Running a french car in France

[James2]

 

Can anyone put me right regarding owning and running a car in France.

I live in England but have a small house in the Charente region, used as a " mason secondair " and spend about five months of the year there.

I would like to buy a french, lefthand drive car and leave it at the property for use on visits.

THEREFORE what documents do I need and is possible to own and run a car under these circumstances?

I have checked a few posts on the forum but most info refers to registering UK cars in france.

                 Regards ( confused ) Ray

 

 

[Will]

You should have no problems. You will basically need to provide evidence of identity (passport and driving licence) and French address (utility bill etc). If you buy through a dealer, the dealer will probably arrange registration in your name and take copies of these documents, otherwise you have to take them to the préfecture for your département. There will be a charge for registering, according to the CV rating of the car. You will also need to arrange insurance for the vehicle in France.

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Following on from the previous post - if you're lucky you may be able to do the paperwork via your Mairie, although they would only forward to the prefecture they may be able to give you a docket to say it's all in order and has been sent off.

Another thing to look out for is that although a Controle Technique is valid for up to two years it needs to have been less than 6 months prior to allow you to apply for a carte grise.

Coincidentally I'm looking for a new home for my LHD Rover - if you want more info let me know - otherwise it's going on Ebay.

 

[Val_2]

I'm not sure how you stand on the insurance side of things when not living at the premises where the vehicle will be kept,full time. If you give the insurance company your english address for when renewals etc come up and especially if you can't get to France for any reason,won't they insist on you paying a higher premium as the vehicle is "alone" for long periods and more suceptible to theft. If you have an accident too and claims go in,will a holiday home address suffice for the other company. Whatever you do,don't hide the fact that you are not a full time resident in France or your insurance could be invalid. Just a thought but we all know what insurance companies will do to wriggle out of paying claims these days!

[Loiseau]

I bought a small French car a couple of years back in rather the same circumstances as James - i.e. to use during my frequent visits to my "résidence secondaire".

I couldn't pick it up from the dealer until I had arranged insurance, which I did through a local French agent recommended by friends.  He is fully aware that I don't live full-time in France, but it didn't pose him any problems; he preferred me to use the French address, as this was where the vehicle was kept and was a more accurate indication of the risk involved (i.e. rural France, rather than London!). 
I am not even sure that I had to fill in anything about whether it would be kept on the highway or in a garage (ans: the latter).

Two points that might be useful:
- I did think to take with me an insurance certificate from my UK car insurer showing that I had full no-claims bonus; the French agent took this into account when working out the premium.
- As I had given my French address, the renewal documents were sent to that address, obviously.  As it happened, I was unable to go over to France for several months during the winter of 2003/2004, so the insurance was overdue when I got there in April!  (Easily fixed up again by the said friendly Vendee agent.).  However, I have now taken the precaution of doing a direct debit for the annual premium. 
(I had the same problem with the TV licence at first renewal, and now do that by DD too.)

 

Angela

[James2]

Many thanks to WILL, VAL_2 and LOISEAU for the response to my post. The information is a great help and as I am returning to the Charente in Feb I hope to negotiate a car.

A couple of queries though:-

What is the  (controle technique)? is the same as the MOT?

What is a carte grise?

What is the CV rating?

If I purchased the car privately what other documentation do I need and from where?

I think insurance would be ok as the cottage and contents is insured in france and covered by DD!

         Any further advice would be most appreciated.

                      Regards  Ray

[Teamedup]

CT is the MOT, done every two years.

Carte Grise is the log book obtained from the Prefecture

CV well that, I don't understand. It is the horse power of the vehicule and that is all I know and it used to be financially advantageous to have this as small as possible in the past when we had vignettes (compared to road tax, but wasn't brought in for the same reason).

The insurance, watch out, each car is individually insured here and your current insurance's no claims do not transfer. ie we had a car with 40% on it (it goes down very very slowly here) when we bought a second car, that car went back up to paying the full insurance for the new car. That is how our insurers work, not sure if all of them do, but I would think it likely.

[Will]

CV is French for horsepower (cheval vapeur) but it seems to be a rather arbitrary figure determined for tax purposes rather than the actual horsepower of the engine. In general smaller cars have smaller CVs but of course there are plenty of exceptions. It's how the legendary 2CV got its name, while my first-ever car (in England) was a 1950s Renault 4CV - who remembers those? Our Peugeot, for example, despite having an engine of, I think, 90hp, is 5CV, while Judie's Saxo is 4CV. The Volvo I had before was 11CV. Now there is no road tax as such, it just affects how much you pay for the carte grise. It also has a bearing on the insurance.

I think different insurers do things in different ways, I'm sure we have kept the same bonuses when changing or adding to the vehicle fleet.

I don't think the documentation varies if you buy privately, it's just that you have to do things yourself rather than leave them to the garage, and you will need to know the system so you get the right paperwork with the car. Having always bought through garages here I can't be much help.

[val douest]

Just a few points based on my own experiences, from buying from a private person (un particulier).

You should be handed the Carte Grise (registration document) by the seller, with the corner cut off as indicated on it; the seller has to write "Vendu le (date)" and sign the Carte Grise. The CG contains all the details required by the Prefecture to register the car, eg CV rating, type of bodywork, fuel, VIN, etc. The seller should also give you the CT certificate; hopefully the CT will have been done within the previous 6 months; otherwise it will have to be done again. This could be a point of discussion over price with the seller. You also need a Certificat de Cession, which both you and the seller fill in and sign confirming that the vehicle has been sold to you. The form can be downloaded from the government web site: www.interieur.gouv.fr. You can find it by typing in the name of the form in the search box. You will also need a "Certificat d'Administration" previously known as the "Certificat de non-gage". This confirms that there are no debts or other charges against the car, and there is now a facility for a search to be done on the government web site, producing a certificate which can be printed.

Armed with all that pile of bureaucracy, plus the form requesting registration of the car, which can again be downloaded from the web or obtained when you go to the Prefecture, it should be possible to register the car. It is, of course, much easier to buy from a dealer, where the above is all done for you.

I have been through this procedure myself, and, though tedious, it seems to work. If you have any further queries I'll do my best to answer.

[hoverfrog]

my insurance broker (in UK) told me catagorically that any no claims bonus you have for one car is not extended to a second car, you have to start again from scratch. You can however chose which of the two to use the said no claims bonus on!

I have two daughters driving and consequently have 3 cars insured in my name as it was simply too expensive to start them off with their own insurance. It was cheaper for me to transfer the no-claims to the daughter's car and start the no-claims for my car from scratch again - even though my car is worth a heck of a lot more than hers!

They're on their own when we move to France though - but they will have knocked up a couple of years of having a full license so it's not so bad. Had to do it sometime!

[James2]

My Thanks to "val douest" and "hoverfrog"

Invaluable information like this underlines the need for a great forum like Living France.

These instructions will assist me in securing a car, as I intend returning to the Charente next month.

 If I purchase a car through a dealer or privately depends on where I can locate a suitable vehicle.

Just a thought if anyone knows where I can buy a decent used Peugeot 406 saloon (diesel) anywhere from San Malo to Bordeaux, all details, gratefully received.

           Regards Ray