Hereford Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 A recently widowed friend is talking of getting a "sans permis" car. She does not have, never had, a driving licence and is, shall we say, north of age 70.Is it really true that one can buy, presumably insure, and head off in one of these cars without any training or even some basic licence?If so I shall give the cars a much wider berth in future than I have been doing... and avoid the village where she lives.One for Sunday Driver perhaps?ThanksMrs H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fureys Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Hi Mrs H I think it's worse than that: I've heard about people being banned from driving for being DIC and then go out and buy one of these dinkies and set off drunk driving all over again.Fureys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bugsy Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 They are actually known as 'Drunk-Cars' around this area.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoneySuckleDreams Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/F1464.xhtml you need insurance, and for the little cars if you were born after 1988, you need a brevet de sécurité routière, but I don't think that will apply to your friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 When our garde champetre had a bad car accident, when he was drunk, the Mairie bought him a sans permis car to do his job. So aided and abetted by the Mairie. Yes cars from drunks sounds right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YCCMB Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Oh yessss...my ex neighbour in France somehow got one. Rumour has it that the Maire actually confiscated it because he was always drunk in charge of the *&^*^& thing.And an elderly lady in the vicinity also has one. A couple of summers ago, she was stopped at the crossroads down the hill from our house - a major intersection with the busy road to the Ile d'Oleron - and I had to stop behind her. To this day, I have no idea why I did it, but I left a larger-than-usual gap between our two cars when I pulled up. Which was just as well, as it turned out, because when the old dear eventually decided to move off in her sans-permis, she went backwards!! Now, I don't know about you, but I was already imagining my chances of being believed when explaining that I was stationery when the driver in front reversed into me, and frankly I didn't give myself very good odds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyv Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 So, if someone with a clean licence sets of in one of these, having topped up on the pastis, then gets caught, would he lose his license? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfblind Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 There is a local garage here who sells these things and for a while outside on the forecourt was one in very gaudy colours with a huge GTO logo down both sides - for those who know something about American muscle cars that just seemed wrong ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 [quote user="tonyv"]So, if someone with a clean licence sets of in one of these, having topped up on the pastis, then gets caught, would he lose his license?[/quote]Same as would happen if he was caught driving any type of vehicle.If his alcohol/blood level is greater than 0.5 g/l, then it's classed as a contravention and the penalty is a 135€ fine, a three year driving ban and six points on his licence. If his job depends on him having a licence, then as a concession, the ban can be limited to personal driving and he can continue to drive for work purposes.If his alcohol/blood level is equal to or greater than 0.8 g/l, then it's classed as a délit and the penalty is two years in prison, a 4,500€ fine and a three year driving ban covering all vehicles including sans permis (but with no concession covering driving for work). Once he gets his licence back, then for a further two years, he remains prohibited from driving sans permis cars, and may only drive vehicles equipped with a factory fitted or approved aftermarket electronic breathalyser/immobiliser device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereford Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 Thanks for replying so quickly all of you - I shall certainly steer clear of these cars in future. I knew they could be used by those who had lost a licence through drink/driving but always thought "well at least they had learned to drive".Mrs H Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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