bigears

Will, I'm advocating keeping things simple not doing anything illegal.  Can you tell me the benefits of filling out a tax form (with a nil return) in france if you are a tax resident of the uk? 

forgive my ignorance on this issue.

my advice is not to get into the position of  making a declaration in france and the uk, keep it simple.  The french tax man will not be aware/interested in you if you do as you say, 6 months in uk 6 months in france.  Technically you should only stay in france for a 3 months continuous stretch, to comply with this go back to uk for a quick visit or cross the nearest french border for a day trip..  You can get uk travel insurance that will cover you quite legitimately in france, although at a cost.  The top up refered to in the last post I would think is not applicable to you as a uk resident.  You could have a most satisfying life style.

hi If I was living permanently in france, I would install a huge woodburner that also ran a central heating system.  The other thing to do is to buy sufficient woodland.  Oil/gas/lpg will all become very very expensive in the not too distant future, remember just recently when the oil price was high, that was just a taster of things to come.  Solar panels to heat hot water would also be a good idea. 

hi I put on michelin energy tyres, in the uk you can get them fitted for a reasonable price from costco.  I'm going to buy 4 for a golf mk5 diesel for around 200 smackers.  Here in france I would expect them to be silly money.  If only france had a competitive retailing sector, as in the uk.

P2, do you have a nuclear bunker under your house, just in case?

Beware english builders, french artisan costs are high and don't assume one of them will project manage for you.  Good project management can save a fortune, best done by you on site.  Work out if the done up property will be worth more than the money you sink into it, if its a cheap area you might find it doesn't.  Do your research now,  Good luck.  Best to walk away from five good projects than buy a bad one.

In my opimion, the vw 1.9 pd was the best diesel engine ever made, much better than the unreliable hdi common rail units in many current cars. The lower power output engines were the best and  the cam bet change on these Pd engines is easy and should be done at the required time, don't run the risk of  ruining a good engine.  As for the picasso engine get it done when required hopefully its not as long a job as the 2 litre (5.5 hrs booked labour?) and hopefully the engine will not be one that causes problems. 

Goodmoaning, its nice to read that some posters are declaring friendship towards others, however for myself I am friendless, the Anglemaster didn't put on this earth to make friends.

Thats very interesting Weegie, it shows what their information systems are like, if they have to ask you for that information.  Have you any information as why they checked you?

Hi if you ever see 1.25 again I would grab it.  Uk plc is heading up the creek without paddles and nobody steering.  All the media can talk about is MPs expenses.  They should pay them properly (perhaps tied to average Gps/dentists  wage) and tie them down to a proper contract and get them more focussed on doing their best for the UK. 

Until they do cross check, some will continue to get away with it.  The way french bureaucracy is, I don't expect it to happen quickly. 

Just to go back to Llantony's last post.   I do have a lot of sympathy for someone who is trying to do the correct course of action.  There are of course other xpats who are not so inclined and its frustrating to see them get away with it year after year.  Its easy to feel I wish I hadn't bothered.  You would think it would be easy for the french authorities to check that all foreigners who are in the health system are actually registered for tax.  If its all on computer a simple query would produce the sinners list.  Cracking down on these infringements and others such as cars not reged correctly just doesn't seem to be the french way. 

hi my gut feeling is that sterling will settle at around 1.20, (1.25 max), there will obviously be the usual fluctuations.  I cannot envisage ever getting back to the good old days of 1.40 plus.

hi for a short trip back to the uk,  I would say you should not have a problem and I personally would not think twice about doing it.  The reality is its difficult to prove residency on way or another and it seems to me the law is intended to catch non uk citizens who bring their home registered vehicle with them and use them over a long period of time as they work in the uk.  If the uk didn't have a road fund licence and congestion changes perhaps it would not be an issue.  For longer stays I would not be happy to do it as your foreign reg might become an issue.  Always carry proof of your booked return ferry crossing in the car. 

hi trip when well, only took two hours riding time, not sure of fuel consumption as I forgot to set the computer, driving time in my transit is around 25 mins longer.  Looks to have used just a tad more fuel than normal, probably around 24 km/litre.  On the A20 autoroute I was trying always to go at the maximum (saw 140 on my speedo) and after Tulle on the Argentat/aurillac road the driving was superb although some bends on the climb up after Argentat were a bit tight for the scooter to handle cleanly.  I maintained a feet forward  riding position most of the time with arms more or less fully stretched, that suits my old back.  I have the back support set fully back and it provides welcome support.  I would now be confident of riding down to the Pyreneees in a day, probably a comfortable 5 hrs trip.   Two up is a different kettle of fish as the centre of gravity is much higher and the performance suffers.  The days of the female passenger putting her arms around your waist are gone on the two scooters I've had, its more like around your neck.  Also the windshield which directs the turbulance over my head hits the passenger full in the face. Hope I have begun to convince some of you perhaps more mature riders to consider a maxi scooter.  Personally a 400 is fine for me as 200kg plus is getting too heavy, the honda silverwing 400 is around 245kg!  For anyone just riding one up a 250 is probably sufficient.as long as you can get a comfortable riding position, the yamaha x max 250s top speed is around 135 km/hr.   

hi will be doing a 180km trip tomorrow coming back early the next day.  Will be cruising at  120 - 130 km/hr on autoroute and secound half is single carriageway, will report back as to the fuel consumption.

BigMac I'm heading for 60 and never had a motobike greater than 500, in fact the most numerous bikes I had (in my 30's) were honda 90s.  Big bikes frighten me, how you stay within the speed limit, on particularly sports bikes, is beyond me.  The problem I have with riding a larger scooters is deciding on what outer clothing to wear, do you wear the same as a motorcyclist?  Just finishing my porridge, off to the supermarket for weekly shop (for 1, wife in uk working) I often have people watching in amazement me as I load half a trolley into my scooter. 

big mac, I don't know about the wheel base, I juist know how comfortable the driving position is and how you can vary it on a run.  I like my feet well forward on the diagonally rising bit. With my 400 I can use all the performance without frightening myself, I also average 26 km/litre which must be hedding towards 70 mpg.  I have 62 litres of under seat storage (plus bits and bobs elsewhere) and a 46 litre top case so I can ride it to the supermarket most of the time instead of getting the van out.

hi all just bought issue 1 of a new magazine, called maxiscooter.  There are a number of new maxi scooters becoming available now or soon some of you older riders might be interested in for the sake of a more flexible and agreable riding position and of course they will be fully automatic.  Gilera 800 bmw 800 it looks beautiful with 87 ch kymco 700  there are of course the current burgman 650, silverwing 400 and 600 and the yamaha T max 500 that is a moto disguised as a scooter. I currently have a burgman 400 which has without doubt kept me going on two wheels and always with a big smile on my face.  Don't just dismiss them, if you are vaguely interested have a closer look.    

ok ernie, at what stage in the process do you actually become a french resident???????????  Is it not counted from the day you go to france with the intention of staying there, so how can you actually prove you are in that process or anyone prove otherwise? A french driving licence isn't conclusive proof, a carte de sejour might be if you have to return them when returing to live in the uk.  To be honest I'm not really concerned about this issue, we normally fly back and from the uk and probably don't need to transport any more goods from the uk.  I would not be worried  about this issue if I found myself having to drive my french reged van to the uk.

hi ernie It was a question, I thought I used a question mark.  If I was stopped in my van in the uk I would reply 'I live in france' and show my return ferry booking,. if that wasn't sufficient and pc plod used the resident word I would say I am ' in the process of becoming a french resident'. 

hi so all french resident ex pats when they drive to the uk in their french reged cars carry proof that they are french residents to show any pc plod who might suspect they are really uk residents and are thus breaking the law?

hi baypond, I think its a farce, see my earlier post.  In practice I cannot believe you would ever be taken to task for it.

hi does that mean as a uk resident I can drive my wifes french registered car in the uk if she is sitting next to me, but she cannot.  We have vehicles registered and based in both france and the uk.  Nowadays we try to fly back and forwards, just ocassionally when we need to transport something big, we take the transit to the uk and back.  Ultimately you can find situations where you are acting illegally (?) when it seems a reasonable thing to do.