There is no Vivien Chapman on the naughty list - did you use a different name?
I registered an imported vehicle last year and everything went real smooth. I paid the TVA, got the paperwork. Took the paperwork to the insurance company. They issued an insurance certificate , applied for the French registration, got my ww plates and after 3 month got the carte gris in the mail and the final plates!
The UK was a European country, therefore it is a joke about the COC.
Actually I even found a COC for my tractor produced in 1990, so they are standard for a long time!
1 Like
I do not use my real name on facebook.
Well you are supposed to!!!
You would hope so, but unfortunately they aren’t. Ive always found it easier to just get a CoC from whatever car company (or jaguar land rover😊) in france, and pay whatever to get a hassle free CG. Bit like insisting a UK MoT is valid, supposed to be but in practice rarely is.
I’m quite keen on checking facts, that’s why I fell out with Mark. Please point me to the facebook guidance that requires you to use your own name and then explain why there are so many names on there that are transparently fictional. SFN does make it clear that real names should be used.
1 Like
I understand that Facebook asks folk to “use the name they go by in real life”… so that friends and family are confident they are communicating with someone they really do know…
I believe FB do make allowances for people who might be “under threat”… that sort of thing… 
1 Like
Timings for the introduction of EU certificates of conformity are:-
1996 private cars – category M1
2004 motorbikes – category L1
2010 utility vehicles – category N1
Some tractors had them in 2003 but were not required for registration until 2009.
It could be that you managed to get some kind of attestation but it would not have been an EU certificate of conformity as such.
Can understand but lots of Brits are peaking behind curtains to see who is breaking the law.
As I don’t know your Facebook name I cannot check why you would have been blocked.
Everything I post is based either on personal experience, in the case of error avoidance, or on considerable research & reading official government & EU documents, guidelines & rules.
There are some who think that I have misinterpreted some of those rules & are quick to make their point & as such I am happy to allow alternative views to be posted.
Once that view has been made then that is usually enough & I can turn off commenting to prevent the subject getting boring for others.
I do block members for making personal & offensive remarks or comments that advocate or boast about law breaking - it will not be them facing a judge but another hapless member who believed the comment.
With so much misinformation floating about on this subject as well as many others I try to ensure that followers get information that can be supported from official sources.
When there may be ambiguity I favour the safe interpretation so that should my advice be wrong the follower will not be inconvenienced by a spell in a french prison.
4 Likes
I can assure you I posted no offensive or personal remarks, but I was personally attacked by some of your supporters. I posted information from official sources only. I agree there is a lot of misinformation around. Since you decided to block me I am not quite sure why you are contacting me. At least you have been consistently polite. So let’s move on.
1 Like
Bettina…how expensive was ‘not expensive to do’??? So 87euros for DREAL but the rest?
So, forgive me if this seems a tad tedious, if one is a UK citizen but a French resident, does this mean that one can no longer own/have a UK registered car, at all? Also, does it mean that one can not drive a friend’s UK registered vehicle when they visit France, even in an emergency? Likewise, as a UK passport holder and French resident, one is not allowed to drive a UK vehicle at all. I am sorry. that can not be because one can hire a car. The whole thing is crazy.
Yes, for some people there’s few things are more gratifying than a good dollop of self-righteous gratification 
You can own it or have it but you cannot drive it in France. If you keep a UK registered car in the UK for when you are there, you can, of course, drive it in the UK or any other country, just not France.
Yes. If you are caught the vehicle could be seized. I don’t know what happens after that.
I guess that depends on how sympathetic the police or customs officer that stops you is. Quite recently I saw customs officials in a autoroute service area. Quit a bunch of them too. Probably after trucks but, who knows, they might show an interest 
You can drive whatever you like anywhere but in France. French residents are not allowed to drive foreign registered cars. France is not the only EU country to have this law and I suspect all EU countries now have it in some form or other.
All the details are here Caroline in an article written way back in 2012 by a lawyer of thirty years standing.
http://www.rivierareporter.com/motoring/124-using-a-foreign-car-in-france
I used to wonder how the police would assess if one was resident or not and that was answered for me at one police control when they asked where I was tax resident.
I disposed of a much loved 1970 rally prepared Cooper S which was on British plates because the hassle of getting it registered here with all the mods would have been dreadful but I didn’t want her seized either and I didn’t want her to rot in the UK 
I like the Stirling Mouse bit. A true gent, one of the old school. Sad he’s no longer with us.
1 Like
Not that I doubt you, but it does lead to odd scenarios
We’ve had French resident friend of UK driver not legally being able to take the wheel, even in an emergency.
What about un français (or une française) hiring a car in another EU country - would they then be committing an offence to drive said vehicle back into France?
That one, in particular, seems to go against single market principles.
Same as for the Volvo, about 600Euros all in. CT, new headlights, foglight moved, import duty (if I remember right was about 260Euros). DREAL was not any more expensive than getting a CoC from some manufacturers.
I don’t make the rules Guv… 
I think that, like most things governments take seriously, it’s tax driven. Different countries have different tax rates on cars, some have registration taxes, some have road taxes, etc. and I guess it’s to stop people playing the system.
Denmark and Ireland (and maybe others) have punitive car registration taxes over and above VAT. France’s Carte Gris charges can also be punitive based on emissions. I remember in the good old days registering a 3.2ltr V6 Merc here for buttons but the CG for our VW Tiguan bought here three years ago (albeit the 240BHP version) cost €4,773.76 (I just checked the invoice). The CG for a Merc C 350e (which has 50 BHP more than the Tiguan) we registered here last year was free (or near as damn it). I should have mentioned the Merc is a hybrid, that’s why the CG cost buttons
I’ve noticed that most rental cars seem to be registered in Department 60 (Oise??) , I’ve always assumed it was because they had the lowest CG charges. Seems like potentially a nice little earner. Likewise I’ve assumed that being banned from driving foreign registered cars in you country of residence was to prevent similar behaviour on an EU wide scale.
I’m sure the cross border car hire issue is handled somewhere.
Stop Press: I just put my theory to the test, Oise CGs are €33 per CV, vs where I am, in the Var, the cost per CV is a shocking €51 (and also in 06 and 13 - obviously a local authority cartel and an abuse of market dynamics 
)
I guess I’ll just have to change my birth name by deed pole to Roger Lapin to comply with Facebook’s policy 
An eminently practical solution. I’m sure that nice Mr Gates and his crack team of scammers would approve.