Insurance in the UK and France for French Car?

[bikerchick]

Can anyone advise us?  We are looking at buying a french registered van from france, and want to drive it back to the UK until we go over for the permanent move in about 6 weeks' time. 

Is this a good/bad idea regarding insurance/registering etc.  We own a property in France which we are going over to in about 6 weeks' time to start the work on to make it habitable and will be driving over in it then to keep there on a permanent basis.

Would it be best to get French insurance to cover for the UK as well or get UK insurance which would cover for France until we go back over there and get sorted, and then register within our region and insure it with French insurer.

Help anyone?!!

 

[Anton Redman]

Broadly French. Given land borders with Spain, Belgium., Luxembourg., Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Andorra,  French insurers do not get worried about vans going oput of the country

[Marc]

I agree, French.

I had no problem insuring a French car I bought in England.  I just phoned them up and explained everything and paid with a card - easy!

I registered the car a couple of weeks later. (I think there may be a time limit in which you should register)

[Sunday Driver]

If you are buying a French van, then you must register it in your name within one month, so do it straight away ie, before you drive it back to the UK. You can also obtain French insurance, which will cover you for your trip back to the UK at no additional charge.

Normally, you would not be allowed to drive a foreign registered vehicle in the UK whilst you are still resident there, but the fact you have a French property means that you fall within the legal grey area of dual residence.  Your proof of dual residence will be your name and French address on the van's carte grise.

 

 

 

[bikerchick]

Thank you!

This clears up the grey area for us we were worried about -many thanks to all who replied.

Cheers!

[bikerchick]

Hi me again - sorry if I appear stupid, read a lot of info on registering vans/cars etc but what I'm not 100% about is can the registering of the vehicle be done by post like in the UK?

Understand you need id, proof of residence, certificat d'immatriculation (which I've downloaded the form), certificiate de situation from the seller, certificate de cession from previous owner and of course the carte grise and to check the CT etc, but can it be done by post? or do you need to physically go into the prefecture or sous-prefecture to do this?

It may be easier if we just buy from a proper garage - I understand they help with all the paperwork side of things.

 

[Bugsy]

Yes it can, but it's easier and quicker to visit the prefecture direct. Just take with you every bit of official paper you own and don't forget a couple of utility bills.

[Sunday Driver]

The new style carte grise is designed to allow postal applications.  The detachable coupon is completed with the name and address of the new owner and signed by the seller (the current registered owner) then retained by the new owner whilst the rest of the original (cancelled) carte grise is sent off to the prefecture.

However, going to the prefecture in person means there'd be no postal delay (which could be important if you're wanting to go straight back to the UK) - besides, it's usually a good excuse to do some town shopping combined with a nice lunch...[;-)]