Camper Van - registering in France

[Robert]

A friend has a UK camper van which he wants to re-register in France. Has anyone had any experience of doing this, or perhaps know of anyone who can do this for him. His French is not good and he would rather employ somebody who understands all the requirements! Area 14, south of Caen.

Robert

[Sunday Driver]

If his camper is of standard UK manufacture, then the entry door will probably be on the left hand side (looking forwards).  To comply with French type approval regulations, the entry door must be on the right hand side.

I have sent you a PM.

[Miki]

Sunday driver,

Is that correct. It is most certainly not the case for

British caravans. Do you have the legal wording for this regulation ?

We have helped a few (before and since Mr Moore put a really good

explanation on LF about getting a British van on to French plates)

change their caravan on to French plates.

It was most certainly a case of chinese whispers that because

the caravan had its door on the "wrong" side it could not be changed

over, so much so, it has NEVER been an issue at DRIRE in my experience

and that of others that have managed to do the changeover.

One thing that should make anyone see the reasoning as to why the door

does not count, is that cars themselves, always have a minimum of one

(more often two) doors on the "wrong" side anyway !

[pigiron]

My experience is in last year sucsesfully re registering a  Ford GB reg HGV racing car transporter as a camping car with garage space. There seems to be conflicting reports on the door issue. However I can confirm that the DRIRE in Cote d'Armor 22 insist that a UK near side entry door on a camping car is forbiden, it is in black and white on the guidence notes.

They also required a certificate to prove that the gas and ventilation complies with 'current' european regulations also a cirtificate of comfomity from the French importer of the origional chassis (Ford France). Also as the vehicle was classified as 'non spec' it required a cirtificate for the body work, this would only be required for non factory conversions.

The best advice is to go to the DRIRE have a chat and get the information from the horses mouth, they are very helpfull.

[Miki]

Stranger and stranger. I have been told that it is indeed a written reg

with motorhomes, so is the min size, height and width of the door to

any camper, although why I have been told that I don't know but the

chap who informed me,  is well up on these things.

Robert, this is where it was written http://www.bretagne.drire.gouv.fr/ search out vehicules, then foreign cars bought  then liste Transformation en autocaravane (camping-car) then V-9_2-1i

All I can say then,  it does seem somewhat bizarre that a motorhome cannot have a door on the left  in

the living part of the vehicule, when often it is right next to the

passsenger door ! Still we are in France and sometimes regulations are not meant to be understood !

It also makes no sense to me, that a caravan can have the door on the wrong side and

it is not an issue. By the way, the last caravan we helped a friend to

put on French regs was at Plela in the Côtes D'Armor (22)

I fully agree, if it was me, I would make an appointment and take the

vehicule in question down to my local DRIRE and see what they come up

with. One thing for sure, they are never too consistent between

different DRIRE places but it is written down so..............!

[ChezShells]

Hi

 

So I have a LHD A Class UK reg'd motorhome, I suspect this shouldn't have any problems exporting.

Having a drivers side cabin entrance with a pass side entrance into living accommodation.

This should be ok for French reg?

[Iceni]

Urban myths tell us that problems with re-reg caravans, campers etc stem from the appliances not having an "NF" stamp or having been installed on a Wednesday of course. But oithers who have done such a thing may be able to shed light.

John

not

[Sunday Driver]

The requirements re doors are set out in the documentation relating to the "transformation d'un fourgon en autocaravane" available from the DRIRE website. Apart from driver/passenger cockpit doors, motorcaravans must have an entry/exit door to the habitation part which must either be on the right hand (pavement) side or on the rear panel.  Minimum dimensions are also provided.

Motorcaravans must also be certified as conforming to Norme NF S 56-200 for the gas and mains electricity installations, the ventilation and flues, as well as the doors, windows and emergency exits.  This can be evidenced either through a certificate of conformity issued by the motorcaravan manufacturer or by an inspection by an organisation such as Bureau Veritas.  The BV inspection takes about 40 minutes and cost 215 euros.

Chezshells - I'm currently going through the hoops to register my German built English registered Hymer A Class.  Once its all done, I'll put up a post outlining the full procedure.