Registering a Campervan

[cruddler]

I bought a Renault Master ambulance last year from the UK to move some furniture to France with the intention of one day converting it to a Camper Van.

A year on and it is still sitting in our barn and I am torn between cutting it loose or persevering with the plan.

I know the first step of course is to get it registered here but I have been told that obtaining the certificate of conformity could be a problem both in its present state as the shell of an ambulance and after conversion.

Also, what are the insurance options? It seems a bit crazy to insure it for a whole year especially at current prices when it might only be used for 2 weeks a year.

So, has anyone else done anything similar, what was the process and would they do it again?

Any advice much appreciated. I have had an offer from someone who wants to buy it and I really need to know what I will be letting myself in for if I keep it and continue down the conversion route.

Thanks

Andy

[Sunday Driver]

A vehicle which has been converted into a camper has to be submitted the DRIRE for single vehicle approval before it can be registered in France,  Obtaining such approval for any self build camper can be difficult, particularly if it has a coachbuilt ambulance body rather than being based on a simple van.

You can find full details of the approval process set out in this DRIRE Guidance Note

Also check out this Mercedes Benz Oldtimer website - their forum has lots of useful stuff concerning self build camper conversions, reglementation, etc.

Finally, as far as insurance is concerned, continuous cover is mandatory even though you may only use the vehicle for 2 weeks a year.

 

[cruddler]

Thanks Sunday Driver, Ill check out those links

Andy

[adextra]

Hi Sunday Driver

I have a Fiat Ducato 10 Riviera campervan. It was built in Germany in 1996 and exported to the UK in 2001.

I bought it from English owners in April 2009. I set about getting the CT, which was achieved in June of 2009 and acquired a partial Certificate of Conformity from Fiat France, as they were of course unaware that the basic vehicle had become a campervan. The insurer of our other two vehicles (Generali) covered the campervan for 12 months - but no more.

Meantime we moved house and had other fish to fry. So, from Autumn 2009 until today, the vehicle has been locked away in our garage.

I did try to get immatriculation in the summer last year, but was defeated by the bureaucracy. Mostly, this seemed to relate to laden weights and unladen weights, but also, as I learned subsequently, there are requirements for gas and electricity certificates. In despair, we abandoned the project and left the vehicle in the garage.

We now wish to re-enter the fray, which means amongst other things (CT runs out in June), taking the vehicle to our local DREAL which is in Caen.

My question is: Have I left it too late? How do I get to the test centres for CT, Gas, Electricity and DREAL without insurance?

Vehicles just like mine pour into France every year from the UK without any problem - so what's the great difference?

[pachapapa]

I did a van in 1998 through the Drire. The weights were easily done at the local farmers grain delivery weigh bridge at the local silos.

The gas & electrics required a couple of trips to Niort; once to be told what to do; twice to get approval.

Whilst the electrics were fairly simple to modify the gas side was not.

I quickly realised that the presence of two gas consuming units, a fridge and a hob, meant that compliance would be difficult.

Solution was to ditch the fridge resulting in the compliance requirements for the hob being reduced to ostensibly the same as gas hob with gas bottle in the kitchen of my cottage.

The fridge unit was replaced by an electric pelletier coolbox; incidentally much more efficient.

Of course this was all a while back when most vans would have failed anyway due to having the door on the wrong side.[6]

[Sunday Driver]

Just pick up from where you previously left off....

You already have the Fiat attestation for the base vehicle.

You now need to obtain a certificat-constructeur covering the 'cellule' (the camper bit).  This will contain all the necessary design weight calculations so all you'll have to do is get the van weighed before you apply for your DRIRE/DREAL appointment.  The Riviera was produced by Caravans International so you'll need to contact their French head office for the certificate. Your nearest CI dealer will be able to provide you with the address and possibly a contact name. 

List of French CI dealers and contact details

You will also need to have the gas safety inspection carried out by Bureau Veritas. You will find the address of your local office through Pages Jaunes.

You will also need a fresh controle technique.

Finally, compile a dossier consisting of a copy of your V5C registration document, the attestations from Fiat and CI plus weight tickets, the Bureau Veritas safety report, your quittus fiscal VAT certificate and the CT certificate then take it in to your DRIRE/DREAL office and request a réception de titre isolé. They will write to you with an appointment to bring the van in for a brief inspection, following which they'll give you back your dossier together with a proces-verbal de titre isolé which is your new certificate of conformity covering the complete vehicle.

From there, it's off to the prefecture to obtain your carte grise....[;-)]

As far as re-insuring the vehicle is concerned, if you explain the situation to Generali, there should be no problem.

 

[adextra]

Thanks a lot. actually, as my van was made in Germany, the door is on the correct side and the vehicle is LHD, with kph speedometer/odometer.

Why this is all 'necessary' defeats me. Still, ours is not to reason why...

[adextra]

Thanks SD - really useful stuff. With a bit of luck, I should be off on holiday with the van sometime in the Autumn!!

Having said that, have you noticed the huge price differential between UK and French campervans? No wonder they put all this stuff in the way of importation. If the process was simple, the French market would die overnight.

We do adore France, but this kind of bureaucratic nightmare really puts ones teeth on edge.

[Sunday Driver]

I'm a bit puzzled at your prediction that the 'huge price differential' between UK and French campervans would cause the French market to die overnight if the import process was simple. As it happens, the process is already simple, even more so for campervans that are less than ten years old because they can normally be registered immediately without any further formalities.

So, given the massive size of the French campervan population compared to the UK, why aren't there tumbleweeds blowing through empty UK dealer forecourts and the ferries to France choked with thousands of cheering Frenchmen driving home in their newly bought, hugely cheaper UK vans?  Is it possible that price may not be the overriding factor?

The only vehicles that have this 'stuff' put in the way of importation are the handful of old obsolete campervans like your's and mine and they are totally insignificant as far as any impact on the French market is concerned.

 

[Dinkypen]

If you are looking at converting a van to a camper, you must get hold of the book 'Aménagement des camping-cars' published by AFNOR which details all of the legislation that you must comply with in order for the various elements of the conversion to be signed off by Bureau Veritas/Qualigaz and finally DRIRE. The 'normes' are very very detailed/onerous and it would be a shame to do your conversion only to be told none of it complies with the standards!

We have nearly completed the conversion of our Merc LWB Sprinter. It is currently insured as a 'fourgon' and it can only be insured as a 'camping car' once it has passed through DRIRE. So if something catastrophic happens like an accident & the van is written off, we will only get back the value of a secondhand van - the conversion costs and interior fixtures & fittings will not be covered.