Dave Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Hi All, this morning on the way home from work for lunch we were stopped by the Gendarmes in a normal roadside check, OK I thought, nothing to worry about, I handed over all of my papers we walked round our VW Transporter and he pointed to the number plates and told me that they were illegal! A lot of you will already be aware of this but for those who are new to France or planning the move, the number plates MUST be secured with rivets and NOT screws as our are. We had been to the Prefecture in Cahors for our Carte Gris and after called in at LeClerc Autos in Cahors where they made and fitted our plates. The fine for this offence? €45.00 per plate, luckily they were doing good cop, bad cop and the good cop gave me a paper to produce along with all the vehicle documents and the properly fitted plates with a garage receipt (mustn't DIY) at the Gendarmerie in Gourdon by Wednesday 21st June, failure to comply will mean that the fine will double, we will be going this afternoon.Moral? check your number plate fixings....today![blink]regardsDago Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Presumably this is to make it more difficult for people to swap plates? Wonder if it's (a) to avoid plate theft, or (b) there's a scam where people temporarily use alternative plates on their own car to avoid radar traps? Not sure where they would get alternative plates without another carte grise, so presumably it's the former.Better change those screws for rivets pronto! I would think there are millions of illegal cars in France on this count. Having seen your post earlier, and having to go to the Mairie for something, I had a swift look as I walked past the cars. I'd say half dozen are 'illegal'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Presumably this is to make it more difficult for people to swap plates?When I moved it took me all of six minutes armed with a battery drill and rivet gun to install my new onese. I do not think there are millions as all the French people I have met knew about the rule. Trailers without a separate registration can have their plates atached with screws Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 What I meant was that if they're riveted they're harder to remove, hence to swap, than if they are screwed in place. Obviously not all French do know about it as Dago says he had his screwed to his car by LeClerc at Cahors! Or maybe they were having a laugh? I have to say this question doesn't normally crop up in my conversations with the neighbours so I can't vouch for whether they are as clued-up as Anton's acquaintances. [:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 I asked a couple of people about the rules for trailors. Makes a change from the weather and trying to understand each others political systems.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Avery Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 If you look back to last summer, there was a thread about the Gendarmes in Brittany and Normandy having a field day doing all the R.H drive French regiostered cars with screwed number plates. Often the screws are used because that is what was there before and the holes are sometimes too big for the normal small rivets.I seem to remember wholesale checks of lines of parked cars were carried out at the ports and the coastal resorts amd instant fines issued, perhaps this year they will check the UK registered cars for insurance as well.[Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cassis Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 [quote user="Anton Redman"]I asked a couple of people about the rules for trailors. [/quote]I wonder why the rule is different for trailers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Could it be because you may use a trailer with more than one vehicle ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunday Driver Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 When you take the car back to LeClerc Autos to get them to fit the plates properly, don't forget to demand that they hand over the money to pay the fineAnd whilst I'm on, the FAQ at the top of the Driving in France forum entitled [url=http://www.completefrance.com/cs/forums/684121/showpost.aspx]Importing and Registering your UK car to France[/url] contains a warning regarding the need to rivet your plates....[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard-R Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Because trailer are often rented of loaned to others, eps in agri communties.Not sure of the point of rivots. Easy to buy a rivot gun and rivots, maybe now speed camera are all over, with rivoted plates you can not just say that your plates must have just fallen off when passing a speed trap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anton Redman Posted June 15, 2006 Share Posted June 15, 2006 Not if you put/rivot [:D]the plate over the camera Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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