French insurance for a UK car

[AnOther]

[quote user="trevoraki"]I lived in France for five years with a properly imported RHD vehicle and visited the UK with the vehicle about five times during that period and I was never stopped.[/quote]Nuff said I think [;-)]

[bigears]

hi

so all french resident ex pats when they drive to the uk in their french reged cars carry proof that they are french residents to show any pc plod who might suspect they are really uk residents and are thus breaking the law?

[AnOther]

Is that a question or a statement ?

It would be wise to do so although it does beg the question, how do you conclusively prove to plod that you are indeed French resident and not doing a 'Noel Edmonds' [blink]

[Maricopa]

[quote user="bigears"]so all french resident ex pats when they drive to the uk in their french reged cars carry proof that they are french residents ?[/quote]

Easy if you change your driving licence to a French one (even though you don't have to)

[bigears]

hi ernie

It was a question, I thought I used a question mark.  If I was stopped in my van in the uk I would reply 'I live in france' and show my return ferry booking,. if that wasn't sufficient and pc plod used the resident word I would say I am ' in the process of becoming a french resident'. 

[AnOther]

[quote user="bigears"]It was a question, I thought I used a question mark[/quote]So you did but I was being facetious [:)]

[quote user="bigears"]If I was stopped in my van in the uk I would reply 'I live in france' and show my return ferry booking,. if that wasn't sufficient and pc plod used the resident word I would say I am ' in the process of becoming a french resident'[/quote]To which his reply might be "so that means you are not then does it" [Www]

[mint]

[quote user="ErnieY"]
[quote user="bigears"]If I was stopped in my van in the uk I would reply 'I live in france' and show my return ferry booking,. if that wasn't sufficient and pc plod used the resident word I would say I am ' in the process of becoming a french resident'[/quote]To which his reply might be "so that means you are not then does it" [Www]
[/quote]

Touché [:D]!

[bigears]

ok ernie, at what stage in the process do you actually become a french resident???????????  Is it not counted from the day you go to france with the intention of staying there, so how can you actually prove you are in that process or anyone prove otherwise?

A french driving licence isn't conclusive proof, a carte de sejour might be if you have to return them when returing to live in the uk.  To be honest I'm not really concerned about this issue, we normally fly back and from the uk and probably don't need to transport any more goods from the uk.  I would not be worried  about this issue if I found myself having to drive my french reged van to the uk.

[powerdesal]

So what is the "bottom line" ?

How do you categorically prove to the UK Police that you are a resident of France if you stopped when driving a French registered car in UK (possibly as a tourist) ?

EDF bill ?????

Return ferry booking ???

European licence (issued in UK) ???

None of the above actually prove anything.

 

[Cat]

Interesting question, re proof of residence, as those with holiday homes in France would also have EDF bills etc.

Would a French voting card or a carte vitale do the trick, do you think?

[Pickles]

[quote user="Cat"]Interesting question, re proof of residence, as those with holiday homes in France would also have EDF bills etc.

Would a French voting card or a carte vitale do the trick, do you think?[/quote]

I suspect that many of those with holiday homes in France have their EDF bills, telephone bills, bank statements, etc sent to their UK address, whereas those live in France would not. The "blizzard of paper" approach would stand a good chance of convincing the UK police, so carte vitale, bank/credit card statements, EDF/telephone etc all taken together would provide a good case.

I contacted the UK DVLA and asked whether there were any circumstances under which, as UK residents, it would be permissible for us to drive our French-registered car in the UK. Their response was to quote (with no further comment or clarification) the material on their website/legislation, which makes no provision for that to occur unless the vehicle is a hire car or a temporary replacement for a UK-registered car that has been immobilised due to breakdown or accident abroad.

Regards

Pickles

[andyh4]

[quote user="powerdesal"]

So what is the "bottom line" ?

How do you categorically prove to the UK Police that you are a resident of France if you stopped when driving a French registered car in UK (possibly as a tourist) ?

EDF bill ?????

Return ferry booking ???

European licence (issued in UK) ???

None of the above actually prove anything.

 

[/quote]

 

For Outtie they wanted to see his return ferry booking, but he only had a reference number and not a physical piece of paper with some othe complications of changed timings and dates IIRC.

The ferry booking at least shows an intention to return the car to the continent and not leave it permenantly imported into the UK.

[AnOther]

Unfortunately there is no single item or document which says 'this person is not a UK resident' but Pickles 'blizzard' approach would probably be reasonably persuasive.

It might be good to have a French driving too as plod could query the DVLA database which would show that you had actually surrendered your UK licence to obtain it, not something you would be very likely to do if UK resident.

I think those at most risk of being disbelieved are people who have retained a UK property and are in the habit of ferrying back and forth on a regular basis.

[Maricopa]

[quote user="ErnieY"]It might be good to have a French driving too as plod could query the DVLA database which would show that you had actually surrendered your UK licence to obtain it, not something you would be very likely to do if UK resident.[/quote]

And something you would not choose to do on a whim[:'(]

[Clair]

[quote user="ErnieY"]It might be good to have a French driving too [...] which would show that you had actually surrendered your UK licence to obtain it, not something you would be very likely to do if UK resident.[/quote]

Notwithstanding Maricopa's unique experience, it is very easy to do and in the vast majority of exchanges, it only takes a couple of weeks [:)].

[powerdesal]

Presumably the UK Immigration / Emigration Stasi keep a data base of all ticket bookings, particularly of those wanting to escape from the idyllic life in the UK paradise and hence would be able to check the frequency of visits.

On a somewhat lighter note, some years ago I imported a car from the UAE to UK, it arrived on Dubai (export) plates and no one seemed concerned that I had not re registered it some two weeks later. No interest at all from the UK police.

[AnOther]

Probably so Steve but I'd guess that plod is unlikely to have ready access to that information at the roadside.