Here’s the situation: moving to France in Sept 2025 on a VLS-TS visa. Currently planning on travelling over in our UK registered RHD car with some of our belongings (renting a property to start with). We want to buy a French car as soon as possible so we’re thinking of giving our UK car to daughter, who would fly over then drive it back to UK, within the first 30 days.
Question is, can this be done without too much paperwork? Should we register it in her name before or after we leave UK? Will this create more issues, with DVLA/HMRC and insurance? In theory we don’t want to register it in France as we don’t want to keep it in France. Or are there other options that we haven’t considered (international hire car/van, for example).
Husband and I are going round in circles trying to work out best (less expensive) option!
If your daughter is already insured to drive your car, I don’t think it makes a huge difference either way but personally I would drive it over to France and have her drive it back before transferring ownership to her. You can transfer ownership online very easily these days. Just be aware that the tax expires as soon as you do transfer ownership, so I would wait until she’s back in Blighty before doing so, so she can arrange her own tax and insurance.
Buying a LHD car in the UK and importing it would’ve been cheaper but, as you’ll be moving in a few weeks’ time, I think you’d incur VAT as you need to demonstrate you’ve owned it for several (6?) months beforehand iirc. Cars in France are very expensive compared to the UK… Possibly because there’s less company cars flooding the market compared to the UK.
Good idea but if the present owners arrive on French soil as French residents their UK insurance is no longer valid. It may perhaps be better to sell the car to their daughter before coming to France as named drivers on her policy. Many insurers are happy to include non-residents as named drivers.
Of course, this assumes they will be French residents. If they are keeping UK residential status then I think Gareth’s plan would work well.
Thanks for your reply. Yes, we will be classed as French residents for tax purposes and have heard that UK insurance would not be valid once we are in France. Hadn’t thought about the option of adding us to daughter’s insurance, so thanks for the suggestion.
If your daughter is driving it back within 30 days after you arrive with the intention of becoming resident, then no need to declare it as it won’t be staying in France. Presumably she’s a named driver.
I’d do what Gareth says. Do the transfer of ownership after her return with it to the UK. If you’re really really wanting to be sure then call your insurance co and get their ok
You shouldn’t, because it’s no longer your property if you’ve given it to your daughter, and will complicate things if you haven’t yet done so.
We brought our car here but didn’t know it should have been included on the inventory (removers forgot to mention it) and it was messy to resolve.
Also, if you tell the authorities you are importing the car (which is what putting it on the inventory means) then you should be registering it here. Which obviously you don’t want to do. This is more of a theoretical question because I doubt Customs and ANTS (or whatever they are called now) communicate.
Welcome to SF, and to the even bigger adventure that awaits you.
Another option is to buy a French LHD car and have it brought to your door in the UK…We did this just before our move, which made life much simpler when we got to France. We used
and chose the car we wanted independently, from French websites, and MyLHD went and bought it on our behalf and shipped it (or rather had it driven) back to the UK. We had it there for a few months before moving permanently to France. Insurance was with French insurers who were perfectly happy that it was in the UK and driven there initially. After some period, I think it would have reverted to 3rd party cover only if we’d stayed too long in the UK…
They have to validate / register their use of their visa after they arrive. I’m not even sure they can say they have become technicslly resident until that is completed.
A visa gives you a right to stay but does not force you to use that right.
If they don’t want to just do it as most of us would and sort out the admin a short time later, then I’d advise them to talk to their current insurance company and I would expect the insurance company to be ok to continue coverage especially as their move will take place over no more than 30 days and they might need more than one trip in that time.
If they have a car immeduately available in France or if the UK car was ataying in France then arranging a French insurance policy for it and then registering it in France would be the way to go.
If I was you I would transfer ownership to your daughter before travelling. I would then suggest having at least one of you as a named driver on her insurance then bring the car with you. She can then come and pick up her car and drive it home. I would get her to write a simple letter giving you permission to take her car to France. If you are questioned you can then tell the truth.
Thanks, we got a Crit’air sticker for our other car (which we’ll be selling before the move) for our recce trip back in May, so will look at getting a new one if the route crosses those cities.
Just to say that I did exactly what @George1 suggested regarding buying a LHD car in the UK and bringing it acress. It already had French number plates so it was “just” question of updating the Carte Grise once I got it here. That was a few years back now when things were less strict in terms of regulations but it certainly made life easier for me at the time.
I contacted a French insurer and got it insured before I drove it anywhere.
