Registering a car in France

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Wed 13 Apr 2005 15:05
Registering a car in France - livefortheday
Heard about Auto Express article on foreign cars in the Uk.

I have a house abroad. How easy is it to register a car in France?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Apr 2005 15:20
Registering a car in France - Bill Payer
Hopefully someone else can answer your specific question, but, more generally, there's a guy in our village who has driven a Merc on foreign plates for years. Presumeably he's immune from all camera's etc.
However I did read that the London congestion charging outfit is using a company to collect all its overseas debts and that some Scamera partnerships are signed up too.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Apr 2005 16:48
Registering a car in France - Dwight Van Driver
Livefortheday.

So you want to use a foreign reg car in GB to effectively avoid prosecution on infringements within UK?

Are you classed as a resident of UK or a visitor? If the later then you use said vehicle on funny plates in UK for limited period generally 6 months in 12 month period provided all taxes and duty have been paid in country of origin. Providing you keep this up and take said vehicle out of country now and again and return to qualify then it looks as if you have cracked it for the time being. EEC legislation being actively pursued to harmonise traffic offences/collection of fines within the EU.

If you could be classed as a resident them bringing the motor in would mean importing so that means instant registration resulting in need for UK VRM.

No doubt intelligence would mount up on naughty vehicles resulting at the end of a day a pull and enquiry. Hell hath no fury like a scorned chancellor......

DVD
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 13 Apr 2005 17:02
Registering a car in France - livefortheday
I am law abiding and I do keep the car out of the country a lot.

To be frank, as I feel frustrated about the way the law is being applied in this country to motorists and as it seems I can legally do this then I might as well.

Anything that can legally be done to give me an edge on this people, seems fair to me. They use the law against normally law abiding people, so if the law has created this anomoly, so be it.

If I get sent a ticket I will pay and take my punishment.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 14 Apr 2005 12:35
Registering a car in France - Harmattan
DVD has explained the position accurately as I understand it, being a non-UK resident. The key thing here is that the foreign-registered car has to be legally taxed and tested according to the laws of the country of registration. That means that a French-registered car will have to undergo the Contrôle Technique (MOT) when required and be subject to the payment of any national or local tax (there are variations for classic/vintage cars, for example, that prevent you from driving from one region to another in France depending on the annual road tax equivalent paid).

Perhaps, someone with better knowledge of the French registration system for imported vehicles has personal experience, but I understand it is mainly a case of getting the CT at a qualified centre and paying the required duties.

In parts of Spain, there are no road taxes to pay, incidentally, but I wouldn't recommend trying to negotiate the bureaucracy with a right hand drive car. One of my neighbours kept his LHD Spanish-reg Megane in the UK for five years until he replaced it.

It goes without saying that insurance has to be spot-on for the intended use. I would also recommend keeping your CT documents with the car if you are going to be around the UK for a longish time.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 14 Apr 2005 12:58
Registering a car in France - martint123
Every so often you see lots of foreign plated cars clamped up outside the local university. Looks like local wardens are onto them and go round checking their outstanding list every so often.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link