Car transporter trailer

[Postie]

Hi I want to bring my classic Beetle to France and need a trailer. Can anyone help (to hire or to buy, if the price is right)

PM me if you can help.

Many Thanx

Postie

[Théière]

Won't it make it there itself [;-)]

[Postie]

Unfortunately no - I bought it as a USA import & it's not been registered in UK. I have to trailer it to France before I can get it the CT done & get it registered here. Bit complicated I know but it's a '79 cabriolet & I think it's worth the effort.

Postie

[dave21478]

Hiring in UK would mean having to tow with a UK car - I don't know your situation if thats possible. It also means having to make the return journey within a reasonably short timeframe to return the trailer.

Buying one in UK is cheaper, but it may not be any use here. If its a known make, then you should be able to register it to keep it here. If its a home-made job then its no use here long-term.

Buying one in France is ball-crushingly expensive :(

[Théière]

It's already sounding expensive, good luck with the project

[AnOther]

Assuming the car is drivable and capable of making it under it's own steam there is an alternative to trailering.

First of all apply to your prefecture for a temporary WW registration. This is valid for 14 days with one automatic 14 day extension.

Next, and not that you really need one to bring it to France, once you have the WW registration number you can take it for an MOT. To do so you

will obviously need insurance but with the WW plates you can easily get that from a French company, and that's it, book your ferry, fill up with fuel, and off you go [;-)]

Being a 79 car it will qualify for registration via the FFVE so shouldn't prove too much of a hassle. I know 2 people here with similar cars, one being an ex UK car but the other a Californian import to UK which actually came down to France still on its CA plates [blink]

[Will]

I don't know it's of ay use to you in your part of France but there are currently a couple of suitable trailers being advertised for sale on AngloInfo Normandie. I have hired a trailer in England and done a quick return trip to France, so that's a reasonable possibiity.

Not sure about AnO's proposal. Under the current registration system, garages issue immatriculation numbers themselves to new vehicles, and imported vehicles get new numbers from any prefecture, so I think the WW system might be obsolete (apart maybe from the equivalent to British 'trade plates'). And getting an MoT with a French number might prove difficult - plus the European rules demand a vehicle being used in another country should be legal in its own country, so without a Controle Technique (French MoT equivalent) the vehicle won't be French-legal.

[Sunday Driver]

Postie

If your car still has it's US plates, then you just drive it down here, visit the Douanes at La Roche and obtain an 846A certificate, obtain an attestation from the FFVE, put the car through a CT, then register it at your prefecture as a voiture de collection.

No need to put it through a UK MOT or obtain a temporary WW carte grise.

 

[AnOther]

Do garages issue numbers themselves, I find that hard to believe have you got a web link ?

It is perfectly possible to get a UK MOT on a foreign registered

vehicle, indeed, because an MOT is a pre-requisite for registering an import with the DVLA, (where appropriate by age), it is neccessarily so.

I agree on the EU rules however it should not be forgotten that interpretation of EU laws on freedom of

movement always lean toward making it easier for citizens, not harder, so there has to be some flexibility in the system otherwise it would make it virtually impossible for anyone to ever import any vehicle other than by trailering. If you for instance bought an EU sourced but foreign registered car in UK to bring to France then how could you do it ?

Just to get it to the ferry you'd have to UK register it which means MOT tax and insurance (expensive, time consuming, and not even possible without a bona fide UK address) but what would you do after that because as a French resident you are not permitted to drive a foreign registered car so whilst you've got across the channel legitimately the instant you touch French soil you become illegal - catch 22.

I can understand that under the new registration scheme the need for WW plates in order to move vehicles around for subsequent registration in another department has disappeared but my understanding is that that was not it's sole function. Can you support the idea that it has been abolished ?

[Will]

We have re-registered a used vehicle though our local garage, under the new system accredited dealers can register vehicles themselves. It still has to go through the préfecture, but is much quicker and simpler than the old system. Note that the vehicle must be either new or previously registered in France, you cannot register an import through a garage.

I agree that it's a catch-22 and the only way to ensure total legality in both countries is to use a trailer. SD's proposal sounds quite possible though.

[Sunday Driver]

Under the new SIV system, approved professionals (eg garages) can now process registration applications, collect fees and taxes and issue provisional cartes grises as well as the prefectures.  The professional has direct access to the new central registration database so there is no need to involve the prefecture.  As far as imported vehicles are concerned, according to Service-Public,  they may be registered either through an approved professional or a prefecture.  A list of approved professionals can be found HERE.

To deal with the other queries raised....

A person living in France would have no reason to register a foreign registered car in the UK so obtaining an MOT is irrelevant.

As regards buying an EU sourced but foreign registered car in the UK to bring to France, the regulations are straightforward and have been well aired on this forum:

As a visitor, you may drive a foreign registered car in the UK for up to six months without having to register it there.  That gets you down to the ferry.

When the car arrives in France, you account for any duty/import VAT and obtain a quittus fiscal/846A.  The certificate contains your authority to drive the vehicle in France under it's foreign plates for up to a month (four months if it needs an RTI) whilst you complete the registration formalities. 

As regards WW plates, these are required for motor vehicles and trailers which do not have a valid carte grise (or in the case of an imported motor vehicle, where the quittus fiscale/846A authority has expired).  They were commonly issued by motor dealers to customers wishing to take immediate delivery of vehicles without waiting for their carte grise application to be processed by a distant prefecture.  The dealers would hold a book of pre-paid WW cartes supplied by their prefecture.  The new SIV system renders this no longer necesssary.

 

[Will]

[quote user="AnOther"]Do garages issue numbers themselves, I find that hard to believe have you got a web link ?

[/quote]

I know it's only Wikipedia and hence not 100% reliable, but this confirms it. I was under the impression that our new carte grise came from the préfecture, but it may have been from some centralised registration department. It only took a few days anyway.

The Wikipedia site goes on to explain how temporary plates still exist for certain cases, so you can still get provisional numbers. The 'W garage' plates are the equivalent of British trade plates.

Our local préfecture's web site gives the impression that registration of imported vehicles has to be done at the préfecture, but local government sites have been known to be wrong or misleading before.

I think that being able to drive foreign vehicles as a visitor to UK for up to six months depends on the the vehicle being fully legal, and all taxes paid, in the country where it is registered. And that concession applies only to vehicles from EU member countries. Vehicles from outside the EU have to be declared on arrival to HMRC which will decide if the vehicle can be used or not - this is explained here. If that's the case with the OP's vehicle, then if its use is authorised that should indeed get it to the ferry - but who is likely to check, anyway?

[Postie]

Thank you all for the most useful info posted on the forum. The Beetle is still on USA plates but it apparently hasn't been taxed for some years. I bought the car through a third party who imported it into the UK (it has all the relevant import documents but no V5) I haven't actually seen the car as my son did all the negotiations. At the moment the bodywork & re-spray is being done in Lincoln but mechanically, I don't think it will manage the trip from Lincoln to The Vendee under it's own steam. I have decided that the best and safest method is to hire a trailer in UK & get my son to tow it down with his VW Transporter. I may have to ask your advice once again when I get round to registering the car after I have got it through it's CT.

[IMG]http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z110/glentham/Beetle/BrFiIHgBGkKGrHqMOKisEuZLMURsgBLyLee.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z110/glentham/Beetle/BrFiRY2kKGrHqUOKkEEuwtqE2WBLyLe7-1.jpg[/IMG]

Postie

[Postie]

Oops - don't know the pictres haven't appeared - must be doing something wrong.

Postie

[Postie]

I'll try again

[IMG]http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z110/glentham/Beetle/BrFiRY2kKGrHqUOKkEEuwtqE2WBLyLe7-1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z110/glentham/Beetle/BrFiIHgBGkKGrHqMOKisEuZLMURsgBLyLee.jpg[/IMG]

Cheers Postie

[Jonzjob]

Hi Postie, I have just found this thread and can't open your links to the pikkies?

If you go to your photobucket page hover the cursor over the photo a series of options should appear under the photo. Move down to the bottom one, 'IMG Code' and right click on it. Left click on 'Copy' and paste it into your reply on the thread by right clicking where you want it and selecting 'Paste'. You will see the link in your reply and if you want to check it before posting you can click on 'Preview' next to the 'Post button.

Sorry if this is teaching you how to suck eggs, but I would like to see what you have got? My rag top Beetle was a 1955 1100cc job and cost me 50 bob. It was about 10 mph quicker with the roof up than down and with the roof up it did a blinding 75/80 mph! But it did it in style man! The registration was PUS161 and some smartarse at R.A.F. Brize Norton where I was stationed changed the first '1' into an 'H' .

These daze i'm not sure which would be worth more? The registration or the car??

[Postie]

Hi JJ sorry about the delay in replying (been a bit busy). I did preview the photo & it came up fine but as soon as I posted it - whoops, gone. Will try again. The car is a '79 LHD Triple White Cab. She's having some bodywork & a respray done in UK then I will go over & fetch her. I have changed my mind again about how to get her to France & have now decided to make a towing dolly with a turntable (very expensive to buy) & then sell the dolly once the car is in France. Watch this space. I have always loved Beetles, both our sons had them as starter cars (wrecks which I showed them how to rebuild) - love your story about your reg plate!!! I will the original Californian plate as a keepsake!!!

[IMG]http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z110/glentham/Beetle/BrFiRY2kKGrHqUOKkEEuwtqE2WBLyLe7-1.jpg[/IMG]

[Jonzjob]

Good luck with however you decide to bring it over mate! I still can't get that link to work??

Something else about my ragtop. It was in quite a state when I got it and after spending all that money on it [Www]! The roof, insulated with about an inch of horse hair, needed a lot of TLC and I sorted it by recovering it with black PVC cloth and even if I say it myself it looked good. A new one would have been £80 and for to much for a mere Corporal! Then I brush painted the bodywork in Porche Orange, well you gota hope ain't you? It became known as the Colorado Beetle [:-))] I was following a very slow coach up Fish Hill one very hot day. In first gear and a problem where I couldn't turn the heated completely off. It got hotter and hotter in there. There was a van driver that insisted on driving about a foot of the rear bumper and no matter what I did he just stayed there. I slowed even more and he just sat there. In the end it got so hot that I decided to open the roof, no problem at that speed. So I undid the catches and just threw the front of the hood in the air and, as you know, it went up about 5 foot or so and settled in place nicely at the back. I thought nothing of it, but when I turned the mirror to the 'look over the hood' position the van man was about 100 yards back. He must have thought that the complete can was rearing up in the air! We howled over it, but he wouldn't come near us again!!

 had some good fun in that car and I'm sad that I don't have any photos of it.

[ericd]

So many advice......and one more. If the car drives ...just drive it once you have had it insured. My motorcycle is also a US import and i got 15 days insurance cover on the US Oregon plate to drive it around. Once at your destination in France apply for the correct documents (as explained above)that will allow you to register it with the French authorities.

[Postie]

Thanx so much Ericd - did you insure in UK or France & who did the insurance? Thanx everyone - all this info is really appreciated.

Postie

[ericd]

Bike was insured in the Uk but with reciprocal agreements within EU, it would have been covered (albeit may be 3rd part only) on the Continent. If you still have a UK address you can do the same. if you don't, you will surely have a friend that can insure the car and add you as a driver.

The insurance i used was a standard bike insurance company.

[Postie]

Thanx Ericd - I will ask our French insurers first & see what they have to say. If poss I would rather do it through AXA - but not all things are possible!