Help, car in France from Uk

Thanks

Mark, I have the opportunity to buy an excellent motor, reg on FR plates, in UK. The seller seems to be a part-time/semi pro dealer - 3 cars on his list. Probably works for a dealer - family - who allows him a few trades on the side.

I bought an excellent BX from such a bloke, tho’ the car was in his g/f name. The bonnet was up when I got there and she said, “He’s gone off to get a battery charger.” When he turned up with a workshop jump-starter, I twigged - but kept schtum.

The seller tells me he has the CG. I have asked him to confirm that it’s got his name on it and to confirm the address on it. Assuming it’s in his name and noted at his address [in UK] - what next? Is this doable?

I realise I wil need an address in FR. I arrive at Ouistreham on the 5th Nov witht the intension to stay.

One point. A carte grise cannot have a UK address on it.

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Thanks for that.

The plot thickens. Our man has a FR reg car. He ‘has’ the CG. The address on it cannot be his UK address. I very much doubt he has a FR address. I’m presuming not. Likewise, the name on the CG can’t be his either - or could he have filled in a box with his name in it? And would that be permitted? I bet not.

Assuming a buyer does have a FR address, by what process can this UK seller sell this car on ? With a FR address for the buyer and the original owner’s details on the CG, can the UK seller be ‘ignored’ in the process of change of owner ship and registration ?

As I understand thr ANTS process. But the only process I have used it for was selling a ca r, I have never used it as a buyer.
The seller who must be the owner whose name is on the carte grrise goes online, declares he is selling his car and gets a computer generated security code.
He gives that code to the buyer who has to enter it when he declares that he has bou ght the car
I have heard there are ways round this if for some reason the seller did not give the buyer the code.
However I do not know if it is possible to record the purchase of a vehicle if the seller has not even previously recorded the vehicle as being sold.
I suppose the system is designed to ensure a car cannot be stolen and sold on.

Might I suggest you message @anon90504988 about this…

:wink: :wink:

I did. I think it was on a related thread. Nothing back yet.

A friend bought a French car in UK… but it had the complete (highly detailed and double signed) paper trail…

thus, the documents led from the Original Owner, through the hands of the Dealer… and then the Sale by the Dealer to my friend…

It all tied up perfectly… enough for the clerk at the Prefecture… thank heavens…

It was many years ago and the sum involved was only about £300… so if it had gone wrong it wouldn’t have been too bad…

Buyer Beware is always a good thing to remember…

You will need a copy of the CG so that you can check on the Prefecture site that there is nothing adverse/outstanding against the vehicle before you consider buying… if it is more than £300… :wink:

@anon90504988 and others will doubtless have more to say …

It’s a few years since I bought cars for £300 - but not by much more!

I bought 2 beautiful Citroën DS, both £300. My pal had no idea swapping a damaged front wing on a DS was only 2 bolts…

I bought a superb Mitsubishi Carisma Mirage in '12 - no charisma, mostly mirage - for £365 sight unseen on eBay. But “moch used rather than much loved - drives straight and true” was good enough for me.

For those who are selling a french registered car there are a few important basics to follow.
In the past the seller completed a 3 part cession form, one of which was sent to the prefecture. It had the vehicle, seller & buyer details & the prefecture would wait for the named buyer to turn up with his matching copy before issuing the new carte grise.
The new online system works in a similar manner but the cession form is just a 2 part form & instead of a paper copy going to the prefecture the seller should go online to register the sale to a named buyer.
If the seller sells to a UK dealer & notifies ANTS (the french equivalent of DVLA) then ANTS will expect the garage to be the next keeper. Unless the UK garage is registered in France it cannot use the trader exception form used by french garages. The UK address would constitute an export.
A french buyer has to use the ANTS system to register the purchase in much the same way as they would have done when prefectures handled registrations & once again the information submitted by the original seller must match that entered by the buyer.
If the original seller used the ANTS system correctly they would use their code confidential to register the sale details &, on submitting the buyer’s details, be given a code de cession to pass to the buyer. When the buyer enters this code ANTS will simply ask if the details of the buyer are correct & then ask for payment of the tax by bank card. When this is done a provisional carte grise can be downloaded with the full version arriving by signed for post a few days later.

The original seller (the name on the CG) would not know who will end up with the car so cannot either complete the certificate de cession or log the future owner’s details with ANTS. The UK garage may be able to get the seller to leave the buyer’s details blank but as a buyer can you be sure that the seller has not logged the garage as the buyer? If they have the new buyer will not be able to register the car. Ever.

There are other little issues too. A seller is obliged to provide a CT less than 6 months old (or 2 months if it failed) so that a buyer can register the car. If you buy a car without & subsequently have it tested only to discover something horrible (such as severe accident damage) You are in a very weak legal position.

You can buy a french registered car from a UK garage who might know the wrinkles & is in touch with the original owner still but there is a big risk. I am trying to sort out such a problem at the moment & fortunately the garage is still in contact with the seller & is co-operating.

This is not a comprehensive reply but hopefully covers the basics.

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Thanks Mark.

Time to take of the shades, Stella. The clocks change soon. Gloom envelopes the world … I did, 3 posts up! :grinning: And a most comprehensive reply it was, too.

@captainendeavour

Christopher… surely, you’ve already answered me re my suggestion of messaging Mark… :wink: :wink:

“I did. I think it was on a related thread. Nothing back yet.”

definitely time to take the shades off… :crazy_face: :crazy_face: :crazy_face:

Extremely helpful, Mark. Shows what a can of worms buying a FR car in UK can be.

In fact, as has been suggested, it may be easier to buy a FR car that has been reg to GB and re-reg it back to FR.

I have one such on my faves list that is “UK registered left hand drive (originally from France) comes with conformity certificate and left hand drive headlights”

I just watched a vid of a bloke wearing a meerkat head remove both headlamps from the same model of car in under 4 mins.

A better bet?

@anon90504988

Do you know how sites like this can operate:

http://www.lhdcentre.co.uk/index.html

This garage was fairly close to where we lived in UK before moving over, we looked at cars here - they had the CG and still had French plates on. I am puzzled about how you can buy a Lhd car there and legally drive it to France.