Ron-sur-Marne

The problem of getting them in France is getting your eyes tested by the opthalmologist. There is 6 months to one year's waiting list, depending on the region. Once you have had your eye-test, you get a prescription to take to the optician, where there is a small selection of frames that are 100% reimbursed by the Assurance Maladie, along with the lenses. There is of course a shop-full of more expensive frames and also "extras" for the lenses (coatings, tints,...) which are only partially re-imbursed or not at all. We normally go to Specsavers who either mail our new specs to us, or give us the prescription to take to our local optician in France. However this was not possible due to Covid, so in early September 2020 we tried to make an appointment with an Opthalmo. Most of them had recorded messages saying that they were not making appointments until 2021, but finally we found an Opthalmic centre near Reims who was able to see us in February (last week, in fact). So back to our friendly local optician armed with our 60 Euro prescriptions and we get our new specs in a few days.

On E-Bay UK there are three for sale at between £1000 & £1500 asking price, with no bids on any of them. On Leboncoin in France there are a few asking between 500 & 1500 euros, plus a nice condition GTI cabriolet with only 24000km asking 2800 euros. Although yours is RHD, I don't think this makes much difference in value for this type of car. I reckon yours might sell for 500 to 1000 euros or £, depending on its condition. Try putting it on Leboncoin (its free to advertise) and see what happens. Beware scammers, accept only cash. Bon chance !

Anglicisation is the word you're looking for, I think. Happy New Year from the Marne.

Leboncoin (and E-bay) do not accept adverts for weapons... maybe try your local Tabac small ads, or contact your local club de chasse.

"Roue Galette" is the common term for a temporary spare wheel & tyre assembly.

Flat spotting of tyres is very rare these days. The flat spot is caused by a hot tyre with nylon cords cooling when parked over time, thus causing the nylon to "set" in the shape it was left ie: flat at the bottom.... Like ironing a pleat into a piece of nylon cloth. Warm the tyre up again by driving and the flat spot goes. Modern radial tyres do not have nylon cords in the tread area, and all but the very cheapest have rayon or poly-amide casings cords, which don't take a set. So forget all about jacking the car up - this advice dates from the time of nylon casing cross-ply tyres. (Some older classic cars may still have these tyres, in which case feel free to leave it on stands). As for petrol "going off", this may be technically correct, but it is still volatile enough to start a car/chainsaw/generator,etc. after long storage in my experience. Cheers Ron

The taxes are a killer - 10% import duty on the value of the (as decided by the french customs) plus the costs of transport,etc. then 19.6% TVA on the total. That's 31.5% on a figure that you don't know in advance. After that you have to have an individual vehicle acceptance, which would cost around 1000 euros, and has to be done near Paris. Your car would have to be transported there, as you wouldn't legally be able to use it on the road until formalities are completed. PLUS there is the cost of any required modifications, Professional traders have given up importing through Le Havre and now do it via Holland, and get the car registered there... then import it from Europe, with lesser formalities (like importing a UK registered car). See http://www.douane.gouv.fr/page.asp?id=30 for more info. You might get away with some/all of the taxes if you have owned the vehicle personally for more than 6 months/1 year and it is listed with your personal belongings for the customs when you move from USA to live in France. Unless the car is very special to you, I wouldn't bother !! Good Luck

Re the "new law"... I first moved to France in 1982, and the sweep-your-chimney-every-year rule was already in force then, so I would discount it as a new advantage for your business venture. You can buy a ramonage (sweeping) log, which you burn on a low fire and it chemically cleans the chimney. I don't know how effective they are, but a lot of crusty cr*p falls down the chimney afterwards. The box contains a certificate which you date and sign and keep on file yourself. I have no idea whether this is acceptable to insurance companies, but it was accepted by our rental agents when we rented houses for 6 years.

ECE regulations for lighting have been modified, so that current cars have a "flat top" beam, with no difference between left and right drive vehicles. The date at which different vehicle manufacturers applied this varies, but I do know that my 2007 (07 reg) Vectra has flat top beams. If you have half a day to spare, Google UNECE regulation 112.... I think the date of proposal of modification was 2004, but I can't find the date of application - which would vary from country anyway. I don't suppose that the UK ferry/port scammers who like to sell you "deflectors" will not like to make this information too well known.

There's no problem in selling a vehicle for spares. Make it clear in your ad that it has no french registration documents and is for spares. If it is a runner, you can say so (eg: "vehicle roulant mais sans carte grise francaise, Pour pieces"). I sold a Laguna on German plates with a wrecked engine via leboncoin.fr.. The cost of repairing it myself would have exceeded the value of the car - but I got 1000 euros for it! I had 8 replies to my ad. Leboncoin has a category for spares and cars for breaking "equipement auto". You can download a "DÉCLARATION DE CESSION D’UN VÉHICULE" from http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/R20300.xhtml to use a bill of sale. Fill in only the bits that apply and write on it somewhere "vendu pour pieces". One copy is for you, one for the buyer and one for the prefecture, which you can bin as its not French registered. It might be wise to declare it exported to the DVLA (fill in the appropriate bit of the V5). You could give the V5 to the buyer, in case he wants to go through the process of registering it. Good Luck Ron

Try http://www.francecasse.fr/pieces-auto.htm or www.pieceseco.com/ I haven't had much luck with them myself, but its worth a try. Good Luck

Whatever the official rules say (awaiting a post from someone better qualified than me), you don't really need to do anything unless the Gendarmes actually ask you to. I doubt that they'd be bothered for one point. Good Luck

Many modern cars have a "flat top" beam pattern so they are the same for Europe and UK. My Vauxhall Vectra (2007) was less than 4 yrs old, so no Control Technique was needed. A Quittance Fiscale (free) from the tax office and a Certificate of Conformity from GM (£85) plus the V5 was all I needed to register it. It passed its CT on UK headlights one year later, as they conformed to the french beam pattern.

Its not impossible, but you will have to take the car to Paris for comprehensive tests, unless it is over 30 years old and can be registered as a "Vehicle de Collection". If you can read french, the American Car Club de France website has a lot of info, and a member has described in great detail the costs and steps to register his Buick - I think it was around 1500 Euros in all. What is the year & model of car?

Just seen the previous post... The Gicleur looks like a small fat bolt with a very fine cylindrical gauze filter at one end.... if yours looks like a piece of stone, it needed changing! Scrape your "stone" to see if its really a thin brass-looking mesh.