Dinks

Whilst your local garage may be quite happy to do you a certificate/letter for the headlights & speedo, Mercedes France homologation dept are very unlikely to accept it. They insist that the 'attestation' comes from a Mercedes concessionnaire. It's all bonkers anyway because, in our case, the van passed its CT which it can only do once the lamps have been changed anyway! As an update, Mercedes homologation very kindly emailed me back to confirm that it is not necessary to purchase the lamps directly from Mercedes, despite what Etoile Occitane told me. I have sent a recorded letter to the head man at the latter to complain, so will see what the result is. It's a painful process!

Doh! So it is ;-) Don't you hate it when days all blur into one?!

Many thanks for that. I have to say I was astounded when the bloke told me he had never been asked for such an attestation before and his boss then refused to give us one without an invoice from Mercedes for the lights! He refused to call the homologation department to clarify matters which was just plain ignorant. I'll call tomorrow & get the name of the Service Director and get a complaint letter off this week. Thanks again for the advice - much appreciated. Bonne soirée.

It's the Etoile Occitane Mercedes dealer at Trèbes nr Carcassonne. We are in 09. I have sent a letter to the homologation department in Paris as I can't get them on the 'phone and they aren't answering my messages. Am I right in saying that we didn't have to purchase the lamps direct from Mercedes? The dealer was totally clueless!

Over the past 4 years, we have registered an Opel and a Toyota in France, sans soucis. But Mercedes are proving problematic! We have a UK reg Mercedes Sprinter van that we need to transfer to French plates. But Mercedes will not issue a European cert of conformity without an attestation from a local dealer to confirm that the headlights 'conform to French road standards'. Of course we have changed the headlights and the van has passed its CT which is proof that the it is legal on French roads! But the CT does not suffice, oh no, an attestation is required Madame. Trouble is that our 'local' (3 hr round trip!) dealer hasn't got a clue and is insisting that we provide an invoice from Mercedes for the lights. We didn't buy them direct from Mercedes. I cannot get hold of the Mercedes homologation dept on the phone to resolve the issue so was just wondering whether anybody else has had this problem and how it was resolved? Grr!

Thanks people. We have already had the full package done on the house that we are selling but a friend is now selling theirs privately & didn't think they needed the reports doing. I thought otherwise!

Does anybody know whether the full 'diagnostiques' (inc. DPE) are required for a property that is only being marketed privately? Or are the reports required for ALL property sold in France whether through an agent or not?

Thanks for that Anton. I'll check out Brico Depot near here

We have so far been unable to find any earth clamps such as are used in the UK for crossbonding kitchen & bathroom pipes. Do they not exist in France? None of the brico outlets or specialist electrical shops seem to stock them. What do people use as an alternative? Thanks in advance?

Depends how big a van/lorry you need. We had all of our stuff shipped down from S Yorkshire to the Ariege in a 3.5t vehicle (20m3 capacity) 4 years ago which cost us £1400.

I can highly recommend milenlighthaulage.co.uk - they are based in France and did a great job of moving our house contents from Sheffield down here to the Ariege 4 years ago. Their fees are very reasonable and they were very efficient at every stage of the process.

Thanks Chancer. The 'attestation d'identification' is the same as a 'certificat d'identification' .... yes? From DREAL.... "Ce n'est pas mon service qui délivre les certificat européen mais le constructeur du véhicule . Il faut vous adresser à Mercédes France pour  obtenir soit un certificat d'identification qui vous permettra d'aller directement en Préfecture pour avoir une carte grise française soit une attestation de conformité que vous joindrez au dossier".Hmm

And it gets worse - for all those who reckon you can just 'turn up at your local DRIRE (now DREAL)' to get your hands on a cert of conformity, think again. My contact at DREAL Midi-Pyrenees has categorically told me in an email that you HAVE to get the C of C from the vehicle manufacturer. DRIRE/DREAL or whatever acronym you choose, do not issue them. Full stop. Great.

Well, I can comfortably say that I am now banging my head against a brick wall. The prefecture wouldn't even look at the Type Approval Number on the V5 let alone tap the number into a computer. No manufacturer's c of c = no carte grise, madame. Now, I have successfully obtained a manufacturer's c of c for a Vauxhall and a Toyota over the past 2 years, but Mercedes are playing their own game. Despite sending them a copy of the van's cert de contrôle téchnique, they are insisting on an attestation from a Mercedes Benz garage/dealer to confirm that both the headlights and the speedometer conform to French road standards. I mean, FFS! We HAD to get the headlights changed for it to pass its CT and ALL vehicles have both kph and mph on the speedo do they not? Gah!

Please give details of this 'new law' that you mention? Our UK regd van passed the CT just a week ago and no mention was made of the C of C which is a good job as we have still not received it from Mercedes.