P Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 Having read of some of the problems and also of some of the PROBLEMS of registering a car in France (although it seems a few have no problems) taking into account the costs etc at what level does it become economically unviable to register a vehicle in France?Specifically, how would we fare (subject to the unknown local officials attitude) with a 96 Land Rover Discovery and a 98 Daewoo Lanos? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 Before any thoughts of re-registering you should check out the insurance costs first and then decide whether it would be better to buy french or not as you will not be able to sell the UK vehicles easily in France and disposal is not that easy either without all the relevent paperwork. Weigh up also the costs of parts here,not many towns and certainly not small villages have dealers for these cars especially Japanese and you may have to do a 50mile trip just to buy a piece of exhaust pipe. Re-registering will also incurr changing headlights and getting certificates of conformity from the manufacturers which you usually have to pay for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzby Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 Registering an english vehicle here in France is, in my experience, straightforward, though departments do vary in the bureaucracy involved. If your vehicles have standard VIN plates, and even better an "e" number, then there is no need for a certificate of conformity. I have found french insurance costs similar to those in the UK, and the cost of registering a foreign car in France is reasonable. As for disposal, again the process is straightforward provided the vehicle is registered in France and you have the Carte Grise.As for spares and repairs, I agree that that is very much a function of where you are in France and could be very expensive indeed if you are forced to use the dealer for your vehicle rather than the local garage. We are fortunate in having a local garage who will repair/maintain any car and whose charges are reasonable, but that will not always be the case.If you would like further details please contact me. I have now registered three english vehicles in the Hautes Pyrénées, with no problems at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catalpa Posted August 1, 2005 Share Posted August 1, 2005 http://forums.livingfrance.com/shwmessage.aspx?forumid=287&messageid=171094#bm171730For Disco info, 5th post down. You may need to cut and paste the link if it's not clickable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacks Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Hi BuzbyWhat is an ''e'' number, we were just about to write for a letter of conformity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 JacksIf you have an e number it should be found on the identification plate of your car. I have one of the first Citroen Saxos to come to England in 1996 and my e number is at the top of the plate - the nuisance is I did not know about it and what it signified until after applying for the cert of conformity!! Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacks Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Hi SueThanks for the reply, I've looked for the VIN number and it is not on a metal plate it is on the windscreen. Is the ''e'' number a long number and what does the ''e'' stand for? Thanks for any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Is this being confused with one not needing a cert de con from the manufacturer for a newer European car that comes with a cert de conf ? Or that even with this vin plate, the DRIRE will still charge you around 67 euros or so, for the same thing but due to it having all the neccessary "requirements" on the computer, then you may not realise, that what DRIRE are charging you for, is that fact that your type of car and vin correspond to a car that is on their system and so can be "passed" through, albeit with seemingly no cert de conf being required? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 I took about half a day on the admin involved for a 2000 Peugeot 306 HDI. Total costs including CT, Cert of Conformity, Headlamps and tax was under 500 Euros. The car was four years old at the time and had 200,000 kilometres on it. I had owned it for 3.5 years and had bought it with 5,000 kilometres on it. For me it was time well spent. I had checked before I decided and selling in the UK would not have brought in anything like enough cash to buy a similar car in France. There remain some downsides - for instance there are parts which are unique to RHD such as clutch cables which may prove a hassle to source at some time. I have accepted that in effect I am going to run the car into the ground as it will now have almost nil second hand value. However it is as fast an original Golf GTI, has air conditioning and is currently averaging well over 60 mpg. (Sorry I cannot think in litres per hundred kilometres)For the Daewoo Lanos I would have a look at Google.Fr or the Argus to check out price of a similar car in France. Find out the cost of headlamps and check you can get a Cert of Conformity in view of Daewoo's various changes of ownership. I cannot remember which GM/Opel/Vauxhall model the Daewoo was based on but cheap spares for anything except French cars seem hard to source here. Also you can easily find you have a 300 kilometre round trip to the nearest dealer and I am not sure post the marketing of current cars as Chryslers in France what the status of any previous dealers is.Much the same general points about the Disco except spares situation is easier.In general terms unless I already owned the car in the UK I would want to spend at least Euro 4000 before I thought it was worth the hassle. If I already owned the car the equation becomes much more complex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 ** I've looked for the VIN number and it is not on a metal plate it is on the windscreen. Is the ''e'' number a long number and what does the ''e'' stand for? **The e number is quite long. I think it means that the car conforms to the EU 'normes'. My id plate for the Saxo is in the boot! My husband's id plate (for his Vauxhall Astra) was on the driver's door pillar and he also had the Vin number inside the windowscreen - which I did not have.No idea as to whether I could have avoided the Drire charge of 67€ but the lady in the Drire office seemed very relieved that my car had the magic e number!Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miki Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 [quote]** I've looked for the VIN number and it is not on a metal plate it is on the windscreen. Is the ''e'' number a long number and what does the ''e'' stand for? ** The e number is quite long. I think...[/quote]Did you get charged the €67 ? Without giving DRIRE a cert de conf ? If so, that was the charge for your car being accepted as being of French conformity and no Cert de Con being offered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P Posted August 2, 2005 Author Share Posted August 2, 2005 Thanks Catalpa - seems you had an easy run with the LR - and the others.Yve has owned the Lanos from new and wanted to keep it but it would seem that as it is not worth much, although it has low mileage and in good condition we are going to be better off buying a French car to replace it (or a Stag which she has always wanted).The Disco I have owned for 4 years and taken it from 65,000 to 140,000 without problems (dare say until now) and as I use Rimmer Bros for LR and Triumph (TR7) parts know that they mail over the World, so will have to give it some thought, although it might be easier with a LHD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyn_Paul Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 Hi,I'm in the process of registering a 1995 Mk I Renault Cleo - well that's not going to have an 'E' number, is it, But I'm also re-plating a 1998 Citroen Relay van (which would be a 'Jumper' over here) any chance that might have one?Incidentally, when we were insuring them, the nice lady in the insurance office inputted (?) the VIN numbers into her computer and up popped (in each case) a huge number which I took to be the model type, and version combination. Could this be the E-number, or does it actually start with a real 'E' ?p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Llantony Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 [quote]Hi, I'm in the process of registering a 1995 Mk I Renault Cleo - well that's not going to have an 'E' number, is it, But I'm also re-plating a 1998 Citroen Relay van (which would be a 'Jumper' over h...[/quote]I had an idea the VIN (vehicle identification number?) was on the engine or somewhere inaccessible to make it hard to sell on stolen cars by just changing number plates. May be completely wrong of course! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suein56 Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 **Did you get charged the €67 ? Without giving DRIRE a cert de conf ? If so, that was the charge for your car being accepted as being of French conformity and no Cert de Con being offered. Miki **Miki - yes we paid 67€. and we did not have certs of conformity.Gyn Paul - my e number goes "e - 1234 etc ending with 00" and I think they only started in 1996 so the 1995 car wont have it but the 1998 one might well.Llantony - we also found a VIN number on the engine of my husband's car, as well as on the metal plate on the door post and also on the inside of the windowscreen - so I would agree with you.Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 The extra costs involved in re-reg Di's vs buying here car were :-€67 to DRIRE - cheaper than the manf c of c BTW€52 (ish) CT2 trips to Cahors Our main reasons for doing this were :-car not worth enough in England to buy equivalent hereDi likes her carRHD is useful on our narrow roads with steep drops on each sideBut each to his own as they sayJohnnot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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