Jdknott

thanks for that, Quillan, but there's nothing in my insurance policy wording requiring the car to be blessed with a UK road fund licence. So my insurance is valid, otherwise we wouldn't drive it. Of course. The policy does say that I must do my best to keep it roadworthy (which I do, with help from the regular MOT test). I don't see that there's a problem here. Whenever the car is in UK it has a UK road fund licence, and during any gaps in the road fund tax it is not on UK roads - but does have a UK issued SORN. While that goes on, we wrestle our way through the paperwork to become immatriculated. John

the initial entry says "no car licence (again I assume they mean a valid UK tax disk) resulting in no insurance" as far as I know it does not invalidate the car's insurance if there is no current UK road fund licence for the car. obviously the car needs an MOT and insurance, and the driver needs an appropriate driving licence. Where does it say that insurance is null & void if there is no road fund licence? Even in the UK it would be an offence liable to prosecution for (a) not having and (b) not displaying the tax disc, but the insurance would be valid. It is a curious aspect of the SORN declaration that it does not say it is limited to use on public roads in the UK. Can someone clarify this for me? and before anyone jumps down my throat with self-righteous indignation, we are immatriculating our cars at the moment, with help from these pages previously given. John Knott

thanks for those two very useful replies, have acted on it and the system is all up and running. Very many thanks indeed. I don't know how to get our number witheld on our landline, any clues or shall I pop into France Telecom.

we have bought a new Sky card for the free to air channels including ITV, you probably know this already : the card is called 'freesatcard' for £20 from Sky 0870 606 1111 (for your sat digibox you already may have) - it lasts 3 years, and it allows your sat receiver box to then get ITV1,2 and Ch4 , Ch5 and all the rest of free-to-air. we have the card, and unlike the old cards there's no need to phone Sky to get it switched on, it is meant to self-activate after 20 minutes or 4 hours. Ours card hasn't, and we may call Sky (on a uk mobile of course, so they don't know where you're phoning from) but wonder if anyone has been down this path already and can offer advice, please

surely be suspiscious as to why the house hasn't sold ? and get a written assurance if you buy (eg in the compromis) that all immo fees are NOT paid by you. it varies. John Knott

Most notaires ask for an Attestation of insurance on the signing of the Acte de Vente. It's always a surprise that insurance here is based on a calendar year, but beware that you have to cancel an insurance policy in writing with due notice. Just failing to renew it (as you might have done in UK) doesn't cancel it, and you will be relentlessly pursued for the payment of the premium even if you have arranged insurance cover elsewhere. John Knott

we've had mixed luck too, and it seems to me that the difference in response depends if you can carry it to the shop. we have hud umpteen of those big SDS electric drills/concrete breakers at under 50 euros from Carrefour, Bricomarche etc. They always fail before the guarantee runs out, and we take them to the shop, and they change them without even looking in the box. But at Lerclerc we spent over 1000 euros on an oil-fired stove, within a month the glass view panel cracked, and we had such rows with them, letters, took months, had good advice from this forum, and when this winter came we surrendered and bought ourselves a new glass. So we reckon to get easy replacements, only buy what you can carry ! Smile lots, and improve your language skills. John Knott

we have a 1971 MG which we really must get around to re-registering in France. This seems all-but impossible as a full import, but okay as a "Voiture de Collection" which limits us to use in our department and the adjacent one(s), with special trips elsewhere permitted. Although a Frenchman told me we would only be allowed to use it at weekends, I don't see that in any paperwork. Does anyone have any first-hand experience of going down this route? any clues much appeciated, John Knott

This is not a comment, but a further question. We have a 1995 Fiat Ducatto campervan which we bought as a van in UK some years ago, and had it professionally converted in UK by a company which has since gone bust. It is still an all-metal body, unchanged, & exterior wise it looks like a van with windows. It's still on UK registration here, with 365 day European ins cover from UK. Do you think that this would get stuck in buraucracy trying to get it "conformed" here? any thoughts would be appreciated, from those who have trodden a similar path...

This is not a comment, but a further question. We have a 1995 Fiat Ducatto campervan which we bought as a van in UK some years ago, and had it professionally converted in UK by a company which has since gone bust. It is still an all-metal body, unchanged, & exterior wise it looks like a van with windows. It's still on UK registration here, with 365 day European ins cover from UK. Do you think that this would get stuck in buraucracy trying to get it "conformed" here? any thoughts would be appreciated, from those who have trodden a similar path...

we bought a Deville Sylvestre (green enamel mazout with glass front) from E Leclerc. With a month of use the glass cracked completely. E Leclerc have taken since February to finally decline to change the glass free of charge. They keep trying to pass us onto the intermediate supplier/distributors, or the makers Deville. We are resisting this, believing that our contract is with them. They also produced a brochure from Deville saying that the glass is not covered by guarantee, despite there being nothing about this on the actual guarantee from Deville. We are now at an impasse, and could benefit from some advice: 1. are we right to be staying with E Leclerc to get a solution? 2. can we tackle a small claims court action without using a French lawyer? 3. what does a small claims action cost here? we are arguing about 51 euros only. 4. might we have any power to return the product as unfit for its purpose? Our long term concern is tha there might be a design defect in the details of the stove which will break more glass. Any clues would be much appreciated.

we have lined several chimneys using aluminium tube bought from the Bricomarche (as in the Intermarche chain) who make the best tube of this type. It is stout, and the ends socket tihghtly onto each other. We drop these in 1 metre lengths and pop rivet them (3 times on the circumference) as we go, using a rope & hook to take the minimal weight. They are suitable for most applications but NOT for the "inserts". obviously socket with the smaller tube at the top, so air flow is awlays upwards. because French chimneys are straight you should put a weather proof cowl on the top. for chimney cleaning, there are proprietary packs of burners you can buy, which you burn in the fire and thereby clean the chimney, cost is under 10 euros for a pack which should do a couple of years.

we have been to CPAM armed with E106 etc (don't forget to take a R.I.B. from your bank details) and when we went to Groupama to arrange the top-up insurance we found there was a delay in the commencement of cover, 3 months for general medical 6 months for dental and 9 months for pregancy. you cannot get cover without the social service registration number, to initiate the policy, so this period without top-up insurance cover (although paying for it!) seems unavoidable. has anyone found a way around this? incidentally, there's no medical declaration or investigation if you are under 60 when you sign up the insurance. and after 60 you don't seem to be able to increase your cover. John Knott