Hi . New to this site its my first post . I will be moving to france permanently in 6 months time . Questions for my car . I know that you have to get a uk car checked for driving legally in france . What are some approx costs for this ?
Also is it more expensive to insure a rhd car ?
Basically should i keep my uk car or buy a french car !
Thank you in advance for any comments
Welcome.
Weâre almost through the process. We had to get a contrĂ´le technique, which was straightforward (after we had the car serviced: my impression was it was slightly more expensive than in the UK).
Insurance was also a little more expensive.
The carte grise tax cost ~2200 âŹ. Itâs not a particularly high-powered car, but I was told that the government stings you for anything over 150ch (apparently itâs also related to bore and stroke) and Blanche Dubois has 190 of them.
We like the car and itâs only 6 years old, weâve had it from new, so we were happy to keep it, because Madame has got used to driving it. Someone else might very reasonably have come to a different conclusion: I would have, had it not been for our circumstances.
Hi many thanks for your response . Can i ask what the carte grise tax is ? 2200 euros ?
I do like my car and it is a 2ltr so dont know if that would be expensive . I also like driving my rhd in france as i just remeber to keep my ass in the gutter then im on the correct side of the road lol
The tax varies (widely) according to the car. Itâs difficult to calculate, though there are online calculators.
Hi yes ive just been googling ⌠sounds very confusing . So do you pay road tax in france as well or is it included in the carte grise . Mot still every year ? Thank you
No road tax. ContrĂ´le technique every two years.
Lovely open roads (unless youâre in a city).
Great . I didnt want to get too far ahead what with all the other paperwork.involved in moving . But just wanted to decide if to keep my car or not . Many thanka for your help
The other side to think about is that cars generally are more expensive in France (sometimes worse specced as well). Youâll really see the difference of same car secondhand price UK vs F.
Reasons for not keeping it:-
When youâre stuck behind a slow moving tractor, with a line of frustrated drivers behind you, but you canât see if itâs clear to overtake.
If you come out of a side road onto a road where there isnât any traffic at the moment, you can from habit suddenly find yourself driving on the wrong side of the road. Before moving here f/t, I did that a couple of times in a UK car.
Cost and hassle of importing and transferring it to French plates -carte grise, contrĂ´le technique etc., as against the higher cost of s/h cars in France.
If you buy s/h from a French garage (but not privately) you should get a reasonable guarantee and a long contrĂ´le technique.
Lastly, if you later want to sell you RHD car in France it may be difficult and not worth very much.
Even more lastly, some parts will be difficult or impossible to find in France. I was taken by surprise that I couldnât get windscreen wipers for my last RHD as it turned out they were different between the two variants.
You would get more for it now in the UK than later on in France IF you could sell it on. Having done both, I would opt for a french version vehicle and there are bargains to be had if you look around as sales have slumped recently and of course, they have the weekends of âdoors openâ. You would also get charged import tax most likely because of Brexit and then you have all the faff and bother of re-registering plus the costs which end of the day might be the difference between getting a french vehicle without all that bother.
Yes these were all concerns I had . Its something for me to think about in the coming 12 months . Thank you for the information
On the other hand, for some of us, driving a RHD car in France is (was) a joy. I still miss our old RH merc of 25 years or thereabouts. We live in the country and yes there are tractors, but our roads are narrow and itâs actually more important to see where the RH verge is as oncoming cars are nearly always on the crown of the road. With the RHD merc I could see exactly where the verge / kerbstones /etc were.
Motorway transponders for the peages these days make RHD a non-issue.
And the tractors? Curves in the road to the right always gave me a sightline so I knew when I could overtake - country roads donât have that much traffic so overtaking isnât that much of an issue and quite frankly on really narrow lanes, RH or LH drive isnât that much different - if youâre behind a tractor youâre stuck there - unless they have the courtesy to pull over.
Re parts/servicing etc, depends on your make of car - merc is horrendously expensive wherever, but we never had a problem with supply. We did have to change the headlights and that was expensive, but this was 18 years ago, maybe with more modern cars it isnât necessary?
Thanks sue . I will look.into both ways . I do love my car and its a land rover so probably parts would be expensive . But it is quite a new car so il have to add up costs on either side .
Look at this for cost of re-registration
As I always gleefully pointed out to my front seat passenger when our first car was RHD, âI am in the happy postion of not being whacked by an oncomer in the middle of the roadâ . Cue nervous laughter. 
If you include the car on a list of your possessions when moving over, there is no import duty or tax to pay. France doesnât have an annual road fund licence but you do pay a registration fee that is calculated on the carâs power and pollution level. For new big 4x4âs this registration tax can be exhorbitant but decreases by 10% for every year of the carâs age- so for a 10 year old car it is minimal. Headlights donât need to be changed but restricting their beam with beam benders obviously reduces their effectiveness. If you only have one rear fog light, it has to be either on the centre of the left- so an additional one may need fitting. Tyres on each axle must be matching brands and tread pattern for CT(mot). I had no problems driving RHD cars here for years and the cost difference between a RHD car you have owned for at least 6 months prior to moving here ( a requirement to avoid duties) and itâs French equivalent are significant. Once you have residency, importing a RHD car from the UK no longer makes financial sense. Avoid all Japanese grey imports, van conversions etc as they will be a very expensive nightmare to register.
Spares are all readily available for all but obscure brands but consider that parts specific to a rhd car will need thought- for example a battery may be mounted on the other side of the engine bay- so the poles might be reverse and the leads not reach- so you just buy another battery with the same spec but with the poles the correct way round.
Thank you carl that is really informative . Something for me to consider the pros and cons . My car is a suv but will be around 6 years old by the time i arrive ⌠so fingers crossed hipefully not in the exorbitant category! And the knowledge to declare it under my possessions and not pay duty is good advice thank you
There is an online calculator to work out the registration cost to pay based on puisance fiscal. You need to calculate the puisance fiscal of your car- do not confuse this figure with bhp or Kw or you will get a horrendous false figure. For example a Citroen 2cv has a puisance fiscal of 2 but a bhp of 29!!
Hi carl yes someone gave me the link earlier . All sounds very easy ⌠apart from ive not got a scooby do what the puisance fiscal of my car is . How do i find out that ? What even is it ?