Registering car in France!

[CeeJay]

I am now becoming terribly frustrated. I bought a Volkswagon CC at the beginning of March in UK and drove it back here thinking that it would be a piece of cake to sort things out. First thing is a CoC I had in mind, so on advice I bought one from VW Germany  no problem. However I am still waiting for the V5 from DVLA and can't do anything until I get it. Learnt that the V5 arrived end of last week which took 2 weeks by 2nd class mail!! Number one son posted it to me last saturday but it still hasn't arrived here.

So, the scenario is that I can only insure it whilst on UK plates for 1 month, so I have been told by my insurer, but that involves everything else falling into place, so in the meantime I go down to the garage most nights and sit in and start her up whilst trying to figure out the satnav and radio and why are there so many buttons that I don't know about and keep flashing at me.

Today I had some other wonderful news in that, I am told, the French Prefecture will not accept a CofC in German, it has to be in French!!!!! So, on the phone again and eventually got the ball rolling from VW France to get same, however I was warned that it would take some 2 to 3 weeks to come through!

So I am still waiting for the V5 to come from UK, and without that I cannot get the CofC from VW and will have to continue spending quality time on my own in the stationary car trying to imagine what it would be like to be a normal person with a properly registered car driving around.

Maybe buy in France next time!!!!!!

[EuroTrash]

But if the car is insured and you have the UK log book and a sticker for the window with your UK number on it, why can't you drive round in it?

Insurers say 1 month, but if you go back and grovel and explain what the delay is, they will usually do the gallic thing where they shake their head whilst puffing out a long breath of air through a downturned mouth, and issue you with a sticker for another month.

[AnOther]

The V5 IS the UK Log book and we know where that is so of itself that is a show stopper.

Window sticker or not if the insurance company say one month and that is up then that is that, you are not insured to drive.

CeeJay: your prefecture is being stupid and bloody minded, there is no requirement for a CoC to be in French and they only need a number from it anyway !

I seriously doubt VW will give you a CoC in French, especially for a UK spec vehicle, but I hope I'm wrong [blink]

[EuroTrash]

Sorry misread the post, thought he said he had received the log book.

As said, if you explain to the insurers that there's been a hitch, they will normally give you a sticker for another month, which means you are insured.

[YCCMB]

According to the Service Public website, regarding the C of C:

Justificatifs techniques de conformité :

pour un

véhicule conforme à un type communautaire

:

• soit le certificat d'immatriculation le spécifiant,

• soit le certificat de conformité européen original (l'original

  restitué par les autorités du pays dans lequel était immatriculé le
  véhicule ou le duplicata du certificat délivré par le constructeur ou
  son représentant dans le pays ou la copie du certificat certifiée
  conforme par les autorités du pays),

As it happens, I registered my car with a C of C from Ford UK in English. With my current UK car, I received the C of C with the vehicle when I bought it. It's in German, because I have a German-made car.....

You might try politely pointing out to your Prefecture that it's called the "European" Certificate of Conformity for a reason.....

ETA: Bingo! I KNEW that there was an official source that actually said the C of C didn't need to be in French:

[url]http://www.ants.interieur.gouv.fr/ants/Pieces-a-fournir-pour-un-vehicule,1080.html[/url]

where it clearly says: le certificat de conformité européen délivré par le constructeur, édité le cas échéant dans une autre langue que le français,  (my italics)

[sid]

I always take an interest in these registration threads. I've done it several times now without problem; cars, motorbikes and caravan.

In view of the number of threads on here about pitfalls and what is the simplest way to go about it, I'm surprised that someone (OP) would buy a German car in the UK for use in France! Isn't it just causing unnecessary complications and delays?

Stable door and bolts come to mind, but you can buy a car from Germany directly from France. I bought my last car from Belgium, and of course it has the added advantage of left hand drive!

Good luck with that then.

 

 

[AnOther]

[quote user="sid"]I'm surprised that someone (OP) would buy a German car in the UK for use in France! [/quote]Where did the OP say that he had done that ?

[quote user="EuroTrash"]if you explain to the insurers that there's been a hitch, they will normally give you a sticker for another month, which means you are insured.[/quote]Insured perhaps but without the V5 you still cannot drive the car.

Incidentally if you got a V5 with the car when you bought it then there was no need to send it off to have it put in your name !

[CeeJay]

Thanks to all responders, great help.

I have not yet received the V5 (!!!!!) so have not been able to insure the car as this is required by the insurer, also, therefore, I have not actually gone to the Prefecture to register it but was told by VW France that I had to have the CofC in French!

However, thanks to Betty, I will now, when I have received the V5, apply armed with the German CofC together with a copy of  the official instructions.

AnOther, yes you are right I should not have sent the V5 back to DVLA just to change name.

[suein56]

[quote user="CeeJay"]AnOther, yes you are right I should not have sent the V5 back to DVLA just to change name.

[/quote]

Please can someone explain as I don't understand how can you present a V5, which is not in your name, to the Préfecture ?

Sue

[EuroTrash]

You present the V5 together with a receipt that shows you have bought the car from the previous owner.

[YCCMB]

What to do if you are selling your vehicle privately to someone

that does not have a GB address

You should fill in sections 6 and 10 with the new keeper’s name and

address.

Both you and the new keeper (buyer) must sign and date the declaration in

section 8. Give the whole V5C to the new keeper to aid registration abroad.

So, the V5 actually has a declaration as part of the form which is signed by both the buyer and seller, to certify that the car has been sold. Seems fairly straightforward..

[suein56]

[quote user="You can call me Betty"]

What to do if you are selling your vehicle privately to someone

that does not have a GB address

You should fill in sections 6 and 10 with the new keeper’s name and

address.

Both you and the new keeper (buyer) must sign and date the declaration in

section 8. Give the whole V5C to the new keeper to aid registration abroad.

So, the V5 actually has a declaration as part of the form which is signed by both the buyer and seller, to certify that the car has been sold. Seems fairly straightforward...[/quote]

[quote user="EuroTrash"]You present the V5 together with a receipt that

shows you have bought the car from the previous owner.[/quote]

Thank you both; read and understood.

Sue

[CeeJay]

Arggh!

Another complication is that I have just found out that the Prefecture in Montpellier will only accept an application if the applicant makes a rendevouz on line and it is a minimum of 3 weeks, looks like I shall have to go to the sous Prefecture in Norman land  Beziers!

[AnOther]

I'm so glad I don't live in your departement, Lot (46) is a complete doddle in all such matters [;-)]

[Pickles]

[quote user="AnOther"]I'm so glad I don't live in your departement, Lot (46) is a complete doddle in all such matters [;-)]

[/quote]

Errr ... I'm a bit out of touch with this, but can't CeeJay go to ANY prefecture under the new system (eg Nimes, which may be closer)?

[AnOther]

I believe that is permissible but whether an out of departement prefecture agrees is another question altogether !

[CeeJay]

Final update on this saga.

After soul searching as to whether I should go ahead and apply with a German C of C or try to get a French one from Volkswagon France and being told by them I had to have a French one (!!!!) I eventually went to Beziers with the German C of C.

After worrying for days whether the sous Prefecture would accept it or insist on a translation, they didn't even want to see it!!!!   No problem, the man said, you have the V5 registration document from England and that counts as a European Cretificate!!!!!!

Whew, and it cost me 150 Euros!

[AnOther]

[quote user="CeeJay"]the man said, you have the V5 registration document from England and that counts as a European Cretificate!!!!!!

[/quote]Which it doesn't of course unless it has the approval number against item K in the vehicle details - most don't - but then what do you care !

[CeeJay]

AnOther

Just checked the V5 copy and it does have the Type Approval Number under K completed. You live and learn don't you!!

[dave21478]

The problem is that nothing is consistent.

What passes in one prefecture may not pass in another.

What passes in one prefecture once may not pass a second time at a later date.

What passes to one prefecture worker may not pass to the one at the next window.

Its all very well having threads on here saying you need this, that and that, or that this should be acceptable etc etc, but the reality is that its just not the case - you need to find out what your local place specify and take exactly that, hoping that they dont change their minds in the meantime or you return to another staff member who interprets the rules differently.

The current driving licence thread highlights this too, with requirement varying wildly for the same process.

My tip? Take a ticket for the queuing system, lurk a while, then take a second ticket a few number after the first. That way if you are refused at the first window, you can try your luck with a different employee. This has worked a couple of times for me now, and if you succeed with the first ticket, give your second ticket to the prettiest girl in the waiting room as you leave!

[AnOther]

[quote user="dave21478"]My tip? Take a ticket for the queuing system, lurk a while, then take a second ticket a few number after the first.[/quote]

All very well if your prefecture operates that system.

Mine doesn't, instead you have to pass by one of two harridans who sit at a reception desk and whose sole function is to check your dossier in order to avoid wasting the time of the actual operators in the inner sanctum, only if it passes muster do you get a numbered ticket.

Harridans or not they know their stuff pretty well and are reasonable too letting me pass when there was a question mark over the need for a CoC or not for a French car which had gone to UK and been registered there but had now come back to France.

That said you have absolutely zero chance of going around twice at the same visit though !

[CeeJay]

Dave

Completely agree with you and your tip about the second ticket.

[AnOther]

That's all very well if your prefecture operates that system.

Mine

doesn't, instead you have to pass by one of two harridans who sit at a

reception desk and whose sole function is to check your dossier in order

to avoid wasting the time of the actual demi-god operators in the inner sanctum,

only if it passes muster do you get a numbered ticket. Perhaps that's the reason they are usually very quick and efficient, you don't get every Joe Soap turning up with what THEY think or have been told by a man in a bar are the right documents !

Harridans

or not they know their stuff pretty well and are reasonable too letting

me pass when there was a question mark over the need for a CoC or not

for a French car which had gone to UK and been registered there but had

now come back to France. I didn't get my carte grise on that occasion but for a completely unexpected reason which I won't go into, I did get it on the next visit though.

That said you have absolutely zero chance of going around twice at the same visit though !

[dave21478]

They used to have a harridan in the sous-prefecture in Castres, but have done away with her, instead making everyone queue up together. Each time I go, perhaps a quarter of the people who have sat and queued up for an hour or so are turned away as they are lacking something or other, which would have been spotted by the woman before. - must be frustrating for them.

Incidentally, they also seem to have added armoured glass with wee grills to speak through and a security drawer to slide your papers through, and now make you provide your own photocopies of everything that they used to copy themselves. Obviously nobody realises this until they arrive and are confronted by signs stating they must provide copies of EDF bill etc. They have added a coin-op photocopier in the waiting room, at 20c a copy, no change given!

Actually, I can see why they are behind armoured glass now!

[AnOther]

It would never cross my mind to not make and take my own photocopies of the relevant documents, anybody who doesn't deserves to be to told 'non' !