Sunday Driver

Have you actually experienced any wriggling and squirming on the part of your own insurer or are these just silly generalisations based on bar talk that you've overhead.....?[8-)]  

A quick bit of research indicates that the Surf may have been officially imported into France as the Toyota 4 Runner.  There are plenty of 4 Runners for sale here so that could well be the case. In any event, a local Toyota dealer would be able to confirm this. As suggested earlier, see what form of conformity certificate Toyota France will supply.  It may well be that the engine in your Japanese Surf is identical to the European 4 Runner/Hilux (official imports) so if that's the case, then there may be no need for any of the expensive UTAC visits that Glacier described (his were totally non-conforming US specification vehicles). OK, you'd have to invest 150€ or so to find out, but if the car is anywhere decent, it could be worth it.  Plus, once it's on French plates, its resale value will increase......    

Gosh, how dreadful that a furniture store should shock and confuse their customers by making a variety of furniture available......[:-))] What will the Yanks get up to next.....?  

A cruiser tour....??? Sorry, too gay for me....[8-|]  

It's a problem that is faced by anyone who produces creative material, be it film DVDs, music CDs, computer games and, most recently, e-books.  Anyone legitimately purchasing your e-book from Amazon can then illegally share it with the rest of the world by using a torrent site.  The argument against such sharing is that it deprives the author of his income from legitimate sales.  The argument for is that the downloaders get a taste of the author's work and may then go out and buy legitimate copies of his other work.    

It's flies who keep turning up and saying "Where's the cows gone...?"  

Calculez votre Cote Argus en 2 minutes  

There is no requirement to inform your insurer.  

Assurance providers don't mind people with ALDs who's treatment is covered 100% by the state because they don't have to pay out.  When I originally took out my policy with Groupama, I mentioned my ALD and got a discount on my premiums.    

This has nothing whatsover to do with the DVLA....[8-)] This was simply a case of an error on the part of the Oban Sheriff Court who miscalculated Mr Kosinski's residence status when enforcing the six month rule for visitors.  http://www.sccrc.org.uk/viewfile.aspx?id=425  

Pierre's link only displays ads from Poitou-Charentes so how do they all seem to be at the other end of the country? If you refine the search by selecting Motos as the category, you'll suppress all the odds and ends and end up with 58 ads for the bikes themselves.  If you then modify the search to just Charente, then you'll get a dozen bikes local to you.....[;-)] http://www.leboncoin.fr/motos/offres/poitou_charentes/charente/?f=a&th=1&q=solex  

Whenever we're on the road, we tend to pop into McDonalds to access the internet using Mrs Sunday's Ipad.  You first have to start up your browser which immediately displays a 'welcome to McDonald's' page which you just click on to connect (no access code required).  Once you've done that, it's surf-on... Similar procedure when staying in a hotel or campsite, except you may have to ask them for the access code which you enter on the welcome page. Not sure if it's the same with a Kindle but as it does feature a web browser, this may be the answer to getting connected. PS:  Trying to logon whilst sitting in McDonalds car park doesn't seem to work, perhaps they keep the signal deliberately low so you have to physically go in and buy a cuppa from them.....  

This thread is over three years old, Allan.  I don't think jimmytaktak is still around.......[;-)]  

Current tax office rules allow you to move out of a property and into another whilst retaining your principal residence exemption on the old empty property for up to two years.  This concession was introduced to take into account the current slowdown in the French property market.  

To obtain a French driving licence, you must produce proof of your driving entitlements.  The photocard licence provides this proof, but the paper counterpart doesn't.  As you have lost your licence, you will need to contact the DVLA and ask them for a letter confirming your entitlements which you can give to the French authorities.  They'll charge you a fiver for this and will send the letter to your French address.  Once you have it, apply for the French licence as normal at your prefecture. They will accept the DVLA letter in place of a licence.  

The FHI campaign to reinstate lost rights to state healthcare insurance for the early retired was an outstanding success and full credit goes to all the people who were involved in driving it forward. However, it's probably fair to say that it was 'of its time' so I'm not sure whether there would be any real benefit in recovering and re-publishing documentation that may no longer be relevent today.  

The 0.50€ franchise médicale payable for each item of prescribed medicine is normally deducted from the reimbursement sent to you by your CPAM. However, your pharmacie operates tiers payant where they bill your CPAM for the full amount, so you have nothing to pay therefore you are due no reimbursement.  In that case, then as per Norman, your CPAM will accumulate the franchises and deduct them from the next reimbursement due to you, ie when you next have treatment where you pay up front and claim the money back. It would be unusual for a pharmacie to become involved in collecting these outstanding franchises, so I'd be inclined to ask them what the credit is for.  

What do you mean by 'My PC blew up'?  Are there pieces of it embedded in the ceiling or do you mean nothing happens now when you switch it on? If it's the latter, it may be that it's the power supply unit that has failed and the rest of the components, including the hard disk, are still OK.  

The old carte grise covers you for towing the vehicle to your friend's house. If she doesn't intend putting it on the road again, then there's no need for her to obtain a fresh carte grise.  

[quote user="sweet 17"] Unfortunately, both cars have old-style plates![:'(]  Does the financial squeeze never let up?[+o(] So....2 sets of new plates PLUS the garagiste's charge for rivetting them in place (sigh). SD, would the numbers be completely different as well? [/quote] Well, they won't be the same, that's for sure.......[;-)]  

Code de la route Article L327-1: "Les entreprises d'assurances tenues à un titre quelconque à indemniser les dommages à un véhicule dont un rapport d'expertise fait apparaître que le montant des réparations est supérieur à la valeur de la chose assurée au moment du sinistre doivent dans les quinze jours suivant la remise du rapport d'expertise proposer une indemnisation en perte totale avec cession du véhicule à l'assureur. Le propriétaire du véhicule dispose de trente jours pour donner sa réponse." In case you don't understand French, the insurer appoints an independent expert to examine the vehicle.  If the expert reports that the cost of repairs will exceed the value of the vehicle, the insurer must make you a total loss offer within fifteen days of receiving the report.  You then have thirty days in which to respond to the offer. The offer will be based on the Argus value of the vehicle and may be adjusted to take into account any special equipment fitted and/or recent high value repairs carried out. If you accept the offer, you send the insurer a signed déclaration de cession plus the gendarmerie notice of withdrawal of the carte grise (avis de retrait conservatoire du certificat d'immatriculation).  You then receive your cheque.  

You only have to change plates if your car had the old style registration number showing your department code. Your new carte grise will show a new style number, so new plates will be needed. If your car already has the new style number, then it stays with the car for life so no need to change plates. Old style:  1234 XY 24 New style:  AB-123-CD You should have notifed your change of addess when you moved house, if only to avoid any delays in getting your speeding tickets sent on to your new address and losing your discount for prompt payment.....[:P]  

PTAC is actually the gross vehicle weight.  Gross train weight is PTRA. Certainly illogical, given that my big powerful E-Class Mercedes (PTRA >3500kg) is limited to 90kph when towing on the autoroute even if it's just a sub-500kg garden trailer, whereas with my tiddly old Peugeot 307 I could tow a trailer weighing up to 1,300kg at 130kph....[blink]  

[quote user="idun"]That sounds like it is going to be bordelic, if they don't join up legislation about tax and health care. They should, but will they ?[/quote] Legistation about tax is already joined up through the dual taxation treaty - as Sprogster has already explained.....  

You can double check your authorised weights by referring to the camper's carte grise F2 is the masse en charge maximale admissible en service (ie, PTAC or gross vehicle weight) F3 is the masse en charge maximale admissible de l'ensemble en service (ie, PTRA or gross train weight - vehicle plus trailer) Edit: Now you've moved back to the UK, I should have said check your V5C.......[;-)]