Tony Cooper Swiss

I am a UK citizen, living in France, close to the Swiss border for around 8 months looking for work. As I was almost ready to go back (having not had any success), and I needed to use my car in France and Switzerland, I kept it registered, taxed and insured in the UK.
Recently I got a job, starting next week in the city of Geneva. I am trying to find out what I need to do with the car now. It is a UK right hand drive. A ‘P’ Reg Vauxhall Astra, so I might sell it in 6 months to a years time. I keep the car in a safe place across the border in Switzerland as the area I am living in is not really very safe. I have to cross the border regularly when I use the car, so any future discrepancies from not importing the car and registering it correctly could have some consequences for me.
Two additional items of information might be relevant. I have the old pink (no photo) UK driving licence. And I will need to be able to drive the car in France and Switzerland still.

I have looked on various websites and some threads here to, but I am still confused and unsure.

Bearing in mind that I am working soon and cannot take time to drive the car back to the UK at this moment, what would anyone reading this suggest I should do in regards to importation, registration, tax and driving licence along with the necessary notifications for UK authorities? And how long will it take roughly?

Can anyone help please?

proo

If you intend to keep the car (and out of UK for more than 12months) then you should get a export certificate by filling out the section on your V5 registration form. BUT, it'll get sent to your last address on the form so you'll have to get it forwarded. You can keep it as a RHD car and insure it in France but you're supposed to get the French registration and MOT done within the first 6 months. There's no road tax anymore but seeing as you're staying in France you may want to get a French license. You can get info from your mairie or get it done at the local prefecture. It should be free but you may need to get the license translated by a certified translator. Otherwise sell the car back in the UK.

mpprh

Hi

I've got some notes ( here that cover the French side of the conundrom.

You don't need to change your driving license in France, unless you are naughty and they want to put (take away) points from your license.

Peter

bourgogne

uk liecence I never changed ..... decided best bet is tell police you only been here last few weeks blah blah etc so i'll keep my old one thanx!

i have a similar prob though

mum moved over here bought her car, the tax ran out but no issue no tax in france

the MOT ran out ......... i forgot about that to be honest

the insurance ran out once she closed eveything in UK

now its just there...... its not new a 'V' reg but only got 21,000miles on the clock. I cant insure it to move it

I have been told to try for a TT plate a temporary registration plate (upto a year) so then i can insure it here and get it moving again

any advice?

zel

You can get temp plates, also known as export plates they can last from anything from 2 days to a year but they do not come cheap, in germany where we import our cars from it's 90€ for 2 days not sure about longer term.

In Germany they are available from their version of the local DVLA so i would imagine it's the same in France

Energy

Interesting - I took my car from England to Jersey for 2 or 3 years, got local insurance no problem without re-registering an then moved to France about a year ago and got insurance for an English car abroad with the AA.

There is a special number you need to call, and although expensive (over a grand a year for a not so new Freelander) it's given me room for movement while I wait and raise the capital to do something with the Freelander and purchase a French voiture.

The insurance with the AA was pretty straight forward and the price was the only indicator of difference. There were no questions of MOT / tax, as they are not relevant.

My only problem (and I stand to be corrected) is that when I eventually take my car back to the UK to sell, I'm going to have some trouble with the DVLA due to not telling them it's been out of the country for many years!!

bourgogne

she never said it was gonna be exported and to honest we used it here, and err then forgot things caught up fast

cant insure in france at the number plate means eff all and the engine body numbers have to go in the french system............. bloody complicated right down to how LOUD the horn is (i should know this
?) every car now is taxed (new plate) to the enviromental impact each causes........ the emissions the horn the engine noise the lot....... little bit of indirect taxation perhaps
? I cant get a garage here to look at it to fill the forms in as I cant move it (i can but wont risk it)

intersted the AA will insure abroad, with (eg) french address
?

Edit ;

my sister gone to spain.... bailed out; they took two cars too going with the two already there .......... all vanished from DVLC grasps tax grasp that is as they all still got UK plates.

Energy

Yep - french address, paid on a UK credit card.

Insurance is actually with AXA but arranged through AA.

Try 0870 6061615.

bourgogne

oh no uk cards all cancelled now

so blows that way out, but thanx anyway

proo

I managed to get insurance from Groupama but I'm supposed to register the car, get an MOT and change the plates within the next 6 months. They didnt say anything about temporary plates. I also 'exported' the car from the UK so I wouldn't get fined for not paying road tax.

cinders1850

I've already gone through the process of registering and insuring a car in France with MAAF Assurance. Like you, I was given six months to register the car here and didn't have to get temporary plates but they wouldn't cover the car for theft until it had been registered with French plates so beware!

Energy

Cheif, I didn't mean to imply that they only accepted UK credit cards! Give them a call, they will likely take currency any way they can get it

Bon chance!

bourgogne

fines??? now you've gone all french and afraid of the system

they can only fine you at a uk addy nothing they can do once you left

out of reach like errr ???, 100,000 other cars they lost the track of?

proo

Yes I know about the not being covered for theft. It was either that or spend way more getting it back to the UK to sell it (for virtually nothing) or insure it from the UK which would have been £800 + MOT + tax. My car isn't worth stealing and since it's a RHD with UK plates, it'd be stupid of someone to do so. If I had a nice car though.....

proo

I wasn't sure about their automated tax thing and fines if you don't pay up but I figured better safe than sorry. I have a perfectly clean slate and want it to stay that way!