Registering Motor Bike in France - problem

[Shane]

Our friend has an english Suzuki Bandit 1200 - year 2000 - to re-register here in France.

We took advice on the procedure and wrote to Suzuki France to request a Certificate of Conformity and sent a copy of the log book, copy of the original purchase receipt for the bike and a covering letter.

Having heard nothing 4 weeks later our friend rang the garage he had bought the bike from in the UK to ask if they could obtain a Certificate of Conformity and was told that he would not be able to get one as the bike is too old!! Is 6 years old too old to import a bike?

However a french friend has just rung Suzuki France and they wanted the VIN number of the log book and said there was not a problem but it could take 2 months for the certificate to come through.

Also he did not send a cheque with the request as Suzuki France said they could not say how much it was going to cost.

So should he have sent a blank cheque?

Is his waiting in vain - are they not going to send a Certificate in the end?

Help please!

[boris]

i re-registered my bike a yamaha diversion 600 1999 model no probs sent a letter to yamaha france with a cheque for 100 euro and had to go to drire to have the bike inspected another 86 euro told to buy new headlight even though the one i had was exactly the same as the one i bought (no european mark)another 77 euro went to tax office with original purchase reciept free then to the prefecture another 200 euro for the carte gris,is'nt france wonderfull

[Shane]

Good, so it shouldn't be too old then, thats a relief for him. I suppose we sit and wait for a bit. Now the nice weather is here he is desperate to get it on the road legally.

[sid]

Sorry for the late reply.

When I registered my '99 Honda VFR it didn't have a CoC and I was unable to get one in the UK. The procedure here is to write to the manufacturer, in my case Honda in Paris, and tell them that you want to make the 'immatriculation'. They send a questionnaire back to you on which you have to complete the details of the major components covered by the EU conformity regulations. ie the lights, mirrors, tyres, etc (even the spark plugs !) and you have to note the 'E' numbers of these components. Having done this you return the form with a cheque, for Honda it was 100€, and then sit and wait and wait... and wait.

Eventually (in my case after about 8 weeks) you get back either a full CoC which you can take to the prefecture, or a partial CoC which requires you to take the bike to DRIRE for a test similar to an MoT and only after that will you be able to go to the prefecture. Obviously it's better if you get the full CoC !! Headlight units may need to be changed, particularly if they dip to the left, and the speedometer may need to be changed... I'm a little hazy on this last point now as I changed mine to a kph one anyway (I found the small numbers on the UK one too small to read easily, and anyway, why do I need mph now?).

You will aslo need a certificate 'fiscale' from the local tax office which shows that you have paid the VAT on the bike. For this you need to take a receipt into the office. You may not have to original from 6 years ago, but I'm sure you can be fairly creative with some computer software! Say no more!

At the prefecture I can't remember how much the charge was but you should come away with your carte grise and then you just need to get the new number plate made. Any motorcycle dealer will be able to do this for about 15€. Don't forget to notify your insrance agent of the change.

If you need any more info 'pm' me.

Sid

 

[Shane]

That's brilliant, I will save that reply, his speedo is in K anyway so that's ok. We are ok helping him write letters and stuff in French but we are going to get a French friend to ring Suzuki this week to check that they did receive the letter we sent and to find out what is going to happen next. Watch this space.

Carol