An Old Favourite - registering a vehicle!

[deauville]

Pouvez-vous m'aider si'l vous plait!

Later this year we are planning to leave England to start a new life in France, this will be a permanent move which we are not taking lightly and which we are trying to do with as much forethought and planning as possible. Our plan is to visit France within the next month and purchase a vehicle and a caravan, insure them with French insurers and return, temporarily, to England. As soon as our property here is sold and our assets are liquidised we intend to return to France with the vehicle and caravan plus our possesions and commence a search for the property of our dreams. This we thought would be the straightforward part but, despite all our efforts, we find that it is not! The stumbling block appears to be the lack of an address in France at which to register the vehicle and it is in this area that we seek your advice and guidance.

The requirements for a Carte Grise include either (this is extracted from their website) la Carte de séjour temporaire, la carte de résident, le certificat de résidence de ressortissant algérien but the problem is that the Carte no longer officially exists, we are not residents, nor are we Algerian! We have relatives in Bordeaux who are willing to provide an address via an attestation d'honeur but the local prefecture has been less than helpful in explaining whether this would suffice as proof of address.

Is there a way that we can carry out our plan?

 

[val douest]

If you are going to use the car and the caravan in the UK and then bring them to France with your possessions in due course, it would seem simpler to buy them in the UK. Second hand left hand drive cars are in general cheaper in the UK - I have no idea about caravans - and provided they are newish standard models it is not complicated to reregister them in France. My husband recently bought a lhd French registered Renault 5 on e-bay (he was in SW France and it was in Manchester!). Unless you end up living in the same department as your relatives you will have to reregister the car and caravan anyway. Our French insurer covered our car while it was on UK plates on condition we were in the process of reregistration.

Just a thought: if you are set on buying in France, could your relatives purchase the car and caravan in their names (your money) and then lend it to you for a short while? Then once you are in France you can take over ownership and do all the necessary paperwork.

Good luck,

Val

[Nick Trollope]

Surely the OP could simply get a letter from his relatives, stating that he/she is residing with them, then buy the car & van and register at that address.

If the relatives bought the vehicles it would necessitate the payment of 2 lots of registration fees (about 30E/cv for the car). Changes of address are free.

Trying to insure a car for use in the UK, that you don't own might also be a problem.

 

[Rem]

Apologies to all if this has been previously covered, but can't find it anywhere.

We are planning on moving permanently to Var later this year. We have a clio which we bought new in March this year and are wondering how long we can drive around on UK plates before having to reregister the car for french plates. Because once we'd done that we'd have to sell it in France and think it would be more difficult to sell a right hand drive car in France. Rather than selling it back in the UK.

Also, can anyone point me in the direction of buying in advance a ticket for using the tolls, is there a website for purchasing season tickets or something similar, as we'd be travelling back and forwards to Nice airport on a regular basis.

Thanks

Roseanne

[Iceni]

I admit to being more confused than usual - why buy a RHD only a few months ahead of a move to France ? Then having got it why are you even THINKING about selling it ? Surely even a Renault petrol will last 7 - 10 years and a diesel until the second coming ?

I am sure that the DVLC site will provide the info you need for re-registering once you have left the country. The action you have to take is as much dependent on UK reg/ins rules as French.

John

not