So you want to import a UK car?

I was lucky, our local motorcycle dealer was listed at ANTS as a professionel and willing to try. He had never done this before but was willing to be open minded. He tried with one motorbike, that took 3 weeks, start to finish. Flushed with success he put the other 4 and the pickup through. The bikes took 2 weeks, the car 4.
The process is not designed to filter out applications, the software is poorly designed though.

I have found a number of French registered cars for sale in the UK. I have discussed with one garage what would I need to insure the car prior to taking it to France. I have been told that it would need to be registered either in UK or France within 3 months which seems an extraordinarily long time.

Can a French registered car not registered to me be insured in UK? If not how could I drive it to France even on the same day as purchase?

To register in UK the car would need to have headlights changed to RHD - so would be costly for a very short time.

I have been considering taking a RHD car from UK to France due to cost savings but the new French car registration process is a little off putting. The reason for considering a UK car is simply cost.

UK cars at seem to have a very different depreciation curve to French cars, in UK cars follow a significant decrease in value in years 1 & 2 which reduces in year 3 and then becomes linear from then onwards - French cars seem to have a straight linear depreciation at a fairly constant rate. Therefore if buying a new or old (10yr) car the prices are quite similar, however a 2-3 year old car in UK is very much cheaper than the equivalent French car. From the cars I have considered the saving used about £3000.

To me it is attractive to source a 2-3year old UK car on costs even considering the headlight change and reregistration that would be needed which could prove difficult.

We alerted our French Insurers that we were buying a car in UK. We provided them with the car details (as we knew them). Our Insurers issued us with Full Insurance (using millions of pages of paper)… which we took with us to UK.

We flew into UK, bought the car, having informed the Garage that we were driving the car straight to France… so no Road Tax to pay… it was marked as being exported (or whatever). The Garage sorted us with a CoConformity and we were all systems go…

Subsequently, armed with all necessary paperwork, we got the Quitus Fiscal back here in France, went for Controle Technique and then off to the Prefecture (in those days). Once we had the Carte Grise… we went back to our Insurers who amended the Policy to carry the absolutely correct car info…

I’m slightly confused by Mark’s comments re registering to your principal home.

At the moment we own properties in France and Scotland, and while we plan to move permanently to the Hexagon we cannot yet because of my wife’s business in the UK. So I spent the max allowable time in France, and my wife less with regular flying back to the UK.
I bring my UK registered/insured etc car with me in France (legally insured for use in France for x months).
However we would prefer to buy a LHD/French registered car in France, and insure it in France for use during these months, just flying to and fro.

Do I now take it that is not possible??

A local garage (in France) plus our French insurer seemed to think there was no problem, but now, after reading Mark’s earlier post, I’m not so sure.

Which country do you make your income tax declaration in? A UK insured car can be legally used in Europe for as long as it needs to be, compliant with current laws & the need to notify your insurer if you stay longer than 30 days is to maintain cover above the legal minimum level if you have it.
You would have the legal minimum cover throughout Europe if you did not notify them.
You now need a France Connect/ANTS account to register a car here & this relies on you being “in the system” in respect of the fact that your fiscal tax number, National health number Etc.

FranceConnect vérifie votre identité numérique MobileConnect Et Moi auprès du Répertoire National d’Identification des Personnes Physiques de l’INSEE. Si votre identité Mobile Connect et moi ne correspond pas exactement à une identité du répertoire de l’INSEE, FranceConnect affiche une erreur 12.

Pour figurer dans le répertoire de l’INSEE, il faut :

avoir la nationalité française
ou avoir travaillé en France
ou avoir étudié en France
ou avoir été soigné en France
ou avoir été affilié au régime général (sécurité sociale)

So if you don’t live here you can’t register a car here.

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Thanks Mark.
Since we have to do tax declarations in the UK I guess that rules out the plan to buy a French car, although I’m disappointed that the French insurers didn’t point this out and were happy to take the euros!

In the last two and a bit years I’ve racked up 65k miles on my new UK car (almost all in France) so had been looking at a way of cutting down the mileage!!

Again (at the risk of being shot down in flames) its one of those grey areas. If I was in your situation, ask the garage and insurer again, if they say it’s ok, go for it, but get the garagist to sort out all of the paperwork .

Whatever you decide to do you at least know where you stand.

We had a RHD Land Rover Discovery and changed its registration to french plates in 2011. It was very straightforward and for address we only showed the passport, EDF bill and Taxe Fonciere as you said, Jacki. I think they only wanted the V5C and insurance and waved away the MOT. We were asked to get a CT done within 3 months though.
Proof of purchase was not required, and nothing was translated.
We were never asked if we were tax resident (we weren’t but have had the maison secondaire since 1993).
The Quitus Fiscal was the first part they completed, then we moved on to the next desk and it was all done in about 30 minutes.

It was a much greater pain when we took the car BACK to the UK 3 years later and wanted the original registration back…!!!

It has all changed since then, Kate. It is no longer sorted at the prefecture but done online. You need an ANTS account & need to have electronic id. You would not have been asked if you were a tax resident as you would have been expected to be one, like the thousands of people who register french cars every day - it is up to you to know the law, not up to the government to keep reminding people.

When were you last told that it is illegal to murder someone? We all know that it is but it does not stop the odd few from doing it anyway!

Hello Mark
I have just read on another thread that someone had to obtain a certificate of conformity for their UK registered car which is a french make.
Will I also need one of those to add to all the other papers ?? Just when I thought it may all be sorted :confused:

It depens if the number under D2 is the correct number. It is not unknown for DVLA to put a UK relevent number rather than the type mines number. If you tell me what number you have I can tell you if it should be accepted.

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Under D2 Type
Variant VV4HN*
Version VV4HNH
and its a Citroen C-Crosser

Results are a little ambiguous! On Oscaro it gives a choice of both Citroen C Crosser & Peugeot 4007 - same manufacturer. I don’t think that this would be acceptable for registration & I cannot cross reference it to its CNIT number either. I fear that a coc will be necessary.
You could try submitting the paperwork & see what they say.

Many thanks Mark,I will try to enter what we have and be prepared to send for a CoC

I imported my car from Germany and it was very easy albeit hideously expensive because of engine size. However I had imported my old (LHD) car from UK previously and that was easy as well, it may vary according to département. Argh but that was before the system changed, sorry.

:neutral_face: Yes,I wish had had the car before the change to online, as its all pretty annoying now!

Just going to throw a stone in the water here………….

Looking to import to France our 2005 motorhome and 1990 Daimler - both, I doubt, will I be able to supply a coc for.

Am I setting myself up for a major headache? We really do not want to change the motorhome as it is perfect for our needs………and no chance am I getting shot of my Daimler!!!

C

Hi Carl…

You shouldn’t have any major problems, as such, just a little more long-winded than a vehicle which does have a CoC.

Any vehicle which is unable to provide a CoC will need to undergo a full, technical inspection by DREAL/DRIRE. I went to our local DRIRE (as it was then) and spoke with them face-to-face about my vehicle which lacked CoC. (although your French is doubtless better than mine was, so telephone might well be OK).

Anyway, I followed their instructions/advice… and the whole thing was subsequently sorted after a thorough inspection. I do know folk who have had to make more than one technical-inspection visit, so my experience might be a bit dated.

Other than that, the paperwork process is exactly the same for all vehicles…

Your Daimler is only 2 years away from being eligible for a Carte Grise de Collection… which offers a different route to Immatriculation. If DREAL/DRIRE give you any hiccups, you might be able to go the CGC route straight away. check the FFVE website… very useful.

Other folk will chime in I am sure… but meanwhile… why not spoil us with a photo of your Daimler… please… :hugs:

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Motorhomes can be a pain. In a couple of years the Daimler will be 30 years old and will be straightforward to register as a vehicle de collection. As you’re not moving permanently for a while it would be better to delay importing it until then.

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