Certificate of Conformity in German

[Rjpfrancais]

I'm in the process of reregistering my UK car here in France.

I received the CoC from Audi UK today (it was free) but I am wondering now if it will be any good because, surprise surprise, its in German, vorspung durch tecknik indeed!

Will I receive a gallic shrug when I present it at the Prefecture and be told to get a french translation?  Has anybody used a non French CoC successfully?

Any help appreciated.

 

 

[Bugsy]

You will need to contact Audi (France) for a certificate and I'd be amazed if that one's free.

[cooperlola]

My Skoda one was in English.  No probs.

[Rjpfrancais]

Thankyou Bugbear and cooperlola for your super fast responses.

So may be they will accept it, i'm inclined to give it a try and see what happens. I will report back.

 

[cooperlola]

You'll lose no more than a bit of time - and if they accept it you'll have saved a bit of money.  Bon Courage.

[Clair]

I got mine for my Smart from Mercedes Benz in Germany.

It was in German with a multilingual translation sheet, FOC and was accepted by the Préfecture in Cahors (which of course doesn't mean a thing![:P])

[Rjpfrancais]

Thanks Clair, that gives me an idea. I will try and translate the main headings into English and French, then if they ask me what it says I can impress them with my prowess at languages (or perhaps not!!). Now then, what the heck does "Übereinstimmungsbescheinigung"  mean ....

 

[Pierre ZFP]

[quote user="Rjpfrancais"]

Now then, what the heck does "Übereinstimmungsbescheinigung"  mean ....

[/quote]

Compliance certificate

[Rjpfrancais]

No problem at my local Perigueux prefecture, my CoC in German was accepted without a second glance. The only downside was the time it took translating the German (thank god for Google Language tools and freetranslation.com) so I could work out what to put on the Carte Grise application form.

If anybody is interested, my re-registration costs were as follows;

Headlamps                     zero         (my headlamps could be swapped over by removing the rear cover and sliding a lever into the LHD position)

Cert. of Conf.                 zero        

Controle T.                     53.50e

Carte Grise                     290.00e  (its a 2.5L diesel less than 10 years old)

New Plates Fitted            40.00e

French insurance worked out about 150e less than my UK renewal quote. Those are the easily quantifiable costs. Its taken about two days of my time to sort it all out plus the cost of to-ing and fro-ing but that hasn't been too bad, the time (and worry!) is the biggest cost. Still, having done it once, it will be much easier next time (hopefully!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[allanb]

There seems to be an element of luck in this.  When I arrived in France I had four versions of the CoC for my car: one (in German) supplied by the manufacturer, one (bilingual, French and Dutch) supplied by the dealer in Luxembourg from where I bought the car, and one in Spanish because I lived there for a while.

I thought that at least the French one would be good enough for registration in France.  But no: I had to get one from the French importer for that make of car.  The joke is that this was a company that had never even seen the car; they issued the CoC on the basis of the vehicle identification number which I gave them (and charged me €100+ for this service).

If I remember correctly, it was the local sous-préfecture that gave me the instructions.  Judging by other people's experiences, different French authorities take different views about what is really required. 

[Bob T]

I had the German ones for the BMW bikes from the UK importer accepted at Perigueux. Why should they be in any other language? They are after all issued by the German manufacturer.

[Sunday Driver]

Certificates/attestations of conformity list a vehicle's technical data under common EU-wide heading codes, eg (A) Marque (B) Commercial designation (B1) Type (P) CV, etc... The code tells the clerk what to input for the carte grise and there's no need for it to be in French.  More recent certificates contain a CNIT number which generates the carte grise data automatically from a central database.

With a few local exceptions, all vehicle registrations are processed by the prefectures.  The sous-prefecture will accept the paperwork, check it for completeness and forward it to the prefecture on your behalf.  However, it's often the case that because the sous-prefecture staff don't handle vehicle registrations on a daily basis, they are not always au fait with the correct procedures. It's always best/simpler to go direct to your prefecture.

 

[allanb]

I now have a fantasy in which the French importer sends my cheque back to me with a letter saying "Thank you for sending us a cheque.  However, you do not need to pay us anything.  If you go to your main préfecture you will find that the manufacturer's certificate is good enough."

Alas, these things only happen in dreams.

[Clair]

My dream involves Renault (or Matra, as they manufactured the car) returning the €116 they demanded before sending me the C of C of our UK registrered Espace V6...[Www]

[Ron Avery]

With a few local exceptions, all vehicle registrations are processed by the prefectures.  The sous-prefecture will accept the paperwork, check it for completeness and forward it to the prefecture on your behalf.

SD, perhaps your experience in 79 is not the norm as it seems a bit out dated now even for France.  In the Aveyron (12) and the bordering departments of 46, 81 and 82,  AFAIK the sous prefectures do the whole registration process there and then on the spot, its a computerised system,.  Anyone else got their carte grise from a sous? 

[Nick Trollope]

Every time (Dinan, 22) & on the spot.

 

[Miki]

Same for Saint Malo sous prefecture, all dealt with there and then but there was a time when you left all the paperwork with them and then a letter was sent to on to tell you to go and pick up your carte grise. Never been to the Prefecture at Rennes for anything to do with our motors. Had to go to DRIRE there often enough though !!

[Sunday Driver]

My point was not that sous-prefectures don't do them - rather that it's currently hit and miss whether or not they do.

In terms of Ron's region, the following sous-prefectures advertise a carte grise service:- Marmande (82), Castres (81), Millau (12) and Villefranche (12)

The following sous-prefectures do not:-Figeac (46), Gourdon (46), Villeneuve (82), Nerac (82).

If you live in Lyon, on the other hand, you've got quite a choice - there's a dedicated vehicles department which issues cartes grise which is separate from the prefecture. If you live in south Lyon, the maison de service publique at Venissieux does them (but only for french registered vehicles - not for imported vehicles).

As Miki says, no doubt computerisation will bring some changes....

 

[Will]

This is something that often crops up. We got one done at a sous-prefecture (Avranches, 50) on the same day, it would have been immediate if it hadn't been necessary to get a fax sent from the prefecture of another dept where the car had been registered before in France. But I am quite willing to believe that a lot of sous-prefectures won't do it. This one had a whole room dedicated to the job, with several counters and a cashier, so they obviously do a lot.

[Sunday Driver]

Back to the original point - if your sous-prefecture does carte grises, then they should be genned up an all of the procedures, particularly if they are in an area where there are lots of quaint/non French speaking Brits turning up with their strange V5Cs and certificates of comformity.......[;-)]

However, if they are situated out in the sticks and/or merely provide a dossier checking and forwarding service, then you takes your chance with a "non-standard" application....