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I don't want to seem holier than thou but the place for these comments is on the original post/thread.  I read the 'Mr. O' post and my sympathies lie with Mrs. O and these forums aren't the place to argue.  They ought to be used for the exchange of information, helping others, seeking help, etc. That said I've contacted AXA and they now say they will renew my contract.............................then the day after I received 2 more letters informing me they will not be renewing my other 2 classic policies.  Needless to say we are going to see them. What worries me is that I may now have to answer yes to the question 'have you ever had insurance cancelled', although in my view it hasn't been cancelled it's just not been renewed. All in all we pay 800 euros p/a to AXA and it seems damm rude not to give a reason.

Thanks to BobT & NormanH for a quick response.  The bike is French registered and insured as a Vehicule de Collection and as such I wasn't asked for any proof of no claims bonus (bonus/malus).  Incidently I also have 2 old cars insured with AXA and my modern bike (for which I provided proof of NCB from my UK insurer) so I wonder if I have 3 more letters in the pipeline. My main worry is that when one insures one has to tell the prospective insurer is you've ever had insurance cancelled and I'm not sure if this counts as technically it isn't cancelled they're simply not renewing.  

Help!!!  I have received today a registered letter from my insurance provider (AXA) with the following text (English translation provided by www.freetranslation.com) Nous regrettons de devoir mettre fin à votre contrat d’assurance no. 3850635504 à l’échéance annivesaire conformément à l’article L113-12 du code des assurances et aux conditions générales. We regret to have to put an end to your insurance policy no.  3850635504 to the maturity date annivesaire in accordance with the item L113-12 code of the assurances and to the general conditions.    En conséquence votre contrat sera résilié à compter du 01/01/2009 à 0 heure. Consequently your contract will be terminated as of 01/01/2009 at 0 o'clock.      La résiliation ne préjudicie en rien au payment des primes éventuellement dues au titre de ce contrat. Termination not préjudicie in anything to the payment of the eventually due premiums to the title of this contract.  (I think thismeans I stillhave topayup to the end of the contract)     Les informations concernant votre contrat et vos sinistres sont transmises pour enregistrement dans un ficher central professionnel gere par l’association pour la gestion des informations sur le risqué Automobile (A.G.I.R.A. – 1, rue Jules Lefebvre 75009 Paris). The news concerning your contract and your sinister ones are transmitted for recording in a professional central card managed by the association for the management of the news on the risk Automobile (A.G.I.R.A.  – 1, street Julius Lefebvre 75009 Paris).  Article L113-12 states that either the insured or insurer has the right to cancell the policy. Can anyone help as to why I may have received this letter, there's no explaination as to why they're cancelling it. I will be writing to them but I thought I see what the forum thinks as well. P.S. This is for a vehicule de collection andit's a motorcycle.

Just checked Mascotte assurance & 195euro for the MGB but www.retroassur.com BP 73 - 46400 St CERE [email protected] Fax 05 65 10 17 18 Pour tout renseignement 0 821 230 111 (appel éco.) was 132 so I think I'll be going with them, now all I have to do now is write to my current company & cancel the cover.

Thanks for the suggestion, I have done this but as France (no disrespect) is a bit behind the UK as far as the internet goes it's hard to get a quote from smaller less well known companies via the internet & I was hoping for some replies to my post along the lines of "I have an MGB & I pay x euros with Y company" & then I could write.  

I wrote in French, my best present tense interspersed with some passe compose, I think. Ma femme et moi avons habite en France depuis Juillet 2007.  Nous avons lu dans la journal Connexion France (http://www.connexionfrance.com/expatriate-news-article.php?art=246) c'est possible pour les personnes etranger etudier Francais gratuit pour 200 heures.  Maintenant nous chercherons pour la liste d'organisation quel participant dans le plan.  Si cette exact s'il vous plait repondre a moi avec l'information pour appliquer.   Je desole par-ce-que ma Francais est mauvais.   AsI said my French isn't that good but I do feel I use the right words though the tense may be wrong.

I agree with NormanH, the French administrative systems are undertaken in French and you have to understand French to fit in.  Don't mis-understand me I am NOT complaining about any lack of help for non or poor French speakers, indeed I think if you move here and don't speak French then the problem is your and not the French,Iwas merely commenting on the irony of running a course for non-French speakers but haveing the details only available in French. I do speak French but it's more touristy French rather than everyday conversational French with all the poor grammer and verb usage that goes with that.

Thanks for this, the list is the same as the contacts list provided in 'The Connexion' site.  The problem is that there's only a phone number for Drome, I googled the phone number and found a contact whom I E_Mailed but received no reply (hence my other comments).  thanks for the other link though I've now E_Mailed them asking for application details so my hopes remain high. Things are different here to the UK, in the UK government organisations etc. bend over backwards to help non-English speakers (road signs in Polish etc.) but in France you need some French even to apply for these lessons which are geared towards non-French speakers. At least it forces one to get the dictionary out and apply oneself. thanks again.  

It's getting to that time of year when I have to start looking for insurance quotes for my classic cars, it's the end of my first year in France and for the first year I insured with the first company I found who would insure my cars (AXA).  I'm currently paying 21 euros per month for a 1975 MGB-GT and 19 euros per month for a 1967 Sunbeam Alpine and compared to the UK this seems expensive but I was just happy to get them insured.  However, I would now like to find more competitive quotes so if anyone out there can help with the following: 1. Souring a multicar policy 2. Advice on a reasonable premium. 3. Is it easy/ok to change the insured car on a policy i.e. insure the MG fully comp and just change to the Sunbeam a few days before I want to use it. 4. I know roadworthy cars must be covered 'civil responsibility' but what constitutes an unroadworthy car - no battery? no wheels?

Does anyone know of any classic car clubs in the Drome (26) area?  I ive near the boarders of Drome (26), Isere (38) and Haute Alps (05) and in the summer see lots of old cars (mostly british funnily enough) passing by on the N75 but can never find details of clubs on the interent or meetings in this area.  I have a 1975 MGB-GT, Sunbean Alpine and Honda GL700 Wing Interstate motorcycle and long to get out & use them in the summer months. any help would be appreciated.

Backin October the France in English newspaper The Connexion ran an article says thatthe state would pay for up to 200 hours of French lessons aid for by the state (http://www.connexionfrance.com/expatriate-news-article.php?art=246) there were certain conditions but so far despite E_Mails to various contacts we've received no replies. Has anyone out there had any success with these lessons? Also it may be just me but I find that despite including contact E_Mail addresses quite often no one replies to E_Mails sent despite receiving a read receipt.  Insurance companies are the worst - what's your experience of this?

Except that when I imported my 2002 MG ZT-T with an EU type approval number on the V5C the Prefectaire (Drome 26) would not accept this and I had to pay 180 euros for a CoC.  I believe some departments (Haute-Alps 05) would've accepted an EU type approval number.

You need a atestation that the light has been changed from RHD to LHD because the COC relates to the bike, or car. I.E. It tells the prefectaire the details he/she needs to know about the bike such as CV, CO2 emissions etc. The prefectaie has no way of knowing if the lights have been changed due to there being no MOT fcor bikes in France.  I would be willing to bet that if you didn't supply a letter your application would be refused.

Recently ther've been a few posts regarding registering old bikes or those without a CoC.  I've registered 2 old cars, 1 old bike and 1 modern car.  I've documented my experienced in a Word document with scan of the various documents if you'd like a copy please PM me with your E_Mail address and I'll send it to you. Hope this helps. Remember it's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

My wife and I have bought a wooden hot tub with a wood burning stove (approx 1.8mtr dia X 1.2mtr deep) but we don't know anything about bacteria prevention, we've bought a small tub of chlorine powder/stuff but are a little concerned that come winter when we empty the tub the chlorinated water will either damage or kill our plants.  We're on a fosse septique so cannot drain into a sewer. So a list of questions: 1. Is it OK to use chlorine? 2. Are there any other alternative/better solutions available? 3. How long can one expect untreated water to last 4. Can you get testing kits to help determine how poluted the water may be. Regards, Neil.

I've sent the document. Hope my experiences help you. Contact details edited by the moderators. Please do not post your personal details on the message boards.

Bin out on the bike yesterday (Honda GL700 Wing Interstate, posh for a GL650) and got to wondering if there are any other ex-UK bikers in the area.

Hi, The documents you need are Cert De Conformity, Quittus Fiscal (form 1993 available from your centre des impots), an attestation/letter that the headlight is suitable for use in France (although I think nowadays bike lights have a flat beam and are not RHD/LHD), proof of ID & residence (passport & EDF bill will do). N.B. If you let me have an E_Mail address I can send you a Word document with example forms and the process.  I have not imported a modern bike but have done a modern can, 2 old cars and an old bike.  The process is pretty much the same but with old cars/bike you can bypass Cert De Conf by registering as a Vehicile De Collection. Hope this helps.

Does anyone know, if there is one, the French equivilant of English finishing plaster?  The best we've found to date is Lutece 2000 L.  All the other stuff goes off in minutes.  I'm back in the UK early May and will bring some English back if I can't find any.

Just to close this thread off.  I have now obtained insurance wih AXA.T cost of 135 euros and an agreed value of 1500 euros.  Of course I do have to get a valuation, which I'm doing from www.retro-expertise.com at a cost of 23 euros. It was dead easy in the end, after messing about with specialist vehicule de collection insurers none of whom returned my calls, E_Mails or letters I just walked in off the street and walked out with three polocies (MGB 230e, Sunbeam Alpine 187e and bike 130e) I pay monthly and got a 10% discount for 3 policies.  I did have to prove my bonus/malus which was easy as I have a modern car insured with AGF. Thanks to all those who responded.

you could always use www.freetranslation.com or Babel fish and write your request.  You will get a gisted translation but this ought to be sufficient. Lets not forget we are living in France, a country whose native tongue is French.  This is not England where the goverment will bend over backwards to provide chinese, indian, punjabi speakers etc. We owe it to our adopted country to learn French and not expect the French to learn ours.

My wife and I are with CA in Haute-Alps and recently asked about travel insurance (for which we paid £55 PA in the UK). We were told such insurance doesn't exist in France and our CA 'credit card' provides cover of this type.  We were given a leaflet entitled arte Mastercard which explained the cover we have so long as we use the card to pay for all or a small part of our holiday. This to me makes the subscription worth it.

Thanks for the info I will be contacting the MG club of France.  I must say though 250 euros is expensive for a valuation no matter how professional it is.  I have an MG, a Sunbeam and a motorbike so on this basis I would be paying 750 euros - alot of money however you look at it.

I've spoken to the following: www.sm3a.fr   www.assurance-bailly.fr   http://www.assurancesclavel.com/   legande Assurance and http://www.mascotte-assurances.com/ Some are more helpful than others, I think I'll be going with http://www.mascotte-assurances.com/ as they will accept valuations done from photos by http://www.retro-expertise.com/ I did have classic insurance in the U.K. with agreed valuations but a) these were in English and I would have to get them translated and b) most insurance companies want you to get the cars valued by an authorised valuer (I haven't found a local one yet), www.sm3a.fr gave me the phone numbers of 2, both 200Km away and to take my cars to them would cost 200 euros in petrol. The problem with taking the cars to a valuer is that I need insurance to drive them and I can't get insurance with out having first visited a valuer, of course I could take out the minimum cover (civil resposibilite i.e. 3rd party only) but that seems risky. As I said I have imported my cars and if you require any help let me know.

I didn't know ABP would do old cars I went down the Vehicule de collection route and registered with the F.F.V.E. - cheaper 50euro.  I did get a  CoC from ABP for my MG-ZT @ 180 euros.