Using a French car in the UK

[Rob G]

Hi there,

I am planning on moving to France with my wife and children around June next year.  I curently have a company car in the UK, so will need to hand this back and we will get a L/H drive car in France.  One of the options for us is to buy a L/H drive car in France a month or two before we move over, and to use it in the UK during that month or two, and then use it to move ourselves over.  Can anyone tell me what are the implications of using a French-registered vehicle in the UK?  Especially interested to know if there are any difficulties getting UK insurance, road tax etc. Ideally, we will want to keep the French registration number as we will only use it in the UK for a month or two before moving to France.  (We would most likely buy from the area we will be moving to in France so that we don't then have to re-register it again.)

Any info on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

[Boiling a frog]

You do not need UK road tax if it french registered Take out french car insurance and that covers you in the UK no need for green cards or anything like that.

[Mpprh]

Hi

I don't think you need to worry too much if you can register it in France.

Used cars need to be re-registered upon sale, so you need to have a French address to do that.

And the French insurance companies accept UK NCB. However it is based on years going up to 10+ rather than a %. Best to get a letter from your broker saying that you have had 15 years without a claim than a certificate from a company that you are entitled to 45% NCB.

I've got more info here : http://www.the-languedoc-page.com/expat-foyer-legislation.htm

Bonne chance

Peter

[sheila in manche]

Hi , Slightly late but we did exactly this last year. Bought a new car from the dealer in Calais 2 months before we moved over, mostly handled via internet and phone (It took about 6 weeks to do the whole purchase from start to finish with delivery times etc) They sorted out the carte Grise for Manche and I organised french insurance via the internet. The insurers needed carte grise details but had everything set up ready for the faxed document with no problems so it all went very smoothly. Biggest problem was getting the letters from UK insurers to confirm our NCB as we still had our UK cars initially.

good luck,

Sheila

[Lespearsons]

We used our French registered car in England for nearly a year with no problems. We did not intend to do this but the house sale took longer than expected. The car was insured with Norwich Union until we moved here to live and then we took out French insurance.

Keith

[Rob G]

Thanks for all these replies - it sounds like this is reasonably straightforward I just wanted to ask for a few more details to get this clear.

We have a car to sell in the UK, and ideally would like to buy one in France before we move over there. So, at the point that we buy it, we will not have an address in France. So, a couple of questions:

1. For the period that we run the French car in the UK, would it be better to insure it with French insurance company or a British one?

2. If we want to insure it with a French insurance company, will we be able to do this without having an address in France?

3. If we want to insure it with a UK insurer, will this be a problem if it is French-registered and left-hand drive?

Thanks,

Rob G

[Rob G]

Anybody.....?

[Ron Avery]

Rob

The lack of replies to these questions maybe due to them having been answered infinitum elsewhere.
1. For the period that we run the French car in the UK, would it be better to insure it with French insurance company or a British one?

To buy the car in France you will have to insure it or get a UK cover note before you can move it anywhere let alone to the UK. But see below

2. If we want to insure it with a French insurance company, will we be able to do this without having an address in France?

No

3. If we want to insure it with a UK insurer, will this be a problem if it is French-registered and left-hand drive?
Yes, depending on the car, you may well find that many of the big boys like More Than, Admiral; etc will not touch it.

[Jsey]

You say you are moving but won't have an address, where / in what will you be living.

[Rob G]

We'll be buying a house in the Ile-de France area, but would like to sort out a car before we move, and bring it back to the UK for a few weeks. So, at the point that we buy the car, we will not have a French address.

Rob