I am thinking of getting car on lease…means i don’t actually own the car until or if i pay the balloon rental at 36 months. Because of this the Carte Grise has the lessor (leasing Co) as owner. The lease deal is a very attractive low monthly payment and economic way of sourcing a new car.
Leasing agreement says in small print that i have to give notice in writing (three weeks before) every time I take car out of EU. Agreement is valid for a trip of 30 days. They say it is a French customs requirement to prove when i bring it back I’m not importing it. The lessor is operated by major manufacturer…not some some small finance shark! Not really sure if this is genuine reason, rather the clause is there cheifly to prevent cars going (to say) Balkans/Turkey etc and it now the catches uk 'cos of Brexit ! A concern is if i ignore it and had an accident in Uk i would have technically broken lease contract and so insurance would be invalid (insurance coys always seek to avoid paying out).
Anybody else had this problem…always pays to read the small print!
Does any body know of finance firm who offer balloon payment finance which keeps monthly cost reasonably modest?
Does it matter what the reason is? They own the car and not unreasonable to tell them if you take the car out of the EU.
I can’t see what your beef is. Just tell them!
I’d just comply with their requirements. Better safe than sorrry.
Its not just tell them (which would be ok) i have to seek permission then wait for a written reply via La Poste which contains official documents for border control…which they say the customs may ask to see
My leased car has my name and address on the certificate d’immatriculation, but with a code after my name indicating it’s leased.
@Strudball
Certainly best to ensure that (somehow) Insurance Cover is in place before leaving EU
Good luck
Our leased car has OH’s name + lease company name with no room for my name, which is concerning since (as mentioned here) we wanted the car in our joint names.
Thanks for raising this @strudball. I’ll now check ours. Surely, as other have said, one just complies?
Ah, ok. So yes, it sounds a bit of a faff if you have to do all of that.
I am not an expert, but I admit and agree to see why the customs would be interested in a French car that they could find the legal owner after a few strokes of a keyboard.
That’s just the joy of renting someone else’s car. A few years ago, I had to do exactly the same to travel to France with my UK-leased car.
Just had a thought - does one have to ask permission for EACH trip, or can one ask once and have an overarching approval?
I might be going completely barmy (
) but can you confirm which country will be providing the leased car, as the thread title is confumbling me 
The French based finance company which is part of a European car manufacturer.
This manf’ has similar leasing companies in many countries supporting the sales of their cars.
Righto… you are in UK (hence taking car to France) and will be leasing through a French company???
which is why you’re talking about La Poste! (that’s what started my brain-rot)
No i live in France, and want to use the car to vist uk…hence i say when taking the car out of the EU
Interesting as the uk based leasing company of the same car company don’t have this requirement, when i called them they said i could take the car wherever i wanted providing it had correct comprehensive Europe wide insurance
OK - might be worth amending to title to say “Permission to take leased car out of France” as it’s confused a few of us I think! 
You called the UK branch about your French leased car? That would be odd.
Anyway, to take a UK leased car out of the country, you would need a VE103 so, as presented, it sounds like they’ve given you poor advice.
Exactly what we had to do each time we took our UK company car (ie leased) to France…We had to make sure we had valid ‘permission’ in the form of a bundle of leasing co documents (as well as the VE103) such as proof of the lease company’s own annual insurance,.plus 5 star cover for the continent. The process usually took 2-3 days to collect their documents, sent via email. We wouldn’t have dared risked taking the car to France without the document bundle, in case of accident etc. Despite doing this for many years, no customs official showed the slightest interest or inclination to ask for said documents…The permission generally lasted a year/until the expiry of the lease cos own insurance cover.
I’m now wondering if confusion isn’t setting-in… is it this country, that country… ??perhaps we should take a breath and start again…
I’m off for a light lunch and
Death in Paradise… 
The original post says that the lease agreement states that approval is required to take the vehicle out of the EU. It seems pretty clear that such approval is now needed for a trip to the UK.