Car registration Uk or French

[SparkyNewall]

Hi All

I am in need of your advice.

We are looking to come to France in September (not working) and will be there for 9-12 months. I am in the process of purchasing a LHD car (currently on French plates) but need to know what is best/legal:

Do I keep the french plates? We will be at a friends house so have no bills in our name

Do I re register it on UK plates? We will be in France more than the 6 months allowed

Our official residence status will be UK as our address will be in the UK. But we will be in France for upto 12 months

Please help as I am stumped as what to do

Thanks

[nomoss]

Register it in France in your name. For proof of residence have your friend sign an  Attestation d'hébergement à titre gracieux

Format:

Town name, le xx DE MONTH de YEAR

 

 

Attestation d’hébergement à titre gracieux

 

Je soussigné, (NAME OF HOUSEHOLDER) demeurant au (ADDRESS) certifie sur l'honneur que (YOUR NAME) né le (DATE OF BIRTH) à (PLACE OF BIRTH), réside actuellement à mon domicile, à titre gracieux.

NAME, Signature.

Edit. I have no idea why this site keeps sticking "Normal O" into my posts.

[PaulT]

Think technically, you will no longer be a UK resident because of the length of time out of the UK.

[AnOther]

Putting it on UK plates won't help because technically after 6 months in France you will be obliged to register it here.

You cannot just keep the French plates either, you have to transfer the registration to yourself and although the car may retain the same number (if it's the new style AA 123 BB) it will have been 'deregistered' when the previous owner sold it and informed their prefecture.

Be very very careful about buying a French registered car in UK, if you do not have the correct paperwork for it you will never be able to reregister it, nor sell it on, nor even drive it and that includes from UK to France !

[SparkyNewall]

Brilliant, that helps. So French registered it is then.

What is the paperwork required as the garage states 'All relevant french documents' but I need to know what I'm looking for. I know I need the:

Proof of Residence (Attestation d'hébergement à titre gracious)

CoC

Carte Gris (Log Book)

CT Certificate (No less than 6 months)

Invoice from previous/current owner

Any details would be great. As said I don't want to buy a car I cannot register or drive

Thanks

[nomoss]

You need to complete the Demande de Certificat and have the Declaration de Cession from the current registered owner (whose name appears on the Carte Grise) .

On the Declaration, which has three parts, one of which has to be sent by the vendor to the Prefecture where the car is registered within 15 days, he also states who he sold it to, and their address, unless he is selling it to a car sales professional, for which there are different arrangements.

You receive a copy which you present with the Demande

Details here [url]http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1050.xhtml[/url]

There are links to further explicatory documents which you can roughly translate using Google.

[AnOther]

You also need the carte grise crossed and signed by the seller but you'll have no need of a CoC for an already French registered car !

The different arrangements nomoss refers to are principally applicable to a vehicle sold to a dealer in France. They can work with a UK dealer if they know what they are doing but that is not necessarily a given in every case.

As mentioned one of the real problems is that if the seller has submitted the declaration de cession then that effectively cancels the registration meaning if it hasn't subsequently been re-registered then technically it shouldn't be on the road, it's tantamount to being on false plates !

That said if you did have all the correct paperwork, including a valid CT and French insurance, you'd probably get away with it if stopped by the gendarmes.