We are thinking of selling our car and buying another one. We have not gone through this process in France before, and on speaking with friends, we are realizing there are quite a few hoops to jump through - registering with ANTS (L’Agence nationale des titres sécurisés ) being one of them.
One friend says you must have at least 18 months left on the CT before you sell a car. Is this correct?
Does this mean that even with say, 15 months left on the CT, you have to have a new one in order to sell the car? Is it possible to sell a car with less than 18 months left on the CT.
And are there any other pitfalls we should know about.
I think it’s correct to say that the CT must have been done less than 6 months before the actual sale… thus allowing the Buyer to use the CT to re-register the car.
If it’s a CT which requires work and a re-testing… then the CT must be dated less than 2 months.
Lors de la vente d’un véhicule d’occasion à un particulier, le vendeur doit fournir à l’acquéreur la preuve de la validité du contrôle technique périodique.
Il devra donc remettre le jour de la vente un procès-verbal datant de moins de 6 mois. Si le véhicule est passé en contre-visite, le vendeur devra également fournir le procès-verbal de la contre-visite. Il doit dater de moins de 2 mois.Ces documents sont nécessaires au futur acquéreur pour obtenir le certificat d’immatriculation du véhicule. Si votre dernier contrôle technique date de plus de 6 mois, vous devrez donc prendre rendez-vous pour en réaliser un nouveau.
Some folk wait to do the CT until they have someone interested in buying… especially if it might take several months (or more) to sell the vehicle.
(different rules apply, I think, if one is Selling to a professional/garage)
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The process is actually not too bad if done correctly.
If you are domiciled (have your principal residence here) you can use FranceConnect to access ANTS.
If your carte grise was issued after late 2009 you can use the “I have sold my car” part to register the sale. All you need to do is enter the buyer’s details & things like the kilometer reading, date & time of the sale etc.
This will generate a 10 character “code de cession” which you give to the buyer, along with the old carte grise duly crossed through with "Vendu le (date) & signed by the person(s) named on it, the CT, completed certificate de cession & a “situation administrative”.
Don’t embellish the requirements! If a form askes for Nom, Prenom then do a Jack Reacher (no middle name). Likewise place of birth - not Ashford, Kent, just Ashford if that is what is in the passport.
If you are not sure of anything, ASK. An error turns a fairly simple task into weeks of extra work.
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I agree with Mark having bought and sold dozens of cars during my twenty odd years living in France.
As long as the rules are followed the procedure is straightforward although it can seem somewhat demanding on the first sortie.
The ants.gouv website is usually fairly manageable although on two recent occasions I have decided to use one of the professional agencies and was very pleased with the service. I used them when the transfer was a little complicated rather than run the risk of hitting the wrong key and entering one of those “computer says no” situations.
Good luck.
What’s the difference? I’ve never sold to an individual here but I have traded a car in with a main dealer. I did nothing except give them that car and CG 
Should I have done anything else?
You can sell a car without CT to a garage/professional… but NOT to a private person.
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I’ve recently bought a car and sold one through a local garage. When buying I asked that the garage did the paperwork, cost to me was 35€. As the garage was an intermediary I could have done the ANTS declaration myself. But chose not to faff around and paid 35€ the CG was in the letter box before the check was declared on my bank statement.
Thanks for all your comments. We’ve registered with ANTS and the account is ready for when we’ve sold the car.
We’ve put an add on leboncoin and was disappointed to see that they include a recommended price bracket for the value of the car, which is very much lower than our asking price. It’s like comparing apples with oranges. If you were to see our car you would see that it is way above the general condition of other cars being advertised. It is a collectable model of car and certainly an enthusiasts one.
We do not subscribe to facebook/twitter/tik tok and any of the social media sites and we do not wish to do so. Therefore our next question is - are there any other websites we can use to advertise.
Ignore the price on LBC when we were hunting for our Alfa it swung wildly on identical cars!
I felt gutted at the time so your comment has made me feel better about our ad. Thank you very much!
Ebay.
I’ve sold several cars through Ebay (UK).
I’m m so glad I made you feel better, seriously it is mad whatever algorithm they use!
Doesn’t work here for cars!
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Does eBay work for anything here? It used to be terrible, the french are so attached to LBC that eBay barely got a look-in, although that may have changed now.
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eBay’s still very much the poor relation in France - every time I take a look on ebay.fr it throws up a load of items from the UK. I did buy something from eBay.fr recently, but it was from Germany. I just don’t get it. Maybe it’s the French inherent lack of trading interest that steers folks away from it.
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It is the go to selling site in France - why would people use Ebay in France is there is already a website that everybody knows and uses?
The concept is quite different - auction versus plain ads, hence my trading aversion comment.
Our car hasn’t sold yet and the 18 month CT requirement is expiring at the weekend. We heard (not sure when or who from) that if you put a car through the CT for selling purposes, it is not the same as a full CT. Is that correct?
I really don’t know what to do - do I take it for the CT now or do I wait until I get a buyer and take it then?
Any guidance would help me - thank you.
A CT station would not normally do a CT if the current one still has plenty of time left so you need to explain why you need another after only 6 months.
It is the same as a normal CT & will cost the same. It replaces the previous one.
I would wait until you have a buyer “on the hook” before getting the new CT done. Your buyer then (hopefully) has the advantage of a full 2 year valid CT.
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Thanks for this info Mark. Much appreciated.