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Selling UK registered car in France


anjo

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Hello all,

Apologies if this subject has been covered already, I couldn't find it on the forum. I have recently moved to France and brought my UK registered car with me. I had intended to buy a French car and then sell my UK car in the UK before our definite move but I ran out of time and also was shocked at the difference in price for second hand cars here. It would be very expensive for us to travel back just for the purpose of the selling the car since we'd have to pay for accommodation while there and then try to get back home here in the middle of the countryside without public transport.

I looked at importing the car but it seems really complicated, dozens of forms required, not possible to sort out online. My question is, finally, would anyone, a car dealer for instance, buy a non-imported car and deal with the paperwork themselves? For instance take it as an exchange car when buying a French registered car?

 

Thanks for any relevant advice!

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I seriously doubt that any french car dealer would risk buying in or taking in part ex a UK registered RHD car unless they are insane.

The possibilities of getting landed with a car that cannot be registered in France are endless depending on what the car is, condition and original source of the car.

Importing is a minefield of paperwork, and import taxes have to be paid making it uneconomic to import RHD UK cars any more.

There is an english owned garage near Lyon who seems to get involved with LHD and RHD part exchanging and they have some RHD vehicles for sale so presumably will take them in on part ex. If anybody can sort you out if it's possible they can.

https://www.gary-automobiles.com/product-category/used-vehicle/ (Click on used vehicles)

Apart from that,your best course of action is to advertise it for sale on as many brit expat forums as you can, many brits don't want LHD french cars, and hire a car in the interim between selling it and buying a french car.

Some supermarket chains offer cars and vans for short and long term hire at better rates than the well known hire co's,  SuperU and Intermarche spring to mind.

https://www.ulocation.com/#

https://location.intermarche.com/nos-vehicules/

Edit - There is an english owned garage near us in Brittany who also buys and sells cars LHD and RHD and his daughter does the french registration procedures.

https://www.garage-torode.fr/

Edited by Harnser
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Buy a LHD car in France.

Take that one off the road. 

Go through the hoops of importing it. That will give your first real experience of France.

Once done, you can sell it on Le Bon Coin at a higher price than in the UK.

But listen, you have moved to the middle of nowhere with no public transport. You will need a back up car.

And just bare in mind for the future….you will have to move again. For most folk, that is back to the UK.

So keep it as a back up.

 

Edited by alittlebitfrench
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There is a guy who runs a site on Social media who is a wiz at doing all the paperwork to register a UK car, he did it for me and for a very reasonable fee. If you should wish to go down that road send me a personal message on here and I will point you in the right direction 

Edited by NickP
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8 hours ago, alittlebitfrench said:

Buy a LHD car in France.

Take that one off the road. 

Go through the hoops of importing it. That will give your first real experience of France.

Once done, you can sell it on Le Bon Coin at a higher price than in the UK.

Not much chance of selling a RHD car on Leboncoin - but worth a try. 

 

 

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21 hours ago, crabtree said:

Is your car still insured. Normally once you are resident in France your UK insurance stops.

Also if you have not imported it within one month of being here then you are breaking the law, and likely to have it confiscated if stopped.

Referring to this guide on importing/registration it appears that the period is 6 months not one month.

https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/driving-in-france/vehicle-importation-registration

 

Edited by Harnser
stupid spelling mistake
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  • 2 months later...

Hey,

The process of importing a car registered in the UK to France can be complicated. I think you must have a Certificate of Conformity (COC). I am registering my car on COC-Online. They quickly made a coc citroen  https://www.coc-online.com/fr/produits/certificat-de-conformite-officiel-voiture-citroen/236068000002025032 for me. 100% - my personal recommendation

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13 minutes ago, eric.lange said:

Hey,

The process of importing a car registered in the UK to France can be complicated. I think you must have a Certificate of Conformity (COC). I am registering my car on COC-Online. They quickly made a coc citroen  https://www.coc-online.com/fr/produits/certificat-de-conformite-officiel-voiture-citroen/236068000002025032 for me. 100% - my personal recommendation

Why pay someone else to get a CoC when you can get it easily yourself from the manufacturer. In fact some cars come complete with them , my Mercedes did and for the old runaround VW I applied to VW for one and got it very quickly. There is a guy on social media who specialises in registering UK cars in france, should anybody need his expertise, message me and I will point you in his direction. I might add that I have no commercial interest with him or his business. I'm just a very satisfied customer. 

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16 minutes ago, NickP said:

Why pay someone else to get a CoC when you can get it easily yourself from the manufacturer. In fact some cars come complete with them , my Mercedes did and for the old runaround VW I applied to VW for one and got it very quickly. There is a guy on social media who specialises in registering UK cars in france, should anybody need his expertise, message me and I will point you in his direction. I might add that I have no commercial interest with him or his business. I'm just a very satisfied customer. 

I have bought a car outside of Europe

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It seems that I didn't understand the question. I know that you should have COC documents if you are importing a car into the EU, isn't that right? If you want to buy a used car from outside the EU, you need to have COC papers. Since the UK is not in the EU, you have to have a COC.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

I've heard that some dealers are cool with taking your UK car when you're buying from them. It's like a trade-in, so you skip all the hassle of selling it privately or sorting out the import process solo. Carwow has this feature.

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15 hours ago, Corrin said:

I've heard that some dealers are cool with taking your UK car when you're buying from them. It's like a trade-in, so you skip all the hassle of selling it privately or sorting out the import process solo. Carwow has this feature.

Carwow is a UK company - how does that work in France?

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