Owning a vehicle in France as non-resident.

[RichardD]

Hello,

Recently we purchased a property in France as a second home. Is it possible for someone who does not live in Europe but has a second home in France to purchase and register a vehicle?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Continuously renting vehicles would be expensive.

Regards,

Richard

[ericd]

Hi RichardD. Yes it is possible. The fact that you do not live in EU doesn't make any difference.

Buy your car in France, insure it in France giving your second home as main address, job done.

Only problem I see (and yet, not 100% sure), is if insurers want to give you a bonus discount, would they accept evidence from outside EU ?

[Loiseau]

As a U.K. resident, I bought a French car to keep at a résidence secondaire. The insurance agent did give me credit for my uk no-claims.

It appears that I would not legally have been allowed to drive it in the UK, though - something I didn’t realise till I had done it a few times! Nothing to do with the insurance, however.

[Gardengirl]

Yes, that’s so. British friends here in France didn’t believe that they couldn’t drive their French-registered cars legally in the UK.

A reply to an email to the DVLA on that subject made clear that it is so.

[AnOther]

They can if they are non UK resident.

[Gyn_Paul]

...surely you just ask your insurer for a green card?

[idun]

As was said, it has nothing to do with the insurance or green card etc, it is where one is resident.

British non resident in the UK, can drive french registered cars in the UK, no problem, but not british residents. Just the way it was, and probably still is.

Could some of these things change with brexit?

For the OP, yes, you can buy a car, register it and get insurance etc.

[Gyn_Paul]

Ah, got it now. I was misreading, mis-attributing place of residence and ownership. Makes sense now!

thanks!

[Yonner]

I don't mean to be a party pooper, and would love to be proved wrong but....

there is a lengthy thread on one of the expat facebook groups discussing this, and it seems its not straightforward. We bought a golf 8 years ago which we leave at a second home, and had no trouble getting a carte grise through visiting the prefecture.

Now apparently you can only obtain a cg either by:

a) buying a new car and letting the dealer handle the cg

b) Using the online system( ANTS is it?) which would not be open to a UK resident because of info needed on the online form, (I seem to recall social security number or tax number was the issue) or

c) using an agent, who will charge of course.

As I say, happy to be shown as wrong, because it would suit our situation too if we ever needed to replace our car.

[idun]

Well that would not surprise me if they had changed and rollocksed up the system.

We had a terrible job with french pensions because they wanted info that we do not have any more and cannot get because we no longer live in France or have an account with La Poste, which apparently would be OK, or pay taxes there or use the CPAM.

I was always impressed with the decent linking up and forethought with many of the governmental systems in France, but if this is also the case, then numpties have taken over in more than just the pensions section.

[ericd]

All .... Using ANTS to (for example) register or get a Carte Grise isn't straight forward but do-able.

To ensure you are officialised on the ANTS system, you need to prove your ID. You can do this via the French Post Office by asking the "facteur" to come and visit at an agreed day to check your ID (Passport for example). This being done, you can navigate ANTS to carry all your required tasks.

Only last summer, I bought a moped on Ebay UK, took it to France, declared it as a barn find and got the Carte Grise without much efforts.

For a car, this would be slightly difficult as you need to get the car manufacturer's confirmation to state on a special document, that your car was built to EU norms etc .... change the lights ... all in all a much more complicated issue.

[ChezShells]

I (non resident) registered 2 vehicles at our place last year via ANTS, registered using mobile no. and email etc

Just tried logging in and my details unknown!

Did another registration process and this time to register a vehicle it has now asked for my franceConnect info which I dont have (yet).

If I need to I can ask a neighbour or a garage.

Shame, I preferred the process to the old way of visiting the prefecture and queuing up.

[EuroTr@sh]

What a lot of vehicles to keep in a country you don't live in!

[ChezShells]

if in reply to my post

Its only 2 and so I don't have to pay the high band road tax

really - I am, just not 'officially'

[JohnM]

Somewhere (in the archives) of the forum is a thread featuring a member who fell fowl of the "British person,French car, used in UK" is situation. If I remember correctly, they got stroppy with the police which didn't help their situation. (I think that they got stroppy with the mods as well and were banned from posting.... but don't take my thinks as gospel, it was about 10 years ago)

[idun]

I believe it was opas (wife) who said that her husband had been

arrested in the UK driving a french lorry......... something along those

lines.

I cannot remember what happened subsequently, if in fact we were told.

JohnM

any news on the Turin freight line. I have spoken to friends and they

seem to know nothing at all, when in fact I reckon that the line will be

very very close one particular friend's son's home.

[nomoss]

[quote user="ChezShells"]I (non resident) registered 2 vehicles at our place last year via ANTS, registered using mobile no. and email etc

Just tried logging in and my details unknown!

Did another registration process and this time to register a vehicle it has now asked for my franceConnect info which I dont have (yet).

If I need to I can ask a neighbour or a garage.

Shame, I preferred the process to the old way of visiting the prefecture and queuing up.[/quote]

I also registered with ANTS some time ago in anticipation of selling a car, and found recently that "my details are unknown". Maybe they lost a lot of information when they had all the problems with the new system.

Fortunately, as a resident, I can log in via FranceConnect.

[JohnM]

[quote user="idun"]

I believe it was opas (wife) who said that her husband had been

arrested in the UK driving a french lorry......... something along those

lines.

I cannot remember what happened subsequently, if in fact we were told.

JohnM

any news on the Turin freight line. I have spoken to friends and they

seem to know nothing at all, when in fact I reckon that the line will be

very very close one particular friend's son's home.

[/quote]

Hi Idun, yes I had a search yesterday evening and found her name which rang a bell, but I couldn't find the thread. I seem to recall that a night or 2 in the cells were included in the story.

There is a lot of access tunnel work going on at St Martin de la Porte (near St Michel de Maurienne) and they are certainly doing major earth works at St Jean de Maurienne where the tunnel goes under (I think they had to realign the motorway slightly to give access to the bit of mountain they want to go into) and extra sidings are going in in La Chambre (presumably because some of the sidings in St Jean will be lost).

[Weegie]

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance-forums/cs/forums/1/1355639/ShowPost.aspx#1355639

For some reason I seem to recall there was another similar thread but in East Anglia or thereabouts but it might just be me getting it wrong.

[idun]

That was an interesting walk down memory lane. I looked up just 'opas' and 12 pages came up, but nothing about her husband being arrested. I think it may have been moderator deleted to be honest.

And now to have a lie down, I am most unwell, and that was exhausting. Not covid, I must add.[blink]

[Catalpa]

I found the full thread 'Outcast Has Been Arrested' thread this morning - and read the first page and then skipped to the end to see how it all panned out. I'll find it again...

e2a: here we are... sanity warning: there are 36 pages... [geek]

http://services.completefrance.com/forums/completefrance-forums/cs/forums/1/2578605/ShowPost.aspx#2578605

If you're not feeling well, maybe leave it for a day or two, Idun... or it may cause a relapse.

e2a:2 which I now see is the same link Weegie posted earlier but when I tried that, it didn't work.

[mint]

Yes, I remember that incident and the enraged but clearly frightened wife posting on here.  She was sounding desperate.  If my memory still serves, I believe that Sunday Driver contacted the wife and gave her some advice.

Idun I wish you bon rétablissement[:)]