Owen White

thanks for all your help everyone - i'm sure we'll never agree on all the points but the advice ive received on this forum has been very useful. there are so many pitfalls and it's useful to be able to get advice from people who have already gone through these/similar procedures. Just to clear one point up, as i mentioned before, my car is fully MOTed - it was done just before my departure for france, therefore it runs until end of may 07. i will get all the forms filled in this weekend to get the vehicule back on the road and arrange insurance and a tax disc before i return to the UK in four weeks time.

[quote user="dogwood"] But why did he insure it in France in the first place? If he had no intentions of regestering it here. He should have kept his English insurance Dogwood [/quote] I got french insurance because i knew that the car would not be covered under my previous UK insurance. My French insurance company (AXA Limonier) informed me that there was no need to register to car in France or to get a CT (as i had a valid MOT), as the period in France was going to be less than a year. If what ive read on here is true, then i have been wrongly advised by the insurance company. I now need to un-SORN my car ASAP so i can arrange UK tax disc and UK insurance b4 my return. Putting all grudges/moral opinions aside, could anyone simply advise me on what form i need to obtain to do this (legally declaring the car back on the road)? thanks, Owen

wow! i really didnt expect this kind of response. i feel compelled to write a little in my defence the original thread i created is here http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/677982/ShowPost.aspx#677982 Sunday Driver wrote: "If you are resident in the UK and intending to visit France, then you may bring your UK registered car over for up to 12 months.  Any longer than that, then you'd be obliged to permanently export it.  There is no requirement for short term visitors to register their vehicles here. Whilst driving abroad, your vehicle must be UK road legal so make sure it has a tax disc and MOT valid for this period.  If not, it'll cause you some hassle. For example, if your tax expires whilst you are over here,then you can apply to have a new tax disc sent to a french address but you'd also have to produce a current UK insurance certificate as normal. If your MOT expires whilst in France, then you'd have to return to the UK to visit a testing station (nearest to the ferry port) on a pre-arranged appointment." I am officially resident in the UK - i am in france on a 9 month work placement but go back often for work & social reasons. therefore, following Sunday's point, i thought i didnt have to re-register my car, as it wouldnt exceed 12 months. My car is fully MOT'ed - the reason why i did not renew my tax disc was the after hours of phoning and emailing the DVLA and explaining the situatuion i was refused one as i did not have UK insurance. i couldnt afford to get UK & French insurance - i am 24 and just starting out with my career and so was not another rich brit going abroad to a 2nd home, but neither was i be 'claiming unemployment benefit from the UK and, or, France.' as Chezstevens would like to believe. Having read the posts above, it seems the only course of action left for me is to: Get UK insurance b4 i return to the UK Declare the car back on the road Get a UK tax disc - either sent directly to france or to my UK address and then forwarded on to France I really am not trying to dodge any systems - i was simply trying to follow the advice i received on here and from friends as best i could.

I got some really good advice on this forum when i moved out to france 9 months ago, and now ive got to move back, so was hoping someone might be able to help me.   here's my situation: I've got french insurance here - it runs out in july, from what i understand it would be OK for me to drive in the UK on this insurance. My UK road tax disc ran out in decmber 06 - i had to declare my car off the road as i couldnt get a tax disc with out proof of UK insurance. Whilst ive read that i probably should have exported the car, the fact that i knew i was going back to the UK meant i wasnt keen on doing this.   So the issue is what to do? seeing as ive paid for a few more months of french insurance, i'd like to avoid getting UK insurance in this period if possible. however, i'll need to get a tax disc obviously, so does anyone know how i can do this? can i just insure my car for a few days/weeks, get a tax disc and then carry on with the french insurance?   cheers for any help

Having had such great help on this forum whilst researching insurance, I thought I'd ask for help again, what are the legal requirements on what you have to carry whilst driving in France? I've read many different thoughts, red traingle, fire extinguisher, passport etc... thanks.

Once again, thanks so much for the help, but just to clarify and make sure i've got this right in my mind: I should be able to find a French insurance company who will insure me for 9 months whilst I'm in France, and I won't need to register the car in France/get French plates/get a Carte Grise? If this is so, the next question is, do any French insurance companies do policies for 9 months (i.e. less than 1 year, or do they do rebates for any time you don't want the policy?) Thanks, Owen

[quote user="Cassis"] When we had been here 6 months our French insurer asked us to provide a copy of the Carte Grise - he said we needed it after being resident with the car for 6 months. Anyone able to quote the French regulation verbatim? [/quote]   Thanks for the help so far guys but does anyone have the absolute answer to the above? I really don't want to be getting into insurance/legal problems if i do bring my car. I will get in contact with Thierry Marcq as mentioned above, but does anyone else have any recommendations of insurers who might insure me (pref. with email addresses?!) for the 9 months? many thanks again

[quote user="Cassis"] When we had been here 6 months our French insurer asked us to provide a copy of the Carte Grise - he said we needed it after being resident with the car for 6 months. Anyone able to quote the French regulation verbatim? [/quote]   Thanks for the help so far guys but does anyone have the absolute answer to the above? I really don't want to be getting into insurance/legal problems if i do bring my car. I will get in contact with Thierry Marcq as mentioned above, but does anyone else have any recommendations of insurers who might insure me (pref. with email addresses?!) for the 9 months? many thanks again

I'm coming to France (Niort in dept 79) to work for 9 months from June onwards. I am wondering what the best method of insuring my car is so any advice would be most appreciated, I've spent ages reading all the posts on this forum which have been very useful but i'm still confused about the situation. Can I get French insurance without registering my car there (RHD Renault Clio)? (for 9 months it doesnt seem worth all the hassle of registering/reregistering when i get back here) If so, any recommendations would be great. I know that some UK insurers will insure you and charge a premium for use in france, but does anyone have any more names apart from www.stuartcollins.com and SAGA (I am 23 so don't quite qualify!)? I had a quote from Stuart Collins a few months ago when i first looked into this but it was very steep!  sorry for the rambling nature of this post, but i'd really like some help! thanks, O