This may be of interest to some.

[Bugsy]

DVLA Policy change

.

[Pickles]

Ernie has already mentioned this:

http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/2292900/ShowPost.aspx

Regards

Pickles

[Will]

Sorry, but despite what it said in the link, DVLA policy, which is based on EU regulations, hasn't changed. What has been forced to change is Northamptonshire Constabulary's version of the law, which was apparently based on misinterpretation of a non-legal document from DVLA rather than the law itself. DVLA, rather foolishly, may have attempted to defend the police and their incorrect actions, but the letter of the law has remained constant throughout this long drawn-out and rather over-publicised affair.

If anything, it shows up the rest of the police forces, in both UK and France, as ignoring the EU law regarding use of foreign-registered vehicles by residents. But maybe their priorities are centred on real crimes.

[Bugsy]

Flippin' 'eck two responses and both having a go at my post.

I'll go clean my bike instead.

.

[Quillan]

Not 'a go' at you so much as 'a go' at the UK police force but then its the same in France with things especially when they change, some departments and mayors offices interpret French legislation in different ways to others and sometimes even the basis of the law itself. As an example, for many months our prefecture refused to issue T de J's (or C de J if you prefer) to UK citizens saying they were not required anymore which was only partly true. What was true was that you didn't need one but you were entitled to one if you asked as many prefer to carry one instead of a passport for ID when writing cheques etc. In this case the UK police in that area interpreted the law differently and incorrectly as it turned out. You can see the problem, try and tell any police officer anywhere that he is wrong.

[Pickles]

The text of the relevant directive can be found here.

Regards

Pickles

[Will]

Certainly not having a go at you personally, rather at a bit of misinformation on the site you linked to, which purports to be 'the complete guide to France' - which I suppose is why it gets its facts mixed up in an item about a Spanish resident.

This is a rather more accessible version of EU law (Pickles' link refers mainly to taxation rather than registration) - though even here the the nature of the six month limit is implied rather than stated. Those who depend on (and enforce, of course) the law should always refer to the actual legal document rather than informal guidelines, online FAQs or a press release.

I'm sure your bike could do with a good clean anyway [:)]

[AnOther]

The problem stemmed from a DVLA press

release about 3 years earlier in which they omitted the words

"continuous or otherwise," thus completely changing the intention of

the EU Directive.

The offending document can be read here although even with the

omission it's still not obvious how or why the erroneous

interpretation was arrived at......

http://www.dft.gov.uk/dvla/pressoffice/pressreleases/archive2006/20060308_24.aspx?keywords=foreign

EDIT: Will I note that the site you linked to states that:

"You can only register a car in the country where you normally live or have permanent residence.

You cannot register your car in a country where you have a secondary residence or holiday house"

We know this to be untrue of course which tends to prove that even official documents cannot be always be trusted 100% [blink]

[NickP]

The interesting thing about Will's link is it states that "you cannot register your car in a country where you  have a secondary or holiday home". But, it also says if you spend more than six months in a country then you should register your vehicle there. This raises more questions than answers, after all suppose someone who  is retired and spends slightly over six months in their holiday home, do they have to keep changing the registration, it's all nonsense. Common sense says you should register your car in the country you are resident in, but when did politicians or come to that the police at times, know anything about common sense. All the police are concerned about in the UK is that they can't or don't chase up foreign cars to collect the stealth taxes. As for Bugsy and his bike I should imagine it's always immaculate. [:)]

Edit: Sorry Another you can obviously type faster than me, I didn't mean to jump on your bandwagon  

[Will]

With all due respects I think it is true, being one of a number of clarifications issued earlier this year.

I suppose it's untrue to some extent, in that you can physically register a car to a holiday home in another country (I know somebody who has at least two vehicles registered to his French holiday home in order to avoid paying road fund licence and having an MoT done every year), but there are lots of things you can do that don't actually comply with the letter of the law.

The FAQ section of the EU site covers the holiday home question to some extent. And if you feel your questions have not been answered or something has not been adequately covered, you can use the SOLVIT facility, available through the contact link on the EU site, to get a response.

[Pickles]

[quote user="Will"](I know somebody who has at least two vehicles registered to his French holiday home in order to avoid paying road fund licence and having an MoT done every year) [/quote]

Just checking, but do they think that although they are resident in the UK, they can legally drive their French-registered car in the UK? Or do they actually reside in France (which would not seem to be the case from your referring to their "French holiday home")?

Regards

Pickles

[Will]

No, this person lives, and works, in England. He insists he is both legal and very savvy for saving a few pounds. We know otherwise, of course, but try telling him. [;-)]

[PaulT]

Mmmmm interesting.....

I was planning on taking my TR7 and leaving it our house in France whilst still being resident in the UK.

According to the site as I will be staying in France for less than 6 months I keep it registered in the UK.

I note that there is no other mention of RFL and MOT.

Going by this I keep my UK registration in France and do not require RFL or MOT only if I bring it back in to the UK.

Paul

[Gardengirl]

I wonder what the position would be if we hired a car in the event of a breakdown, with the intention of returning it to France after a visit. Presumably it would be illegal for the UK part of the journey.

We had been thinking of buying a car to use in France, but it would be impractible to only use it as far as Calais; we would occasionally wish to drive it to UK and back to France again. We didn't think of it as a cost-cutting exercise; we have 3 perfectly legally- taxed, insured, MOT-ed cars in UK.

[NickP]

To Paul your UK registered car while in France must be UK legal, therefor RFL and MOT are essential.

GardenGirl as a UK resident I believe that you can drive a French registered car legally in the UK if it is hired, or it is for business purposes.

[Pickles]

[quote user="gardengirl "]I wonder what the position would be if we hired a car in the event of a breakdown, with the intention of returning it to France after a visit. Presumably it would be illegal for the UK part of the journey.[/quote]

As NickP indicates, a French (or other foreign-registered) hire car hired in the event of a breakdown is specifically excluded from the prohibition on being driven in the UK by a UK resident

[quote user="gardengirl "]We had been thinking of buying a car to use in France, but it would be impractible to only use it as far as Calais; we would occasionally wish to drive it to UK and back to France again. We didn't think of it as a cost-cutting exercise; we have 3 perfectly legally- taxed, insured, MOT-ed cars in UK.[/quote]

We have a French-reg car based in France at our holiday home. It annoys us that we could not use it to drive back beyond the UK border, even in an emergency, but that's the law as it stands, I'm afraid. We did our sums before buying the car: to be honest it is a close-run thing as to whether it is worth while, particularly if you buy a newer car. A cheap old car is a no-brainer, but a newer car with working aircon starts looking comparable to hire charges.

Regards

Pickles

[PaulT]

[quote user="NickP"]

To Paul your UK registered car while in France must be UK legal, therefor RFL and MOT are essential.

[/quote]

Yes, but the regulations seem to be a little less than helpful.

My intention was to register it in France (which would mean that I would not be able to drive it back in the UK). A nice Catch22 situation.

Paul