We are moving to the Vendee in August. We currently live in Spain, with a less than one year old L/H drive Spanish registered (till April 2011) car.

Does anyone know how we register said car in France, what the requirements are and when?

Many thanks in advance for your help

You need a European certificate of conformity. A sense of humour thick skin and the ability to wait in a Que..

Take yourself to your local Prefectures and commence the process for a Plaque d'immatriculation française.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.wiki pedia.org%2Fwiki%2FPlaque_d'immatriculation_fran%2 5C3%25A7aise

if imported ,you may also need to pay some import tax; but the prefecture will tell you when you go. I went armed with every possible document and still had to return!! Try to pick a weekday morning for a shorter queue

Plenty of websites with help on this mater. If you have the correct documents before you go in it is not as daunting as is often made out. That also depends on how helpful your prefecture is and where the car originally came from.

I imported my car from UK and was in and out the Prefecture in about thirty minutes - less about 300Euros of course for the registration!

First off, find your vehicle manufacturer website and contact the customer services dept asking for a Certificate of Conformity (CofC). They may have a dedicated department or person for this. It can take a little while, so get the ball rolling now. They may also charge for this.

As the car is lefthand drive I assume it has the correct headlights fitted, which is good.

When you come to France, visit your local Hotel ds Impots. You need a Quittas Fiscal (Tax exemption form). It is a form that you complete stating how long you have owned the vehicle and the mileage. So long as you have owned it more than 6 months and have more than 6000 km on the clock, there won't be any tax to pay. You will need the vehicles registration certificate, proof of address and identity, the purchase receipt for the car and CofC.

You will also need to book the car in for a Controle Technique (CT) - the equivalent to our MOT. There are plenty of places doing them and it costs about 55€ - 65€.

You will need to fill out a "demande de certificate d'immatriculation". Download one here before you go to the Prefecture and fill in as much as possible. It will make the registration easier in the long run. Don't worry about all the boxes, just fill in the most obvious ones.

Right, off to the Prefecture : (Again there are websites listing you local ones)
You will need the following:

• Certificate of conformity (original)
• Vehicle Registration Document (original)
• Tax exemption certificate (quitus fiscal)
• Controle technique certificate, less than six months old
• Proof of identity - passport
• Proof of address - utility bill
• Payment

The payment is calculated on the CV of the vehicle, which you will find out when you register it. It is based on power and efficiency basically, so the bigger, more powerful and less efficient the car, the more you will pay.

With all these document in your hand, you should be able to walk out of the Prefecture with your new registration number and a temporary Carte Grise. The proper one comes through the post in a few weeks.

Remember :
Photocopy all the documents and keep as many of the originals as the Prefecture will allow you to get away with!
Wherever you go, take all the documents you have, as it may save you a return trip.
Do not let the Hotel des Impots take the original registration document or CofC as you need these at the Prefecture.

I have just sent an article about this to the forum for posting in the articles section, but I don't know when it will be on the site.

Good luck and don't worry too much about it. There are plenty of people that have been through the process that can answer any questions you may have.

Hope this helps.

Martin

Many thanks one and all for your invaluable assistance!

Just tow more questions- does anyone know how soon I have to do this? What is classed as a utility - the same as the UK? If so, this may prove a problem as we are staying in someone else's house until we buy a property. Would a mobile phone bill do?

There is debate about the timescale for registering - as with most things French! I believe the official line is within one month, but so long as you have all your original documents to show if stopped by the Genderme, there should not be a problem.

Your French insurance company my insist on the registration happening within a certain timescale and put restrictions on the cover provided until it is done.

Regards the utility bill, I am not sure about mobile bills. If it is addressed to you at the home you are living in then it should be okay. Normally you would take your tenancy agreement with you if renting, but I am guessing you may not have one if staying in a friends house. It is possible to get proof of residency from the Marie I think, but I have never had to do this, so not sure how to go about it.

Happy to help

Sorry to sound a bit weary, but the process can be very dispiriting. It was quite hard, for instance to register my Renault Espace (made in France) but surprising easy with my British Army-modified Land Rover. And one year later I am still grinding through the process with my Toyota pick-up (unforeseen complications).

Still, it will be a test of your commitment to living here: an initiation to the French love of 'dossiers'!

I agree that there can be problems. I am struggling to get two motorcycles registered at the moment.

However, if you have all the documents to hand and can answer their questions by producing the paperwork they want you stand a much better chance of getting through first time. As I said, my Ford C-Max was done in thirty minutes.

If you have an import (outside Europe) or modifications of any sort it does get more complicated. Every case is different as are the way in which Prefectures interpret the rules sometimes!

Preparation beforehand can make all the difference, but is no guarantee!

[QUOTE=Martin Parker;8531602]You will also need to book the car in for a Controle Technique (CT) - the equivalent to our MOT. There are plenty of places doing them and it costs about 55€ - 65€.

I didnt need a controle technique; it depends how old the car is

[quote=dennerlymum;8536664] Ah yes well spotted - deliberate mistake!! Racking my brains truing to remember the age for cars to get a CT. Four years old I think. Sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

As it is a newish car, check the owner's handbook to see whether or not it contains a certificate of conformity. Otherwise, the manufacturers will charge for one.

An insurance company will probably give you about 6 months. Ours gave us fully comp. provided that we took out home insurance with them as well.

David

Considering all the Brits who have been driving around for years with UK numbers (yes, they're tighening up on that now!!!!) I would think that if you're buying before April 2011 you could drive on your Spanish registration.

There are so many Spanish cars on French roads these days (like last week when I was queuing at the exit toll in Carcassonne behind 8 Spanish registrations and no French) that it's unlikely you would have any problem.

Yes, as soon as you buy and become permanent at your "residence principale" then you would have to re-register.

Probably I will be "shouted down" on the above advice...

Not going to shout you down Roger!

Would just like to point out the possible drawbacks of not registering, such as no insurance (or at least giving the insurance company an excuse not to pay out).

It is a risk I did not want to take. Also, insurance companies are now getting stricter on how long they will insure you for while not French registered.

Just things to think about

Given up on Spain already?

Hi Martin,
can I ask about your bikes as we have 4 that ideally we'd like to register here but as my gixer thou has 165bhp I'm assuming that I possibly can't register it here. What bikes do you have?
Cheers,
Jen (2xKTM950SM's, Aprilia Mille, Gixer 1000)