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left hand drive car


billy10

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Because I will be moving to France permanantly in August in dept 36, when I changed my car I went for a new ( registered Jan 07) Picasso diesel, left hand drive and built to French spec with a cert of conformance also, the speedometer is digital and easily changes to km per hour etc etc.

My question is , what will I be required to do to get a set of French plates as at present it is on UK plates.

Regards

 

Billy10

 

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So they dip to the right, then.....[;-)]

Registration is straightforward. 

Visit your local tax office and ask them for a quittus fiscale certificate.  Produce your V5C registration document and your original dealer invoice and a utility bill as proof of address.  Caution - make sure the car has done in excess of 6,000kms otherwise you'll have to pay 19,6% French VAT....[:-))]

Then it's off to your prefecture or sous-prefecture (phone the SP first to make sure they handle cartes grises).  Fill in a demande de certificat d'immatriculation form and hand it in together with your V5C, certificate of conformity, dealer invoice, qutitus fiscale, utility bill and show them your passport.  They'll issue the carte grise over the counter and you can go and get your number plates made up.

 

 

 

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Hi Sunday Driver ,

                        Dont know my left from my right, definately to the right , it all sounds relatively simple , so I will follow your advice , Thanks all.

 

Regards billy10 ( or is it 11, hmmmm not sure now )

                     

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  • 1 month later...

Billy10,

Very interested in your thread as i am leaving for france in January and have been toying with the idea of getting a new french spec car to take with me and trading in my RHD car here before i go.

1. Did you purchase your car from a Citroen dealer.

2. Was there a big saving on the cost; i.e. is it tax free etc.

Rick

 

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But who's going to know ??  so what it will fail a MOT, but thats not done until the car is 3 years old.  If the car managed to get a UK reg in the first place, then it meets all the necessary requirements I would think.  You may find however, that the car has been fitted with RHD headlamps as it was destined for the UK market, I'd be checking if it was mine ?????  Another quick check is the location of the rear fog and reversing lights, they are opposite hand for LHD  to RHD UK spec cars.

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[quote user="pcwhizz"]But who's going to know ??  so what it will fail a MOT, but thats not done until the car is 3 years old.  If the car managed to get a UK reg in the first place, then it meets all the necessary requirements I would think.  [/quote]

I think you'll find that vehicles purchased for export are issued with 'Export Plates'

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[quote user="pcwhizz"]But who's going to know ??  so what it will fail a MOT, but thats not done until the car is 3 years old.[/quote]Hopefully nobody unless you maybe had an accident and personally I would rather know that I'm legit (or not) BEFORE such an occurance. I simply used the point about passing an MOT as a standard by which you could reasonably judge whether a car was fit to be on the road or not.

[quote user="pcwhizz"]If the car managed to get a UK reg in the first place, then it meets all the necessary requirements I would think[/quote]I wouldn't like to go to court on that one. Remember, ignorance is no excuse.  

[quote user="pcwhizz"]You may find however, that the car has been fitted with RHD headlamps as it was destined for the UK market[/quote]The OP clearly staes that the car was built to LHD spec in which case will have RH dipping lights, which may or may not be adjustable, and opposite Fog/Reversing lights.

I only commented on the topic because it just doesn't smell right to me that a car built to French specification is on the road in UK on UK plates. I may be totally off track but as you yourself said, "I'd be checking if it was mine ?????"  [;-)]  

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If a new 'French specification' (or any other non-UK specification) car is offered for standard sale in the UK, it must be registered with the DVLA before it can be driven on the roads.  In order to do so, it must be converted to comply with UK Construction and Use regulations and a declaration to that effect must be submitted to the Vehicle Certification Agency who will then issue a certificate which is required for registration.

If a similar car is purchased with the intent to immediately take it across to France, then it will be subject to French TVA (19,6%) on it's arrival in France.  In which case, the vehicle should be purchased in the UK on a VAT free export basis.  It will be given an export registration and export plates which are valid for two months.  Failure to export the vehicle within this time period will result in the UK VAT being payable and the car requiring UK registration (as above).

Note that any new vehicle (defined as less than six months old and/or having travelled less than 6,000kms) imported into France is subject to TVA regardless of whether UK VAT has been already paid.

Timing is all......

 

 

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From which may we not then deduce that the OP's "French specification" car is not really "French specification" at all and is in fact little more than LHD, which neatly brings me back to my query on entering this topic a couple of days ago [:D]

Of course, as far the OP is concerned anyway, all this is entirely academic and indeed irrelevent because by now he, or she, will have decamped to France with said vehicle !

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I do wonder why people complicate things like this! 

If moving to France and in the position to buy new, why not just buy a new car from a French dealer and save all the hassle!  Buying LHD in the UK, registering it in the UK, sorting out tax issues and importing into France stikes me as seemingly much harder than just ordering a car (even with a limited French vocab.) from a French dealer!  If you can manage to buy a house in France, you can buy a car here!

Matt

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