Will the French do the same in the future?

[PaulT]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7670838.stm

Paul

[DerekJ]

I just posted this

We even chose similar titles.[:)]

[allanb]

I noticed a right-hand drive car parked in our village the other day which had (a) UK registration plates, (b) a contrôle technique sticker with a few months still to run, and (c) an insurance vignette issued by a French insurer, four months past its expiry date, showing the UK registration number.

Are there any circumstances in which this car could legally be on the road in France?  Or in the UK, for that matter?

[Llantony]

Confusing!  We are planning register our UK car in France - I didn't know you could get insurance and control technique with UK registration number.  I wonder, having assumed we'd have to buy French plates, as we have two trailers which would also need new plates.  And someone told me trailers may have to be separately registered and controle techniqued - so if we could legally keep our UK plates it would save a bit.

[allanb]

The normal registration process for a car is covered in the FAQ.  It seems to me that the car I saw in the village could not have gone through the "normal" process, hence my question.

For trailers, the question of separate registration depends on the permitted laden weight of the trailer (500kg is the critical weight), but there may be additional rules for an imported trailer; I think you'll find details by searching on this forum.  

[Bob T]

[quote user="Llantony"]

Confusing!  We are planning register our UK car in France - I didn't know you could get insurance and control technique with UK registration number.  I wonder, having assumed we'd have to buy French plates, as we have two trailers which would also need new plates.  And someone told me trailers may have to be separately registered and controle techniqued - so if we could legally keep our UK plates it would save a bit.

[/quote]

You have made over 200 posts on this forum and don't yet realise that you may be driving illegally.

[Phil & Pat]

"The government and the DVLA might not want to be seen as coming down hard on legitimate foreign drivers..."

but that is just what they will end up doing if the system works the way the article suggests.  If there is no automatic recognition of all legitimate vehicles both entering and leaving the UK by all available routes, it might be very difficult to argue that your vehicle is there for the second time in seven months, and not still there following the first 'sighting' as the authorities will assume.  As I mentioned once before, Brittany Ferries does not feel obliged to record vehicle details on travel documentation.

[Will]

[quote user="Llantony"]

Confusing!  We are planning register our UK car in France - I didn't know you could get insurance and control technique with UK registration number.  I wonder, having assumed we'd have to buy French plates, as we have two trailers which would also need new plates.  And someone told me trailers may have to be separately registered and controle techniqued - so if we could legally keep our UK plates it would save a bit.

[/quote]

Yes, you can get insurance and CT with a foreign index number. But it's not really confusing; as is frequently mentioned on this and other forums, this is only legally acceptable as a temporary measure while re-registration is being carried out. For normal vehicles you effectively have one month to register in France, with a short period of grace if it is a difficult vehicle that needs a single-vehicle approval or similar. Whether or not trailers need to be separately registered depends, basically, on the weight of the trailer, as mentioned above.

Further to the ANPR question, for my frequent crossings between England and France, I use either Brittany Ferries, LD Lines, or Eurotunnel. Of those, only LD Lines takes registration number details for bookings.

[suein56]

[quote user="Llantony"]

so if we could legally keep our UK plates it would save a bit. [/quote]

As all the rest have said you will need to spend a bit of dosh and reregister your car here; with French 'cartes grises' and nice, shiny, new French registration plates and, possibly, nice, shiny, new headlights as well.

Sue

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="spg"][quote user="Llantony"]

so if we could legally keep our UK plates it would save a bit. [/quote]

As all the rest have said you will need to spend a bit of dosh and reregister your car here; with French 'cartes grises' and nice, shiny, new French registration plates and, possibly, nice, shiny, new headlights as well.

Sue

[/quote]

A nice shiny halo to go with it all, because then you would be legal! Déjà vu???

[andyh4]

Will the French do the same in the future?

I think they may have started.  My wife was stopped yesterday driving our German registered car as part of one of the random checks that take place from time to time. 

Among the questions were when is the car going back to Germany?

How long have you been here in France?

 

In our case everything is legit (well from a German perspective) because it is my car and I work and live in Germany.

The difficulty could have been that as our main property is in France, we are considered as French residents and as such we cannot legally own a foreign registered vehicle and use it in France without getting it re-registered.  And if we did, I would then have the equivalent problem with the German authorities.