looking policeman. My car had been involved in a hit and run. I told him that I had sold the car and gave him the details of the sale and told him that I had posted the notification. But he assured me that DVLA had no record of this. But he seemed to believe me and went away and I heard no more about it.
Your situation could become serious at any moment - get it sorted quickly!

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With the help of deepl or google translate you can find the nearest gendarmerie to his address and then fill in a contact form to alert them to this, maybe start

https://www.gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr/A-votre-contact/Contacter-la-Gendarmerie

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Name and shame? - maybe someone here knows about him

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It is a shame but this sort of thing happens often.
Some people do not take re-registration of vehicles seriously & I often get asked to sort out problems where the paperwork has not been completed properly.
Buying a french registered a car in the UK from a dealer is one, where the seller has registered the sale to one person who then sells it on without doing any paperwork. The next buyer then tries to register but as the names do not match the answer is no.
Getting proof of import - a quitus fiscal - in the importers name in order to register a car here is not too difficult but that person must complete the registration. It cannot be sold on & registered by a new owner using that QF, nor can another QF be issued.

Are you still living in the UK at the address shown on the V5c?

If nothing else, and I hope you get your problem sorted out quickly, maybe you have made a few other people aware of what a scumbag he is.

Seems to be renting his chateau…perhaps some naming and shaming opportunities here

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There are a few insurance agents in France that will take money to insure UK registered cars for long periods but this contravenes accepted insurance practice.
I know Axa themselves limit cover for a few months only to allow registration to be made.
One such Axa agent is based in Nice.

Not much help to you now but all you needed to do was to detach the export notification tag & send it to DVLA. No bill of sale or details of a new foreign owner required.
I’m surprised that you have not been fined for no road tax or insurance, or are you still paying those?

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Someone neds to break this guys legs…

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Contact the press, locally to him. He is a crook and conman so it is right to expose him. And as you aren’t living there it won’t really affect you.

Get in touch with the Daily Mail, they love all those ‘innocent British lady swindled by dodgy foreign trickster’ stories, if he has conned others you may even escape the ghastly frumpy-dress-and-sadface photo.

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This guy is a scammer. He is also taking advantage of people renting sub-rate rooms at his chateau. I hope you have success nailing this guy.

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@admins
Please remove this post

@sys_admin