cheers Mark… that’s saved me a trip.
I defer to your knowledge on the subject Mark but would you not also agree the dichotomy of differing advice from the Gendarmerie? On the one hand the risk associated with a thief taking the documents (and perhaps house keys along with them) in order to assist with breaking in to a perhaps vacant property and the need to produce valid and acceptable documents when demanded by the roadside.
Don’t get me wrong… we always carry the our original vehicle documents with us ready to be produced if demanded but I can certainly understand the confusions which arise about the requirements and the desire to keep within the law.
Frankly I don’t give a damn 
Any cop that gives me grief because I only have photocopies will get grief straight back (I’m at that difficult age) 
Plus where can one keep documents safe in a Morgan? Next they’ll want me to carry two alcoholizers because if I only carry one and use it then I won’t be carrying one at all 
Oh wait, they scrapped that didn’t they? I’m also not sure if it’s “compulsory” to carry the old spare bulbs pack in cars only equipped with LEDs, probably. Plus the cars are already full of bloody gilet jaunes and triangles. Meanwhile…. lunatics speed on all the backroads and career around corners on the wrong side of the road, but my photocopies aren’t good enough? I’d quite enjoy that exchange Cept’ I wouldn’t do it with the motorcycle gendarmes, they look quite cross. Though one waved to me in the Morgan once. I presumed he wasn’t trying to stop me 
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That reminds me… we had a flat tyre some weeks ago and the triangle broke as I tried to get it set up… aaargh.
Fortunately we had 2 (as one should…) and that was slightly better, but still didn’t perform as it should.
Memo: buy new triangles, but try them out, before paying for 'em.
In my case it’s not “man in a bar advice” Mark. It is what I have always done and what I will always do. And I would flip is some gendarme had so little to worry about they had a problem with it, That’s just my decision. What’t the penalty anyway? They seize the car, good luck to them
I don’t leave my house keys in the car. They are on the car’s key ring which I would assume to be fairly normal & I would lock the car with the keys on the outside!
It would be unusual for your house to be vacant for very long anyway, unless you were on holiday perhaps.
The requirement is to produce original documents in the event of a traffic stop, not keep them permanently in the car, so it is possible to keep them in your wallet/pocket/bag, maybe in those little wallets that some garages give out. If you share a car you do need to remember to ensure that they are handed over though.
I’ve lost the reference now, but there is something authoritative that certified copies are acceptable. Do you have anything that says they are not? After all I have just gained nationality with copies of some documents certified at the Mairie - so acceptable to the Ministry of the Interior. It is not the secretary ‘scribbling’ on them, but formal stamps and signatures.
there are always exceptions… the beach for example.
Could make interesting conversations such as “I see you are pleased to see me” if your only attire is a pair of speedos 
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You should make that clear then.
“A photocopy of the CG and green card in the glovebox is sufficient Kazz.”
It clearly isn’t. Anyone doing this risks penalties, however small.
So where do you put your car keys, towel etc??
heavens… that’s brought it all back…
Years ago (and possibly UK)… OH bought a water-proof thinging on a string, money/keys go inside and it hangs around the neck… no idea where it is now though. (Might have been for the swimming pool but would work on the beach.)
you might ask 
I couldn’t possibly comment 
You need the carte grise on your person when you are in the car.
We have a packet which contains the carte grise and our insurance documents which we pick up each time we go out in the car.
This makes us legal and no danger of leaving the documents in the car should it be stolen.
Interesting thread - I keep a photo of all important documents electronically, and have kept the carte grise and insurance documents in the car, but I don’t ever leave any keys in the car. I guess the worst that could happen is identity theft if the car was stolen, but I’m sure there are many other simpler ways for the unscrupulous to do this if they wanted to.
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I think the approach to law keeping is quite variable on the continent and indeed within nations. Whereas the Anglo Saxon attitude to laws is generally to abide by them (unless one works in No, Ten, of course) the approach in other European countries differs. It seems to me the further north one goes the higher the compliance rate , whereas further south laws are seen more as optional and interpretive than absolute. So, in France, for example, people in Lille may all carry their original CGs in their cars, and around Lyon maybe 50% do, but down here none of us do
I’ll risk the €11 Mark. The time and hassle of getting a duplicate if I was to loose the original would far outweigh the price of a pizza
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I remember the old sacoche days in the very early eighties when all we men went around with our little handbags. It was a wonderful way of loosing everything in one go. Wallet, keys, license, passport, etc.
I’m a compulsive scanner. All my importent (and most of my unimportant) stuff is in the cloud and I can pull it down to phone, tablet, whatever on the side of the road or the other side of the World. All this paper stuff is for the birds. Yet I still have a study full of paperwork
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I do too. Twice left it on a tram in Germany. Luckily got it back from the driver on the way back both times!
Yes and no. It confirms, which I knew, that photocopies aren‘t acceptable. But it is entirely silent as to whether a certified copy is….