UK camper to France

[Diana]

After munch deliberation I have decided not to sell my UK VW camper but take it with us to France in April.

Option 1:

The camper will be 3 years old this May so will need its first MOT before we set sail. Our UK camper insurance will cover it for being out of the UK for 365 days a year. As we are keeping a UK property it can be registered at that address. It is taxed until June and I will simply retax it in the UK.

Option 2

Take it to France and get it into the French system, how does the Control Technique work? At what age does a vehicle need its first one. Will I be able to keep the UK insurance until the end of the year, it is a good policy with lots of additional perks. What comes first getting it French registered or the Control Technique. If I immediately start to get it into the French system am I given any leeway over the fact it does not have a MOT?

Thanks

Diana

[Ron Avery]

Many many people who have tried getting camper vans registered in France will tell you not to even bother, many people think the rules here for getting a certificate de conformitie for a non french made van are deliberately skewed to make it almost impossible to achieve, and many will tell tales of having their van virtually stripped out due to the French rules about cooking equipment. 

However, these are usually older vans than yours.  If your van is relatively new, it should have a EU certificate of conformity in the handbook, you should find registration in France straight forward. (see other threads about how to do this), it requires a Controle after 4 years in use, but you must have more than 6 months left on a controle before they will register it. 

[Moorejw]

Hi Diana

We recently imported a 13 year old Hymer camper from Germany and after a few hiccups have it registered in France. As your camper is so new you may not have any problems obtaining the certificate of conformity required by the French authorities. If you want any further info please PM us.

John and Angie Moore