Car sale in France - cash limit

[Graeme]

I am selling my French

registered car in France and understand there may be a cash limit that

one can legally accept. Apart from the obvious issue with counterfeit

notes is there anyone who is aware of such a limit and the problems I

might come across in accepting in the region of 12,000 - 13,000 euros

for a car sale?

[Val_2]

Some years ago when we went to buy another vehicle from a french garage, we were told the limit was 30,000 Ff (pre-euro days) for paying cash or cheque there and then as the impôts have to be notified of anything over that total and for a business doing cash transactions the repercussions can be serious as you are supposed to buy on credit and depreciate slowly especially for businesses. Its the old case of large amounts of money changing hands and the authorities want to know where it has come from.

[chris pp]

7600 € (seven thousand six hundred euros) or there abouts, is the maximum amount of cash that you can accept or transport without a declaration, it's the sum that French customs will sometimes ask you if you have when entering France (it used to be be 50000 Francs), it's on an official gov. web site somewhere, but I can't remember where.

I think that it's actually cash or valuables, presumably gold coins or whatever.

Chris

 

[Sunday Driver]

Chris is right. 7,600 euros is the most you can carry in or out of France without having to complete a customs declaration at the point of entry/exit.

The money laundering regulations require French banks and other financial institutions to report large cash deposits to TRACFIN (Traitement du renseignement et action contre les circuits financiers clandestins).  This is the French equivalent of the UK's NCIS (National Criminal Intelligence Service).

A car dealer accepting a cash payment would have to deposit it with his bank which in turn would generate a report.

The reporting regulations do not apply to individuals.  In this case, the seller's bank will ask him for an explanation for the unusually large deposit.

The biggest risk for the original poster is that the cash will either be counterfeit, or stolen before he is able to bank it.  Safer to accept a cheque and retain the carte grise until funds have cleared.  Also worth asking to see the buyer's driving licence plus some proof of address.

 

[Richard-R]

Ask for a bankers draft,better than cash. Yep the cumtoms laws a funny, they once asked us if the contents of our car and effects was worth over 7000 euros, whilst saying they liked my watch, which cost which a fair bit lol, when I gave him a rough idea of the content value (well over 7000€) he just shrugged.

[Salty Sam]

[quote user="Sunday Driver"]

The reporting regulations do not apply to individuals.  In this case, the seller's bank will ask him for an explanation for the unusually large deposit.

[/quote]

Unless you keep your funds stuffed in a mattress, you'll find the money laundering regulations indirectly apply to everyone and are in force across member states of the European Community and the US & Canada. If you accept a large sum of money in payment which turns out to be 'dirty' money', and you come to the notice of the authorities, you as the recipient of the suspicious funds are likely to not only lose the lot but also be forced to account for everything you own i.e. where the money came from to buy your house, caravan, boat, car, Rolex, etc.   

Even if you sell a vehicle for let's say 10,000 Euro, and decide to make 5 bank deposits of 2000 Euro each week over the next 5 weeks, this is likely to cause suspicion.

A Columbian drug smuggling cartel was recently smashed and during their money laundering operation within the UK, it was estimated their biggest deposit of cash to a bank was £500.00! Yet they managed to get millions out of the country.

 

[basquen]

    The limit for transporting cash is much higher than the amount allowed in exhange for goods or services. For private individuals any payment over 3000 Euros is supposed to be made by cheque or bankers draft. Here's the full legislation : LINK

[chris pp]

Thanks for the link, basquen, very interesting and another example of the excessive regulation of everything in France connected with finances.

Chris