Failure to register

[allanb]

I think that in the FAQ and elsewhere it has been made pretty clear that if you become resident in France, and you have a vehicle registered in the UK - or anywhere else, I assume -  French law requires you to register it in France within a specified period, generally a month.  I think it's also pretty clear that many people ignore this requirement.

I'm not trying to re-ignite any of the secondary arguments about this (is it morally right? does it make sense financially? does it risk invalidating your insurance? etc).  I'd just like to ask whether anyone knows of a case in which the French authorities have taken action against an offender, and if so, what the outcome was.

I apologize if someone has already reported such a case and I missed it.

[Pickles]

[quote user="allanb"]I think that in the FAQ and elsewhere it has been made pretty clear that if you become resident in France, and you have a vehicle registered in the UK - or anywhere else, I assume -  French law requires you to register it in France within a specified period, generally a month.[/quote]

Yes: though to clarify, if you were French-resident and had a foreign-registered vehicle that was based outside France and only used outside France then it could remain on its existing registration.

[quote user="allanb"]I think it's also pretty clear that many people ignore this requirement.[/quote]

Indeed: a cursory look whilst walking through a car park at a southern French airport last week revealed a rather higher proportion than I would expect to see of UK-reg cars carrying either no UK VRT disc and no French Insurance or else carrying French insurance, given that you generally have a month in which to register.

[quote user="allanb"]I'm not trying to re-ignite any of the secondary arguments about this (is it morally right? does it make sense financially? does it risk invalidating your insurance? etc).  I'd just like to ask whether anyone knows of a case in which the French authorities have taken action against an offender, and if so, what the outcome was.[/quote]

No, I don't. I suspect that in general the French authorities do not treat this as a priority, and thus it is probably unlikely that anyone would be prosecuted just for this offence, though if someone were to be denounced to the gendarmes, they may take an interest if they feel like it. The more probable occasion in which one might face prosecution for this would be if one has committed other motoring offences (ie witnessed by a gendarme, probably not if just flashed by an automatic camera) or has been involved in an accident, either of which may provoke a further investigation. In these cases it would just be added to the list of offences if it came to light. To be honest, since for the overwhelming majority of cases the issue of whether or not the car ought to be registered in France is clear-cut, I don't really understand why anyone should not want to follow the law.

Regards

Pickles

[Chancer]

The closest that I can get is a French friend of mine that bought a Westfield kit car from one of my English friendsin the late 90,s, he was supposed to be buying mine but I ended up being the translator and go between for the deal

My mate in the UK kept the car regsistered at his address, but I think in Jean-Marcs name, not sure, long time ago; there was a hiccup when SORN first came in and a fine was levied which J-M paid.

He insured the car with the friendly local AXA agent, him what I am currently battling against, and happily tooled around in it for quiet a few years, it was only when he ended an affair with the wife of a local Gendarme who turned out to be a bunny boiler and  he started getting general harrassment from her hubby that an official complaint was made regarding the Westfield.

He received an unofficial visit from a senior G-man (its a small place and everybody knows each other) who was more concerned with trying to diffuse the battle that was raging between the two individuals, he tipped the wink to J-M that if he drove the car again he was likely to get a pull and action taken and suggested that he sold it.

He sold it through a French car magazine and the new owner came up from the South to collect it, to my knowledge the car remains on UK plates and my UK friend ahs come to an arrangement with the new owner regarding SORN.

The new owner is a Gendarme by the way if that helps answer your question [:)]

[andyh4]

Allan

I can report that the local gendarmerie have carried out an an exercise some months ago where they were pulling all foreign plated cars (out of the holiday periods) - aminly Dutch and belgian round here - and checking documentation, registration, insurance etc.  From the questions it does seem as if they were looking for vehicles that should have had French registration, but were still on foreign plates.  Since our car was legit, I cannot say what would have been the consequence if there was a mismatch - foreign plate, French insurance, so while there does not appear to be any great push in this area, it would be a mistake to assume it never happens.

[Ron-sur-Marne]

An expat colleague working & resident in Clermont Ferrand for several years never bothered to register his car in France. He was pulled by the gendarmes for a minor motoring offence, and they threw the book at him - no registration, no Control Technique, and no valid insurance. They also confiscated the car until all the fines were paid.

Many other expats did not french register their cars, but kept them UK legal (myself included) - MoT, Road Tax, valid UK insurance (with long-term green card) - and never had problems. It seems the gendarmes were satisfied if the car was legal somewhere, plus had insurance valid in France.

[Gardian]

[quote user="Chancer"]

He insured the car with the friendly local AXA agent, him what I am currently battling against, and happily tooled around in it for quiet a few years, it was only when he ended an affair with the wife of a local Gendarme who turned out to be a bunny boiler and  he started getting general harrassment from her hubby that an official complaint was made regarding the Westfield.

[/quote]

Never a dull moment up your way, eh? [:-))]

[powerdesal]

[quote user="Ron-sur-Marne"]

Many other expats did not french register their cars, but kept them UK legal (myself included) - MoT, Road Tax, valid UK insurance (with long-term green card) - and never had problems. [/quote]

''A Green Card is not required by law to cross borders within the

European Union and some other countries. This is because all EU

countries and certain other countries comply with the first directive

on motor insurance, which says that every insurance policy issued in

the EU must provide the minimum insurance cover required by law in any

other EU country. 

The countries that don't need a Green Card are:

Andorra,

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,

Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,

Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden,

Switzerland ''

From :-      www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/Motorinsurance/DG_067624

[dave21478]

I started a similar thread a while back, and as pickles mentioned above, there are HUGE amounts of people who dont register. A quick stroll down a row of carcassonne airport carpark will turn up something like a third of the cars there appearing to be illegal.

I think the chances are that you will probably get away with it indefinately. But, the day you have an accident you will have problems with your insurance, and if that accident is severe, ie a death is involved, you will find yourself up shit creek without a boat, never mind the paddle.

[allanb]

[quote user="powerdesal"]A Green Card is not required by law to cross borders within the

European Union and some other countries. This is because all EU

countries and certain other countries comply with the first directive

on motor insurance, which says that every insurance policy issued in

the EU must provide the minimum insurance cover required by law in any

other EU country. [/quote]This is some distance away from my original question, and it's been said before, but I think it's worth saying again:

You don't need to have a green card in order to have insurance.  You have the insurance, with or without a green card, if you have a valid policy issued in one of the participating countries.

You may need to produce a green card in order to convince the local police that you have insurance.

And, by the way, this has very little to do with the EU.  It's the result of an international convention that came into existence before the EU was even thought of. 

If you suspect that I'm sceptical about the usefulness of the EU, you're right.