Post-Brexshit, ANTS will almost certainly demand a DREAL inspection and any necessary modification to be made.
Just be aware that the registration process should have started within one month of arrival so you might have some questions to answer with the Douane when you go to pay your 32% vat and duty.
1 Like
In principle, a French resident canāt drive a foreign vehicle at all, unless itās in the process of registration.
It should also have French insurance as UK insurers donāt cover French residents so any UK insurance would be invalid.
Why? With a valid EU CoC and a CT pass, what would be their reason?
Mea culpa, Iād missed that it was LHD. If it was RHD then my comment would apply.
You donāt actually need a pass, a fail will do for registration. Itās having done the CT that counts. After they banned stickers one of mine failed with RHD headlights, which I changed for OEMs from Germany, but I registered it before the retest.
1 Like
Iāve always thought that was the case but recently decided to find what legislation applies because my French resident daughter drove her daughterās (UK resident) car in France recently.
I seem to recall that it appears to be a case of fiscal/tax regulations to prevent a resident of one country buying and registering a car in another to get a lower rate of tax and/or duty. I canāt find the specific regulation or agreement but it goes back way before Bxxshit.
In the UK HMRC would be interested in tax evasion and probably DVLA in that the vehicle has not been registered or declared exempt.
There have been prosecutions in the UK where people who are UK residents albeit a foreign national (usually eastern Europeans but one Spanish and one French ring bells) )who have failed to re-register foreign plated cars. Stopped by police for unrelated offences revealing the residency/re-registering problem.
In my daughterās case the carās UK owner is with the car and can prove itās a holiday visit but can her French resident mother drive it?
Iāve found a reference which applies
Article 56 EC must be interpreted as meaning that it precludes legislation of a Member State which requires residents who have borrowed a vehicle registered in another Member State from a resident of that State to pay, on first use of that vehicle on the national road network, the full amount of a tax normally due on registration of a vehicle in the first Member State, without taking account of the duration of the use of that vehicle on that road network and without that person being able to invoke a right to exemption or reimbursement where that vehicle is neither intended to be used essentially in the first Member State on a permanent basis nor, in fact, used in that way.
European Law in full https://tinyurl.com/27tx5gcv
Of course, a Uk registered vehicle is, alas, no longer a vehicle registered in another EU member state.
Your link was to Netherlands cases. Did you find anything relating to the France tax rules / law?
Iām sure we thrashed this sort of query beforeā¦ and if I recall correctlyā¦
When I asked āthose who should knowā about me borrowing/driving a visitorās UK car in Franceā¦ while said visitor stayed with me for a weekās holidayā¦ (so no intention of anyone importing the car etcā¦)
the nub of it was that provided I was covered by Insurance to drive the vehicle and I had the owners authority to drive itā¦ āgo ahead and enjoy yourselfā¦ā
Thus when BiLaw comes over and offers me a chance to drive one of his lovely cars (whichever one is flavour of the month ) ā¦ I can take him up on his offer.
Mind youā¦ he does things belt-and-braces. He has an excellent Insurance cover, particularly angled towards any of his fleet of cars being driven in France by anyone to whom he has given written permissionā¦ 
Under cover of a business perhaps? Driving foreign company cars is definitely allowed.
Nothing specific to France. I have folowed this subject for years and have never found a case of somebody being prosecuted for lending his car. What would the charge be?
The whole problem relates to vehicle taxation for which countries set their own rules and avoidance/evasion of those rules.
Council Directive 83/182/EEC of 28 March 1983** states inter alia
Where a private vehicle, caravan, pleasure boat, private aircraft, tricycle or bicycle is imported temporarily, the item imported shall be exempt from the taxes specified in Article 1 for a period, continuous or otherwise, of not more than six months in any 12 months, provided that: (a) the individual importing such goods: (aa) has his normal residence in a Member State other than the Member State of temporary importation;
(bb) employs the means of transport in question for his private use;
(b) the said means of transport is not disposed of or hired out in the Member State of temporary importation or lent to a resident of that State.
The EU court ruling on the Dutch case seems to have interpreted " not lent" doesnāt apply in some fashion.
1 Like
I imported my Mazda MX5 in November last year - but it was a 2018 model, so thankfully no need for DREAL or a Cert of Conformity (thereās a box on the V5 with the info needed). And despite the customs duty and VAT, it still worked out cheaper than buying one of the same age in France. And yes, great fun, also my 2nd MX5 - my first, in around 2004, had frog-eye headlamps. Hope youāre now enjoying yours, after all your hassle!
1 Like
Not necessarily true. It depends on the age of the car. My2018 MX5 had no need for a Cof C or DREAL as it had a box on the V5 completed.
1 Like
Back in the dayā¦ my 2005 car did have the necessary box (Section K) completed on its V5 ā¦ but the computer system at the Prefecture wasnāt sufficiently adeptā¦ so the clerk demanded the CoCā¦
Phew, red-faced and panicking, I sifted through all the paperwork which had come with the carā¦ andā¦ hurrahā¦ there was the CoCā¦ in multiple languages
The clerk beamed, then reached for a magnifying glass as the print on the CoC was so tinyā¦ and she laboriously entered the information into her computerā¦
Indeed, I think you may have dodged a bullet Julia. Your Mazda was registered in the UK when it was still part of the EU. Iām not sure that in the case of a vehicle registered in the UK after Brexit the V5 would preclude the need for a CoC. Maybe, maybe not. Anyone considering such an import should either have the CoC or check with ANTS first.
Wow that was a great story. Pre-Brexit I bought an IS250 unseen from a Lexus dealer in Southampton, which bizarrely I was able to do on ANTS, then later a GS450H from Ireland and I knew that car but I paid to get that registered.
Both were ok, but unseen from an auction. No way!!! Once upon a time at Wandsworth car auctions I bought a MK1 Volks Golf in a pretty yellow, I found out on Wandsworth roundabout that the rear axle was chained to the drivers seat frame for directional stability!!
I found your piece because Iām looking at replacing my aged Range Rover (1999) with a 4.2 Supercharged, and the difference in prices and mileage is enormous between UK and France.
The thing that worries me is that the DOUANES can simply invent a value if you bring in a cheap car and then you might end up paying 60% or 80% instead of a 30$ flat fee. Do you or anyone else here have experience of the import being compared to the FR ARGUS Price?
Cheers Mike
Iāve never understood wanting to import RHD vehicles to the continent unless theyāre something special/rare as I canāt stand the bad visibility being sat near the kerb gives you.
Those of us who live surrounded by narrow country lanes love RHD cars. 
I can see exactly how close I can get to the verge without going in the ditch when I have a selfish Bā¦ coming towards me hogging the middle of the road.
4 Likes
Solution: a both-hands-drive motorcycle. 
2 Likes