BritInParis

Did you get a bill of sale from B?

dmu

Wouldn't this be better in the France forum? Not everyone looks at threads in the Europe section, and members living in France might be able to add to BiP's and Pulaski's comments....

Kontiki

Sorry I did not realise this was not in the French section, but how does one change it now ?

BritInParis

You don’t. One of the mods will move it if they see fit to do so.

Kontiki

Yes we got a Bill of sale from B but the Tax office said it was not proof of ownership. However I will point out two additional things the lady at our small prefecture and the lady in the Tax office have never done registrations before. The sad thing is that my son's mother loaned him the money for the car so that he could obtain work, because the area that we live in has no trains or buses and the Pole de employ are not fussed about Transport even though my son has explained that he has no transport, they just dont seem to understand. We must sound like a couple of thicko's but to be honest we just did not do enough homework on the subject.

I can understand why they will not accept the receipt, because it is in the name of A first owner.

Kontiki

Yes we got a Bill of sale from B but the Tax office said it was not proof of ownership. However I will point out two additional things the lady at our small prefecture and the lady in the Tax office have never done registrations before. The sad thing is that my son's mother loaned him the money for the car so that he could obtain work, because the area that we live in has no trains or buses and the Pole de employ are not fussed about Transport even though my son has explained that he has no transport, they just dont seem to understand. We must sound like a couple of thicko's but to be honest we just did not do enough homework on the subject.

That should have read because it is Not in the name of the first owner..

Kontiki

Further to this the DVLA has sent me an email explaining that I need to bring back the vehicle to the UK, But dont I then fall foul of the law by not having Tax and MOT.

BritInParis

Presumably they’re asking you to reimport the vehicle though?

Casa Santo Estevo

How can you drive a UK registered vehicle on the road without Test, tax and insurance?
The APRN cameras at the UK docks will pick you up right away.
Too late now but, you should have paid a few squid for an HPI check. There could be something nasty hidden in the history of the car.

Listen Very Carefully

I am afraid that you have fallen for the oldest Brit expat scam going You cannot re register a vehicle with UK plates unless the V5C is in your name and certainly you cannot do it with a photocopy so the prefecture is right.The wizard wheeze that a lot of expats have done in the past is to bring over a UK car notify DVLA that the vehicle has been exported but never ever re register it in France That way they run the vehicle without tax MOT insurance or a french CT or insurance Has the car got a CT? Is it even roadworthy?In the past the gendarmes have ignored UK reg vehicles because they did not understand the UK registration system and could not be bothered with dealing with expats who did not speak French until something happened Now with Brexit looming certainly in our area a lot of UK reg cars have been specifically targeted by the gendarmes as they now have the equivalent of ANPR This vehicle could have a load of tickets stacked up against it or even finance Have you been given a certificate of non gagé? There are so many problems with this vehicle that you really need to be taking it back to where you got it It is an offence for an individual to sell a vehicle that is not registered in France only a dealer can do this
For your information Prefectures no longer do re registrations of vehicles they are done either online and post via a centre at Nantes or a carte grise agrée such as Cartaplac/Feu Vert /Roady etc this link will help you http://www.service-public.fr/particu...sdroits/F10293

EuroTrash

How long ago was it "exported"?
It's been technically illegal ever since then. If a vehicle is exported from one country it has to be promptly imported into another. If it was legal to leave a vehicle in limbo so as to get a free ride - no tax, no MoT, no accountability for traffic offences and speeding fines - everybody would be doing it.
As LVC says, take it back to the person who "no longer needed" this white elephant, and get your money back. Hopefully if you threaten them with the gendarmes they will back down.
If they have the bill of sale from the person named on the log book, and it's not too long ago, they might be able to register it in their name and then sell it to you, that would be the decent thing to do but they don't sound like the sort of people who do the decent thing from choice.

Kontiki

Thank you for all your replies, I received another email from DVLA asking them if the vehicle had to be in the UK before we could complete the V5C. There answer was that the vehicle had to be in the UK, how they would know I am not sure but as someone said I could face problems with the police if there isnt any tax. The vehicle has got a control tech and assurance, but as it says on the forms if the vehicle is for import and it has been registered in say France then one can drive for a short while without tax etc. We have a suspicion that the original exporter may not still be alive, but we are going to contact if we can.
We believe it was exported in 2017 so that's two years ago.

EuroTrash

If it had been registered in France you wouldn't have a problem. UK road tax would be irrelevant, as would all the other problems you're having due to owning a vehicle that's in limbo. The whole issue is that it isn't registered in France.

So the vehicle has been illegal for 2 years.

However as you say, how does DVLA know where the vehicle is? I imagine you would have to tell them it's in the UK but if you're happy making false statements and you think the risk of prosecution is low (personally I think it's negligible, but I wouldn't sign a false statement on principle because I'm a horrid priggish little goodie two shoes ), fair enough. If not, go back to the person who sold you an illegal vehicle and demand your money back.

Listen Very Carefully

DVLA will know the moment that this vehicle enters the UK as every port and Eurotunnel has ANPR and every registration is on there and whether the vehicle is taxed/MOTd /insured Your vehicle will still be there because it has never been officially exported ie the french registration authorities have not informed DVLA that it is now registered with them So if you take the vehicle back to the UK you risk it being seized and crushed
I suspect that the person who sold it to you knew full well what they were doing and I also suspect he is a dodgy Brit who is running a bit of a dealership buying UK reg cars then selling them on to unsuspecting people I may be a bit of a cynic but certainly on a now defunct Expat forum you regularly saw the same people flogging cheap UK reg cars and despite my warnings people constantly fell into the trap and the owners refused to remove the advertisers because of course they were paying
As others have said you have a large collection of parts as you will not be able to scrap it as the reg doc is a photocopy and is not in your name..... Take it back

Casa Santo Estevo

All quotes from previous posts.
Maybe it was this that tipped them off?
I think we may have a clue to this problem for the sake of not naming names there are three persons involved.
Alternative is that owner A informed the DVLa that it was exported.
No matter the DVLA, it seems are aware that Elvis the vehicle has left the building UK.
Maybe purchase another Berlingo. There are loads around for little money and are legal. Use this one as spares or as a chicken coop