Not in the UK, if that’s what you mean. Though it doesn’t really help in France as you say.
Yes driving a foreign vehicle in France as a French resident and vice versa in UK is a customs offence not a police offence. And as someone rightly pointed out your car could be confiscated. I Understand that after Brexit some foreign drivers were bringing their cars to the Uk and continuing to drive them even though they were now UK residents.
We took our UK camper (pre Brexit) to France and knew we had to get a French Carte Gris this took over six months and we were told it was OK to continue to drive on UK plates but had to get French insurance, which was no problem pre Brexit but now I am not sure.
Finally we received a letter from the UK MICA to say according to our records you do not have UK insurance. We responded that we had French insurance, the lady responded that she could not see that so we would be fined unless we declared the vehicle exported. We were holding off on that thinking if we could not register the vehicle we would take it back to the UK. The woman was so difficult that we opted to declare it exported.
Post Brexit some friends tried to register their Peugeot Boxer camper and that was a nightmare. The final problem was that DREAL could not accept that the wing mirrors were acceptable in France. We managed to get a letter from Peugeot UK saying they were acceptable. No DREAL said the letter had to come from Peugeot France, finally we’re found a very nice lady in Peugeot who provided the letter.
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I imagine that there would have to be tons of exceptions to the rule that you can’t drive a foreign car in France. What would happen if a friend from say Italy came and visited me here with his car and we decided to go on a road trip. It would be a crime for me to drive his car?
Not sure about ‘a crime’, but certainly not allowed.
I know this is a topic that has come up many times but I am now questioning it again.
I know I cannot OWN a car with UK registration, whether here or in the UK as I am French resident, but I thought I could USE one. Friends who visit us use our car. Yes the insurance cover drops to third party but there is nothing in the policy that stops a non-french person driving it.
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And of course non French people can drive hire cars, so there must be some insurance that covers non residents.
As I understand it, as a French resident, you can only drive a car on foreign plates if you’re in the process of importing it, otherwise it’s not permitted.
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Can you point me to the rules on this? Can’t find any authoritative references.
Eg my british friend comes to visit with her british reg car. According to her insurance I can drive it without a problem. And equally I can lend her my French registered car as my insurance doesn’t specify that I can only allow French residents to drive it. It something I have done again and again over last 40+ years!
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I have exactly the same understanding as @JaneJones , and regularly drive (UK resident) family cars here in France. I am included on their UK insurance policies as a named driver - declared as UK/Irish citizen, French resident with EU licence. I’ve never been stopped for a check though.
I can’t find an authoritative government link but this suggests not.
I think I’ve finally resolved it.
I can drive a UK registered car as a French resident as long as the owner is present. So my sister can’t lend me her car for me to drive as she wouldn’t be present. But if she should in the furure visit me, I can drive her car if she’s there.
I believe in France it is the car not the driver that is insured.
So with all that said, I’ll stick to the electric bike.
This is Swiss rules, and as we know things are different there.
Correct!
I think the fact that that is a well known exception to the rule would seem to indicate that there is, in fact, a rule. Otherwise why bother to make the exception.
Next time I see my gendarme neighbour just down the road, I’ll ask him.
However I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t know. 
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It’s talking about driving a Swiss car in France, French law applies in those circumstances, not Swiss.
Hire cars are exempt from cross border driving restrictions
correct!
Nowt to do with insurance! All to do with Customs!
Have you ever seen anyone stopped by the Douanes? It is a sight to behold! If the Police have few rules, then the Douanes have none
Can you provide a reference? Still can 't find one that relates to borrowing a car rather than owning one (where the position is a clear NO).
I have. I twice delivered dogs to adopters in Luxembourg and on the way back, some way into France, I was once flagged down by what I thought were gendarmes
They looked in the back of the car and saw the cages. ‘What were they for’ they wondered and I explained. They then asked me if I ever bring anything back from Luxembourg and I said no. Next question ‘do you ever carry anything else?’ In total innocence I missed the point completely, ‘I sometimes carry cats’ I said.
The look of sheer bemusement on their faces was a sight to behold, and they waved me through. As I left I saw the Douane flashes on the motos, but it was sometime later before the penny dropped.
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