Scam Alert! Does a Frenchman have to produce the dealership sales manager's passport to register a car in France? Probably not! Or for a second hand purchase from a dealer or a private sale?

http://britishexpats.com/articles/france/registering-motorcycle-car-france/

This link says what documents the person wishing register a car must produce and the seller's passport isn't among them. What would be the position if you had died in the 9 month wait/delay?

Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 17/09/2012 at 20:17

I have lived in France since 2009 and so have a little experience of the bureaucratic nightmare and paperwork snowstorm that is attendant upon registering imported vehicles here,since being here I have registered a car, a pick-up truck and two motorcycles, all from the UK

I can find no requirement for the previous owner having to provide a copy of their passport, unless your man has encountered an over-zealous customs or prefecture official in his attempts to register it. There is a sub-culture here of some officials making up their own "interpretation of the rules".

He should certainly have a bill of sale from the previous owner, invoice or title to prove legal ownership, but no mention of the passport copy.

According to the law over here he should have registered a "vehicle collection"- being older than 30 years, within 4 months of buying it and it should have been insured third party from day one-all vehicles have to be insured for "civil risks" here at all times, even your ride-on lawn mower if you venture within a metre of the edge of the road with it!

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