its all about the paperchain. so long as its done properly there should be no issues. I also would not take the risk.
I know that but the stories that Iāve read have been where U.K. garages have sold the cars without the Carte Grise and Certificate of Cessation having matching dates where the seller and buyer have signed. Itās always been explained that itās different with French dealers because they are able to put the car on a register of cars between owners where garages outside France are not. In one case I read the people who had bought a LHD French registered car from a āspecialistā LHD garage in the south of England had to first of all register it in England before exporting it to France and re-registering it there.
yup id not do it myself thats for sure.
im sure it could be sorted eventually but its not worth the hassle. Know 2 people who have had nothing bt headache from uk specialist buys.
A friend here bought an French registered LHD Megane in the UK last year from a guy on Ebay, he in turn had bought it from a garage in Kent without any paperwork. It took my friend six months and countless visits to the prefecture to sort out the immatriculation during which time he was told he couldnāt drive the car. It would certainly put me off.
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Just as an aside - during my time here Iāve had a few discussions with UK immigrants about how they insure their UK reg car. They normally tell me itās easy - they just use Saga Car Insurance European Cover in the UK. Iāve always thought that was a bit odd and couldnāt possibly be legal - so popped an email off to Saga - this is their reply:
Dear Simon,
Thank you for your recent contact with our office regarding Saga Motor Insurance. Please accept my apologies for the delay responding to your email.
Further to your email I must advise that unfortunately we can only offer insurance to customers who are classed as full UK residents. These are terms and conditions determined by our underwriters as part of our acceptance criteria. Please accept my apologies for any disappointment causedā¦
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Hi. Yes you can. Iāve just done exactly that. Bought a LHD Car in UK. Drove it to my place in France and left it there on UK plates with European ins until tax and MOT ran out. Just finished registering and insuring it in France today on French plates.
Iām happy to talk you through the process of you like.
Kind regards
Paul
Paul so youāre UK resident right? My Saga point is about being French resident (aka UK immigrant) and pretending to live in the UK.
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Youāve missed the point Paul. What youāve done as a U.K. resident is fine. What Simon is talking about is French residents who keep UK registered cars illegally in France.
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If you buy a french registered car from a UK garage you need to make sure that the paper chain is intact. A car can change hands between garages a number of times before finding a new owner. Each sale must be recorded as the original seller would put the buyerās details on the original cession form which would be the first garage. A garage does not have to re register & therefore pay the fee. Instead they fill in a special ādeclaration dāachatā - CERFA 13751-02 - which gets added to the paperwork. All garages who handle the vehicle need to fill in this form. This applies to UK garages too.
I recently assisted a customer who bought such a car from a garage in Basingstoke. They supplied the correct french paperwork with their UK address & the car is now registered to its new owner here.
Problems arise when a seller has completed the paperwork correctly but the buyer is ignorant of french procedures & thinks that it is like the UK system.
Buy from a specialist garage who would be familiar with the system!
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For future reference for anyone reading this thread, Saga include unlimited European cover as standard.
Only available to UK residents.
So when will we be able to use stickers as Opposed to changing the whole headlights? How do I know that Iāve got them in the right place to flatten the beam?
I concur with Mark. I used the LHD place in Basingstoke too. They had all of the correct paperwork and it sailed through registration here. On top of that, they were extremely helpful and I got a good cheap car (cheaper than a comparable car here, even taking into account bringing it back here) for our daughters, that we are still using almost four years later.
Bizarrely we are not having a problem with front lights our stickers are accepted. The problem is our rear fog light is on wrong side and a new assembly is ā¬300 each side . Weāre not sure if we can fit a totally separate fog lamp, itās a Prius. We have until April to sort it .
Hi Teresa,
What car do you have? I only ask as VW often have the fitting for the fog lamp on the opposite side, but no bulb in the fitting to save money. (Iāve had this on two Golfs, a Sharan and our Touareg).
Paul
Its a Toyota Prius. The reverse light is on the left and fog lamp right. Theyāre sealed units. The issue is the red glass on right and clear on left.
Before you pay anything, ask the CT station. I only say this as I just remembered that I was worried that only one fog light worked on the Touareg. I contacted VW to ask how to put a new bulb in as the fog lamps are in the bumper. They told me to bring it in and they would replace it free of charge, but that was for the UK. So it went for the CT without the bulb, but was passed. That was last June and Iāve still yet to put the bulb in.
Parts4cars.fr are selling them via ebay.fr for the Prius 3 for just over ā¬80. Ebay.de from ā¬66 (Hechleuchten)
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The ct have told us it needs a fog light on the left. They have given us until 20th April.
Yes Iāve been told the same by 2 different CT Centres. Its a VW Touran and so have quotes from a VW garage and a general garage to fit both new headlights and add a rear fog light.
Theyāre fine with our deflectors on the front.