Carte Grise - certificate of conformity

[Georgina]

I have been told by the authorities that only an original certificate would be accepted.  I rang Citroen who told me this was not true and that as the car was originally matriculated in england, it would only be a duplicate and that the only explanation was that I probably got someone really awkward at the desk (well that's true).

The woman at the Carte Gris place was actually so offensively rude about this pifffing and paffing when she took the papers, I really have never met anyone like her in my life as to rudeness and refusal to listen, not in England nor in France.  My french is not bad at all but she was funny really I suppose, like something from Little Britain.

After several questions which she would not let me answer, she would not let me explain that I had spoken to Citroen and literally snatched the papers off of me without letting me explain.  Telling me to shut up whilst she was sorting out the papers!!!

Sorry I guess there are two problems here, the papers may go off without explanation as to why I did not have the original carte gris and if not, I seriously want this woman to stop being so offensive, it felt racist.  And has anyone else had to provide an original for a car already registered in England?

[HoneySuckleDreams]

She was being awkward, is there a french eqivalent for "getting out of bed on the wrong side"?

surely any certificate produced by Citroen is an original?

For my Citroen I got my CofC from citroen before we moved here, if I remember it cost me £80 or so. For the CofC for a Suzuki i bought in the UK I went to the DRIRE center here in France which cost around €65 I think.

[Georgina]

Do you recall if it was an original, and did not say duplicate on it??? Or did you not notice as it is quite small letters

[HoneySuckleDreams]

It does say DUPLICATE on the C of C

Our Citroen was born on August 1999 and I didn't even know about certificates of Conformity until we decided to move to France as we never had one.

I think you found a jobsworth, don't take it to heart too much. Can't you go back when she's not around?

Maybe the rules have changed? Wait for a definative answer from Sunday Driver about the rules.

 

[Sunday Driver]

In essence, all certificates of conformity are duplicates because they relate to a specific series production model and are printed off on demand.  The certificate is then 'personalised' to your particular vehicle by the inclusion of its VIN number then validated with the manufacturer's official stamp. On the other hand, photocopies are not acceptable.

When you mention the 'papers may go off without explanation', it sounds as if you took them to one of the sous-prefectures which doesn't actually process carte grise applications and has to forward them to the prefecture. Might explain why this woman seems not to be fully au fait with the procedure. If she has, indeed, sent them off to the Quimper prefecture, then they will know what to do.

As regards the offensive attitude, you have the right to complain to her supervisor.  You will find the name and contact details of the relevant department head on the prefecture website.

 

[Georgina]

Thank you SD that is reassuring.

Yes I think I will say something, her behaviour was outrageous not just once but twice.  I can honestly say that I have never come across anyone quite so rude who was working in a postion of serving the public in any country, and I have been around a bit!!! Literally felt like I was six years old and talking to the headmistress. Actually think she is a reject from the sous prefecture which made all the carte grise applications move to head office Brest, this is a private company in town.

[nomoss]

I think you should most definitely complain.

The next time you have to deal with her you need to get her attention first.

To do this, take a 2 foot length of 4x2, raise it to shoulder height, and swing it briskly against her head.

Once you have her attention I think she will much be more helpful.

[AnOther]

Since the introduction of the new registration system I understand that you can register your car in any dept/prefecture not just your own [;-)]

[quote user="Georgina"]this is a private company in town.[/quote]A private company dealing with carte grise applications ?

[Georgina]

Yes, they send them off, it is like when the post office does passports, they check them and send them off to the passport office and get a fee,  They stop doing them locally.

[Sunday Driver]

So you weren't 'told by the authorities' as you indicated in your original post and the 'carte grise' place you referred to was just a private company who charge a fee for checking your papers and posting them off to the prefecture..... 

You'd have been better off just sending everything directly to Quimper and saving yourself the fee.  Your mairie would even have done it for free.

 

[Chancer]

I think you are being overly harsh and perhaps a little smug S.D.

If what has been written is factual then the attitude displayed by the staff member sound very familiar to someone working for the state with a job for life.

Given the general lack of enterprise in France I cannot see a company being set up to charge French people for what they have never paid for and dont need to pay for if they use the Mairie, it is even more unlikely that offering a paid premium service to customer an unwilling customer base they would employ someone as described or allow them to act in that way.

[Les]

"Given the general lack of enterprise in France I cannot see a company

being set up to charge French people for what they have never paid for

and dont need to pay for if they use the Mairie."

Here's ONE [:)]

[Georgina]

Yes, I was. told by the authorities. through this enterprise.  They refused the application on the grounds that the certificate was not an original and this woman got in a huff and puff phah with me when I told her it was not true that the original was required LOL.

In retrospect, I would willingly have driven to Brest

[Chancer]

I am pleased to see that Derf.

Enterprise is alive and well in France [:D]

 

[Val_2]

In 21years of France, its the first time I have ever heard of a private company doing this sort of thing unless its one of those hold your hand because you are foreign setups who charge an arm and a leg for info you can get on here! Anything to do with vehicle legalities is usually the local Impôts especially the TVA and import dept,the Prefecture for here which is Brest for new carte grise or replacements etc. As SD says, the local mairie will do all your paperwork for you anyway if you can't go in person. Years ago there was a woman who started up a business inthis area helping house buyers with all sorts of things from signing at the notaire to buying a car - her cost was €750 a pop and she soon went out of business when someone we met who had asked for her help, told her to take a running jump if she thought he was going to pay that sort of fee for an hour's work.

[nectarine]

if you're getting an awkward sod in your prefecture then do as we did ... go to a prefecture in another department. You don't, any longer, have to register your car in your own department since the change in number plates. As the plates aren't matriculated to your department you can go anywhere and you may find someone more pleasant and helpful. Good luck.

[Georgina]

[quote user="Val_2"]In 21years of France, its the first time I have ever heard of a private company doing this sort of thing unless its one of those hold your hand because you are foreign setups who charge an arm and a leg for info you can get on here! Anything to do with vehicle legalities is usually the local Impôts especially the TVA and import dept,the Prefecture for here which is Brest for new carte grise or replacements etc. As SD says, the local mairie will do all your paperwork for you anyway if you can't go in person. Years ago there was a woman who started up a business inthis area helping house buyers with all sorts of things from signing at the notaire to buying a car - her cost was €750 a pop and she soon went out of business when someone we met who had asked for her help, told her to take a running jump if she thought he was going to pay that sort of fee for an hour's work.[/quote]

Well in 21 years things change and will change more.  She told me she got a fee for sending the papers and she did not speak a word of English so no hand holding, quite the reverse. It may or may not be private, I really dont give a monkeys anymore, that was not my problem, they send the papers to Brest anyway so that was all that mattered.

But hey Intermarche is opening on Sundays here and some other shops do and lunch hours at school changed a couple of years ago, and well, some things do change, albeit rather slooooowly.

Anyway I guess we are missing the point of my post, zzzzzzzzzzzzz talk about hair splitting.

[nomoss]

There's almost nothing worse than people telling you what it was like in the olden days, is there? [:)]

[idun]

[:)]Really, well, you know, if everyone was so smart they wouldn't ever need to ask any questions would they?[6]

[Jo]

Have finally got my Carte Grise for my Citroen C2, Got the CoC from Citroen France at the second go, (they thought I wanted to export a car TO UK[8-)] ) went to my nearest sous prefecture, happens to be in dept 16, only to be told I have to use the one in my own dept, 86,  so how people say now you don't have to have your car registered to your dept and can have it done anywhere I don't know[8-)][8-)] Went to Montmorrilon, to get the certificate fiscal, to be told that although the sous prefecture was Montmorrilon,  because I live in Availles-Limouzine, my tax office is Civray and I had to go there for the certificate!!! EEEEEEEEEEKKKKK!! However unlike the OP the lady at Montmorrilon was sweetness herself, she couldn't do too much for me, said don't worry about coming back just post me the certificate.[:D] True to her word she processed all the papers and in under 10 days I had my new number[:D][:D]

[AnOther]

[quote user="Jo"]how people say now you don't have to have your car registered to your dept and can have it done anywhere I don't know[8-)][8-)][/quote]

Perhaps because the new rules say you can, that you ran into an illinformed

foncionere is unfortunate but doesn't change the facts. Using a

sous-prefecture may have added a layer of complexity.

[Sunday Driver]

Jo's nearest sous-prefecture (Confolens) doesn't offer a carte grise service so the 'illinformed foncionere' she ran into suggested she visit her next nearest SP at Montmorillon, which does.

 

[Will]

Last time we registered a car in France, we did it through the local garage, which I suppose amounts to much the same thing as going via a private company. That was a service that had recently been introduced and it worked well for us. Yes, there was a small extra fee to pay but with both of us working it was well worth it to avoid the time and hassle of dealing direct with the préfecture (which I understand only sends the application away to the central immatriculation office rather than issuing the number itself as in the old days).

I'm not sure that the same service is available in all départements, or whether some can deal with imported vehicles - ours doesn't, the information says you have to go via the préfecture, but when I posted about this before I am sure some others said that imports could be re-registered via approved third parties in some areas.

[Jo]

Yes, local garages will still do it for you, going it alone cost us 550 euros per car including the CT CoC headlights and fees, the local garage would have charged 1000 euros per car. We were lucky enough to have the time to do all the phaffing about, but if you're working it could well be worth it![:)]