Buying a camper in France

[megans mum]

We own a property in France and are returning there in about a weeks time,(at the moment we predominantly spend the bulk of our time in the UK) question is that we are looking to buy a France registered camper van and bring it back with us in a few weeks time. What requirements do we need to satisfy in order to buy the vehicle and what are the implications of bringing the vehicle back to the UK, but I will stress that we are not looking to import the vehicle into the Uk merely have a camper to be able to travel back and forth to the Loire without the need of hotel stays.

[Sunday Driver]

You can certainly buy a camper in France and either export it back to the UK or keep it French registered by transfering the registration to your French address.  However, as you are permanently resident in the UK, you are not permitted to drive a foreign registered vehicle there without importing and registering it.

You would be better off buying a UK registered camper and using it for your periodic trips to France.  If your long term objective is to move to France permanently, then you should consider buying a LHD (eg, an ex-German import with the access door on the correct side for France) that you can eventually bring with you and re-register here. 

This is the option that I took, so if you want further details, contacts, etc, feel free to PM me.

 

 

[ChezShells]

Hi

I have an A class LHD diesel here in France, UK reg'd no mot or tax hence 7500 euros.
Have a look - www.chezshells.com/mhome.html and if you want further info just ask.

Cheers
Lee

 

[Sunday Driver]

The camper mentioned in Lee's link is an Arca - established in 1961, they were Italy's most prestigious motorhome manufacturer (now part of the Trigano Group).  Their products were of very high quality and innovative design - they used the more robust J9 mechanicals and they were one of the first manufacturers to feature the Alko aluminium chassis (now standard on most modern campers).  It has all the equipment you'd expect to find on a modern van costing upwards of £60,000 and the mileage is low for a J9 engine.  At 5.5 m long, you can put it in a Tesco's parking space.

Sorry to sound like a sales brochure, but this is a gem and well worth considering. Only needs a car type MOT once it's back in the UK.

PS: I have no connection whatsoever with the owner - just excited at spotting one of these vans.