re-importing French registered car from UK back into France

[Andrew C]

Hi,

I've read a number of pieces which suggest buying a second hand car in France can be problematic and the cars tend to be more expensive than the equivalents in the UK.

So I thought about buying a LHD car in the UK, then I found on Ebay that some LHD cars in the UK are registered in France.

If I buy one of these what do I still need to do in order to drive it in France? Is it as simple as registering and insuring at my French address, or is there more to it than that?

Thanks

Andrew

[suein56]

AndrewC wrote : If I buy one of these what do I still need to do in order to drive it in France? Is it as simple as registering and insuring at my French address, or is there more to it than that?

Although it is now almost 12 years since the event my OH did exactly that. He bought a car from someone who had quit France and taken the car back to the UK .. then lost interest in re-registering it there. He contacted us and OH went to the UK, bought it and drove it back here.

In those days as long as you had valid insurance, a purchase receipt, the crossed out carte grise and a valid 'certificat de cession' all you needed to do was CT the car in France and register it in your name.

All went well for us.

In fact we just got rid of the car last week.

Whether you will be able to do the same as us today .. hmm.

The main problems seem to be : continuity of ownership .. ie no gaps in the car's history and being able to print off a valid 'certificat de cession'.

[nomoss]

If you don't have the required paperwork completed and signed by the owner whose name is on the CG, together with all the other items required, dated less than one month before you apply to register it, they will not be accepted.

This will probably only be possible if you are buying the car directly from the person whose name is on the CG. If the transfer section of the CG has already been completed, or the CG crossed and dated as sold to someone (e.g. a UK dealer), you can't register it in a different name.

Details of what is required are here:

[url]https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1050[/url]

If the correct documents are not available, you would probably have to register the car in your name in the UK, which I think requires an address there, then register it in France when you bring it here. Registration here may be simplified if you produce the originals or copies of the French documents.