Re-Register Bike in France

[mark24]

Hi

Have read as much as I can on this site and on others ,but still can not get my head around it.

Could some of you who have re-registered your UK plated bikes on to French plates

Tell me Where to start and in what order I should do things.

I know  I should have sold it in the uk and purchased on hear but this bike is my second love and I will not sell it !

 

1)      it’s a Yamaha

2)      its uk Bike 2004 reg

3)      it has a 17 digit VIN No

4)      its over 106 bhp

5)      Périgueux is the largest town close in Dept 24

Many thanks for any replies

 

[Brilec]

I am sure that someone with more knowledge than I will be along soon, but my understanding is that there is a 100bhp limit on bikes registered in France, so basically you have no chance.

[Iceni]

As you will see from other threads the interpretation of national laws varies from dept to dept. Recommend that you go to yr Prefecture, with log book, and obtain the list of docs that they need to re-reg. yr bike.

John

not

[Motorhead]

Good to see that Mark has done his homework before posting a question unlike so many others.

French bikes are all suposed to be restricted to 100ch or 73.6 KW/Kg (not quite the same as 100bhp). Registering a bike over this limit can be done but it has nothing at all to do with documentation. You cannot get a full cert of conformity for a bike like this even from Yamaha France therefore you are at the mercy of DRIRE who may or may not be awkward.

The main problem is that the restriction/derestriction is very easy to do and motards routinely derestrict their bikes often by as little as cutting a wire in the fuel injection circuitry. So in theory it is usually easy to make your bike conform to the power limit but in practice try convincing the DRIRE. DRIRE inspectors actually have a lot of leeway in these matters and you might just be lucky and get one who takes your word for it. Probably ,though, you will get told to have the mods done and certified by a main dealer and have to come back for another inspection (86 euros a time where I am). Then it will be "come back again with a dyno certificate" and then it's "that's a rear wheel test, you need a crank dyno" and so on right up to " I don't think you will keep it restricted so no chance mate".

And this is all above the other niggly things they can do like insist that all your plug caps etc have E numbers. Unless you have loads of money and patience and are prepared to ultimately write it off, don't even think about it.

However, there is a 100% legal alternative which I am currently pursuing for my FJ1200. http://cgi.ebay.fr/Cadre-carte-grise-de-GSXR-1100-annee-1991_W0QQitemZ4586255277QQcategoryZ117469QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

is an example of a registered frame being sold. I have already found one at 250 euros but it was a slightly different (later) model than my bike.

Once you aquire a cadre avec carte grise it is perfectly legal to reframe your existing full power bike into it and DRIRE don't even get to sniff at it. Of course you could just swap the plaque constructeur (VIN plate) over but that would be illegal strictly speaking.

Alternatively you could just keep it on a British plate, it is far easier to do it with a bike than it is with a car and we all know how easy that is (for the time being).

 

[LesFlamands]

I still have bikes on UK plates. They are not used too often but I've never had a problem.

[mark24]

Thanks for the replies

It looks like I will try and find the Prefecture 1^ST and see how I get on.

 

@Charles  (You still have bikes on UK plates. They are not used too often but I've never had a problem)

So how did you get insurance ?

I can only get 2 to 3 months cover while I try and get French plates as I live in France and don’t have a UK address  

 

Any help on insurance advice would be welcome

 

many thanks

[Montybird]

LesFlambes & Motorhead, please tell me how to keep the bikes on UK plates? 

We have 2 bikes here, a Hayabusa and a CBR400RR.  After nearly 2 years of trying everything to get the bikes legally re-registered here we are about to give up.

We were stumped at the first hurdle - trying to obtain the Certificate of Conformity's. 

The Hayabusa is obviously over the BHP limit and Suzuki Perigueux mentioned over 1,000 euro's to restrict, the guy obviously wasn't interested in doing it!

The Babyblade has just never been registered here so no C of C available either.  The D.R.I.R.E did give us the details to take to the bike to l'U.T.A.C near Paris.  Here they would carry-out different tests etc to the bike and fill in a very detailed form to return to the DRIRE.  This again could cost in excess of 1,000 euro's and even then they could not guarantee to issue a C of C.

We've tried numerous insurance agencies and they will not insure for more than the std 3 months whilst getting re-registered or on UK plates permanently.

Whilst on a visit to Bordeaux we went into Moto Kits and a guy there said he'd restrict the Busa for approx 100 euro's + parts but we need to get a letter from Suzuki France confirming they could do the work.  We're in the process of trying to get this letter.

[Motorhead]

Keeping a bike on British plate and insurance is no big deal for the time being.

You need the use of a British address and technically you should be in actual residence there they day you take out the policy. The policy will state restrictions on foreign use and will probably also say that you have to inform them when the bike is out of the country. However, within th EU this only applies to cover over and above the statutory minimum. It has been european law for at least 13 years that a motor policy issued in any one member state is automatically valid for use in any other member state at the minimum indemnity that state requires and it will say this hidden away in the small print (insurance companies don't advertise it).

You can then tax and test the bike in Britain or you can put it on a SORN. SORN forms no longer require you to state where the vehicle will be kept since it was pointed out to the DVLA that it was illegal for them to demand this. Tax and MOT is not required for bikes in France and it would be hard to find a gendarme who even knew such things existed.

Of course if you want to insure the bike for fire, theft or failing to negociate a corner or to take a SORNed bike back home then you will have problems.

 

[Jc]

In other words you're breaking the law in both France and the UK!!

[Motorhead]

Tell us all more JC and be at least a bit more specific.

[Jc]

If you take a vehicle to France for more than a short visit,you do not declare it SORN,you fill in the V5 and declare it exported.To be legal in the UK,you must register your vehicle,insure it and if old enough,have it MOT'd.This will also cover you for temporary visits to France but nothing further.To be legal in France,the vehicle must be registered with your commune and insured(cars need a CT if old enough).No other combination is legal.In the small print of the policy(not the certicate)will be a clause which says something like"it is the insured's responsibility to ensure the vehicle is roadworthy and legal".

[Motorhead]

JC I really think you should read this thread through from the begining

This is all about motorcycles (so don't bring cars into it) that cannot be re-registered in France for at least two reasons. If people in this situation took your advice and declared their bike exported at the outset they would find themselves with a vehicle that was registered nowhere. Now I happen to think that it is far better to have a vehicle registered somewhere rather than nowhere.

Also:

1) One does not declare a vehicle SORN, you declare it off-road with a SORN (statutory off-road notification).

2)Vehicles are registered with the prefecture and not the commune.

3) Why bring roadworthyness into it? Nobody has been talking about unroadworthy bikes.

 

[Fritz]

Here's my centimes worth. I've had two UK registered bikes re-registered in France. One of which has since been sold in France without any problems. I never SORNitized them. Maybe the DVLA have put out a contract on me in my absence.

My insurance man tells me that French residents can use UK registered vehicles inc cars and bikes in France for up to three months (with french insurance, of course) before getting a carte grise. Other threads here have long ramblings about the need to have a current UK tax disk, though wdfdik.

M'head is right. Only the Prefecture is interested in your vehicle. That's where you have to go to get the CG.

Bikes in France don't need an MOT. Strange but true but don't ask me why.

The process I used to get my CG was firstly to get a selection of docs (from my insurance guy). I then converted the speedos to Kmph and headlights to RHD, so to speak. Then take the bike to your dealer, he'll check out the bike, complete and stamp it, saying it conforms as a standard model in good condition etc. This is not the C of C. You then send this doc to the French Head oFFice of the manufacturer eg France yamaha. They'll want 100 euros or so to provide a C of C. You then go to yr local tax office with UK reg docs, original bike purchase receipt, EDF bill, passport, golf scorecard etc. They'll give you a confirmation that VAT etc has been paid on the bike. You then go the the prefecture to get the CG. That's it. very easy and fast once you manage to get the C of C. I appreciate that procedures may vary from dep to dep, insurance co to insurance co, bloke in pub to blokes on forums, but basically you just have to get out there and do it.

[Motorhead]

Nice post Fritz

However, can I take it that your bikes were under 100ch and were models that had been officially imported/sold into Europe?

Did you have any duty to pay on the bike you sold? I have one of my French re-reg'd bikes that I might want to sell but I've been told that import duty is payable if I sell it too soon. Can't seem to find out either the rate of duty or whether it applies for up to 6 or 12 months.

PS  Dunno how the non requirement for CT's came about but it's still with us due to the 100ch restriction. The testing stations would have to test for this and they just don't have the equipment or the expertise for it. Personally I think that the restriction should be scrapped and CT's brought in. It would certainly help in registering problem bikes and would make much of what I have said here redundant.

[Fritz]

Yeah. Less than 100ch and official EU imports.

I didn't pay import duty. I guess because the impot form said that it wasn't necessary and in any event it was an old 98 model and maybe the TVA had already been considered paid. Which is interesting as I'm looking at buying a new bike in the UK and bringing it back here. The man in the shop says you can do some skullduggery and get your VAT refunded once the bike was delivered to France as a bona fide export. Sometimes you wonder if the hassle is worth it but if someone knows the true facts?

generally I'm finding that UK new bikes are cheaper than the same models in France. For eg the difference between a KTM 950 is £1000 (cheaper in the UK) when you bung in the flight to Stansted, internal travel, etc, carte grise etc, you're still £7/800 better off.

[Me0wp00]

motorhead re the sorn thing we do exactly the same and re frame ebay thing, hubby is planning the same thing for the turbo. Went to the prefecture, who said oh yes its old but we need an attestation de conformity, phone the drire, drire said oh yes the prefecture is stupid, we're fed up of telling them it's nothing to do with us, go and phone kawasaki, phoned them, oh yes theres no way we can give you attestation, although send us 100e if u want and we'll send you a piece of paper saying in no way can this bike be restricted. what a load of b*ll