Does anyone know the definitive position re converting my french c3 for uk. Uk garages are telling me I need new headlamps, fog-light, reversing light (or expensive wiring conversion for the rears). But french authorized citroen garage told me that it's a simple matter of adjustment. kph to mph should be easy on the menu, but garages are telling me it might be more complicated.
Also, dvla say I need a coc (£100) or inspection cert (£199), but some garages are saying that c3 has a 'blanket' european conformity and so doesn't need one. Getting the impression that maybe people are just trying to make money ...
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the lights need to point to the left, if this cant be done then you need new headlights the dealer should be able to advise
if your car only has one foglight on the left hand side as you look at the car then you will need the correct light and loom ,i dont think there is an alternative to comply with construction and use (ie nailing a fog light on the bumper can bus wiring too remember)
as for registering it then im afraid dvla whatever they tell you has to be abided to even if they are wrong,you should be able to get a conformity certificate off the manufacturers by the way if you ask nicely
this is only what i read by the way its not what ive done ,far too messy these days importing cars
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thanks for this. the dealers are giving me mixed messages re the lights. and the manufacturers unfortunately want £100 for a coc, or alternatively I could get a certificate of inspection from the iva for £199. but one garage said neither were necessary. spent all day on this and not really any wiser. puzzling thing is that the lights don't dazzle in uk (just like the french citroen garage said they wouldn't), and the log book shows that everything conforms to eu. would have sold it before returning to uk, but due to recession, prices plumetted in fr - plus i'm quite fond of her.
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can't you run it on the French plates and keep it registered at an address in France?, that would be far simpler in my opinion. The EU has created endless red tape that the common man(woman) cannot hope to master, it is incredible . I never see foreign cars with headlight stickers anyway in Britain, so cannot be a problem. As for COC what a farce .
Stick with teh French reg , I would.
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Its tempting to leave it on French plates but there are undesirable insurance implications .
I have imported a couple of motor homes from Germany and had no problems with DVLA. The first hurdle is of course to get a MOT - they should do it on the French No and it will be changed by DVLA to the "new" UK no when they issue the V5. I would check with local garages what they actually require before you book it in - some are quite happy to have taped headlights and simply give an advisory with the MOT cert. (Headlight diverters I think it says. )The COC/SVA sounds like another big problem but I just wrote "mutual recognition" on my papers and the Reg Docs were issued without problem.C3s are sold in the UK so you might get away with doing that. So far as the fog lights were concerned I simply swapped the fog/reversing light wiring but I would take advice to see if this is possible with your C3 system. Good luck Mike
PS Have all vehicle prices dropped a lot in France ?
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the 'mutual recognition' is, I think, what one of the garages seemed to be saying, so it's worth giving that a try. hopefully the reversing/fog lights will be a relatively simple wiring thing.
the problem with selling it was that, with the government trying to promote the car industry, the offers/subsidies/deals on new c3's being offered at the time meant that the price of a new one was less than I needed to get for my 05 one.
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LHD and RHD front and rear lights are often found on ebay, in fact the biggest problem there is people unwittingly buying LHD ones for use in this UK. You should be able to find the correct parts for your car, and as a bonus you can sell the French parts on afterwards!
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