Jump to content

Danny

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,802

  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Danny

    selling cars privately

    in Driving in France

    Posted

    Has anyone had any experience of selling a car privately? We are considering selling our three year old car and downscaling. We bought it from a garage and will probably buy another this way, but are unwilling to trade in or sell through the garage. We intend to advertise locally but I would like to know how payment for such things is normally made should someone wish to buy our car. I know personal cheques carry more weight here than in the UK but is it normal to wait for a cheque to clear before handing over the vehicle? Perhaps a bank transfer is expected? It would be too large an amount for cash. Any advice would be appreciated,

    Jane

    frost damage to lemon trees

    in Gardening

    Posted

    I have 2 lemon trees in pots (both about 3 feet high) which were doing really well last year, loads of flowers and nice shiny leaves. I had them on our south-facing balcony all summer and moved them underneath the balcony for protection during the winter. I covered them when it got really cold (we are in 46) and kept them watered and fertilised. I have brought them back on to the balcony now but they have suffered: the leaves are all crinkled and dry and dropping off, and they've lost all the small fruit they had (these went black and fell off). So now I have a couple of sticks! The main stems seem green and healthy as much as I can tell and I have cut them back by about a third. Can anyone confirm this is probably frost damage and if so am I likely to see any more growth this spring or is the damage fatal? The smaller mandarin tree was with them and seems to have been unaffected, but I guess they can withstand lower temperatures.... we got down to -10.

    Any advice welcome,

     

    Jane

    Buying a car from a rented address

    in Driving in France

    Posted

    It probably depends on which department you are in and which car dealer you choose, but when we arrived last year (DEPT 46) we had to buy a car within 2 weeks and were in rented accomodation. I did have a letter from our landlord confirming our address (as we had no bills with our name on), but this was never needed. We just supplied the address to the (Toyota) dealer and they sorted out the carte grise for us. When we moved a few months later we just went to the prefecture covering our new address and filled in a form to change the address - this was done in a few minutes. I don't remember being charged for this, so if we were it was a very small amount. We bought a year old car, but I presume the process is the same with a new one.

    Depending on the amount, you will probably have to pay by bank transfer, so make sure you can arrange this. We had to pay by transfer as our cheque book had not yet arrived (payment too high an amount for a card), and this had to be arranged by fax or letter with the bank - this is a real pain if you don't have your own fax and need the car quickly.

    Also, if you have only had UK insurance before, try and get a letter from your insurance company stating your no claims bonus details etc. We were able to arrange immediate cover by telephone but had to follow it up with all the necessary paperwork. Make lots of copies of passports, driving licence, etc, before you leave, as this can save time too.

    Regards,

    Jane

    Cars V Supermarket trolleys

    in French Culture

    Posted

    Compared to London we have found that drivers here (we are in 46) are just as impatient. What they seem to lack here is the aggression - they sit behind you (far too close...) waiting for a chance to overtake but there are none of the hand gestures, flashing lights, beeping horns etc. Indeed it seems to be the norm to drive really close to the car in front. In the UK I felt obliged to speed up or pull over to let people pass for fear they would pull out a gun at the next set of traffic lights, but here I stick to my guns and they overtake when they want to. And I don't drive a tractor, electric or micro car!

    Jane

    ikea france

    in Finding/Owning French Property

    Posted

    We looked into delivery on the IKEA website, but the costs are pretty high, especially if you are far from a store and the order is of high value. We risked a day out to the Toulouse store the other day and once inside you may as well be in Croydon or any UK branch, the layout was identical! Quite busy but much less frantic than a visit to a UK branch at the beginning of January.

    Jane

    certified translation of full birth certificate

    in French Legal Issues

    Posted

    Before we left for France at the beginning of this year I got our marriage certificate translated. I had to telephone the French Consulate in London to ask them for a list of approved translators. They sent me the list, and I arranged the translation with someone on the list who lived locally. I paid them a fee (I think it was about £20). Then I had to take it into the Consulate for stamping. This was charged at an extra £12 or so. If you go down this route be prepared to wait awhile at the Consulate, you can't just pop in and out quickly. After all that we haven't actually needed it, but at least we knew we had it, just in case! We have purchased two houses and a car and applied for a Carte Vitale and never needed more than a short version birth certificate, without translations, but this obviously depends on where you will be based (we are in 46). 

    Good luck,

    Jane

    Removal Recommendations

    in The Complete France Post Bag

    Posted

    We used a company called Hunts of Redditch for our move from London to SW France. They were very efficient, helpful and reasonably priced. They delivered a small amount of our stuff to the furnished place we were renting within a week and once we had bought our own house they delivered the rest of our belongings. We packed ourself so I can't comment on their packing service but they were careful throughout the move and I don't think anything broke, although there are still some unpacked boxes lurking!

    Jane

    compost bins

    in Gardening

    Posted

    We bought a plastic composter from Pole Vert (can't remember exact price, less than forty euros though - turbo-composteur). It is square with a slide-up slat on each side for taking out the compost when ready. I think they are on special offer in OBI at the moment. I would prefer home-made pallet ones too but we put our food waste in the compost and our neighbours dogs/local wildlife would eat it before it could decompose. For compost in the meantime, try your local dechetterie - ours offers compost for free. 

    Jane

    TV, Microwave, DVD, ETC do they work in france?

    in French Satellite TV, French Internet and Telephone

    Posted

    [quote]Hi, I thought I'd reply cos the "search" facility on this new forum seems sadly lacking - well, it certainly didn't work well for me when I tried it out! Beanie, most of the things you mention wi...[/quote]

    Dear Penny

    your post was very useful but did not enlighten anyone as to whether or not the remarkably similar (to the English) Scottish , Welsh and Irish plugs, appliances and extension leads would also work in France.

    The Scottish appliances here are working very well although I have had to change some of the Scottish plugs to French ones...

    Danny

    Moving Monday

    in South West (Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées)

    Posted

    You may be able to get a cat from L'ecole du chat in Cahors, tel: 05 65 35 54 86. A very nice lady (I think her name was Mdme Aurade)runs this from her own home - she kindly took away four wild kittens we captured a couple of weeks ago and at that point had 42 cats that needed homes so you should be in luck!
    I hope you find one,
    Jane
×
×
  • Create New...