sean111

Hi, any informed advice would be gratefully received. I have a small car collection in the UK- fairly normal cars, but all over 30 years old. The cars are permanently stored and all on UK plates and SORN here and are never used on public roads. They do not have MOTs either, just because they are not used on the road. I want to move to France and get them exported to France via a transporter. If the cars are not used on roads in France in future and are effectively stored at my new home in France do I have to re-register them on French plates? Also, do they have to be taxed and insured if they are in storage? Not being familiar with the French system I don't know if they have different requirements.

cyrian

Hi Sean
Welcome to the forum.
There are loads of classic car clubs in France.
That includes collectors of classic British cars.
You would be best asking your questions direct to them.
Here is a link:
Cars de collection
Do you have French cars or British cars?
HTH

sean111

Many thanks cyrian. I will do. They are Italian cars.

Listen Very Carefully

If you become resident in France then you will have to re register the vehicles in France and it is generally accepted that you will need to insure them but you can do the equivalent of SORN There is a way of registering the vehicles as"voiture de collection" These are the go to people to help you www.ffve.org

EuroTrash

Well not exactly the equivalent of SORN because most people think of SORN as an exemption from paying the UK's monthly/annual road tax. Road tax in France is a one off fee paid when you register the vehicle in your name, not an ongoing tax.
As LVC says, France has a policy of continuous insurance even for vehicles that aren't in use on the road. But the premium can be minimised if the vehicle has been physically immobilised in some way (eg has no engine in it, battery removed, basically something that a thief or other person couldn't easily rectify and drive the vehicle away)..
I agree that the classic car clubs are the best place to start.
Is your collection basically a private museum? If so, there may be special provisions you can use. Certainly you see foreign-plated cars in car museums in France - but they might still be registered in France and just wearing their original plates for display purposes.

sean111

Very interesting helpful advice from all. Thank you.

I suppose the cars could be said to be a private collection. Just one of the many attractions of moving to France is the relatively low house purchase prices, which will allow me to buy a farmhouse with a huge barn to keep the cars in, for considerably less than the price of my modest house in Kent, where house prices are ludicrous and where I need to pay expensive rent on a storage building away from my house for the cars.

Is re-registering a UK car in France a costly endeavour. I am slightly worried about this given the number of cars I would take to France.

Chatter Static

It would be worth working out where you are going and finding a local club of which there is normally one, they would be helpful. Knowing Kent extremely well I'm from there and worked all over the region modest doesn't tend to be in an estate agent's vocabulary but it does tend to be a good swap.

Tweedpipe

Just read your post.
To address your question, the basic costs involved to import and regularise a collectable vehicle here wouldn't be the turn-off for me, but the beaurocratic complexity and hassle most certainly would. This hassle of course could be offset by finding a FFVE professional - a collectors club federation authorised/approved with the ministry of the interior to perform all the re-registration formalities - obviously with an increase in the overall costs.
Being a very keen car enthusiast, and past owner of Bertone GTV and Pininfarina Spider Alfa Romeos, my plan was to purchase again one or the other in UK or Italy, and I started looking into this about 10years ago. The procedure is doable but somewhat complex, and I let the idea drop when other family commitments and finances took priority. This may change in the future.
It should be noted that the French system was (and may still be) unfriendly with cars that do not conform, i.e. Caterhams and other kit-car makes, and there was a grey-area where vintage cars rebuilt to concours standard - with major components changed could be interpreted by customs as a 'new' vehicle with a corresponding significant increase in import charges. I believe some of the regulations have since been changed, but unsure whether this eases the procedures or otherwise. I suggest that the F.F.V.E should be your first avenue of investigation, especially as your eventual plan is to import several vehicles.
It also sounds as if they will not be for road use. Can one assume therefore that they would be occasionally used on the track? There is an excellent race track some 20mins from my location here, which organizes several meetings a year for racers and enthusiasts alike.
I can't help wondering what changes Brexit may have in respect of importing vehicles, especially collectables.
Could you please keep us updated with your progress which could be invaluabe for others planning the same in future.

sean111

Hi many thanks again for the replies and thanks Tweedpipe.

this is not encouraging unfortunately. I thought moving to France might solve all the issues I have, plus being a lovely country to live in, with nice weather and landscapes etc etc, Uk = small house=big mortgage and paying rent for storage so swapping to a move to France =no mortgage and a big barn so no storage rental payments either, but it looks like I couldn’t practically take my cars with me... so no point having the big barn!

Would I really fall foul of the law and risk losing the cars if I just had them transported to France and kept them on Uk plates, in a barn and then took the batteries and rotor arms out of them, so they were disabled?

i would need to learn French fast, but don’t have the skills required currently to discuss with car clubs or find my way around french official websites, so I am bit stuck.

On the the issue of Brexit, I had intended to be installed in France, cars and all, before end December this year, so in the transition period.

thanks again.

Tweedpipe

Rather than being totally discouraged, why not give the folks on THIS site a call, explain your position and get their advise. (I note there's a UK contact number and e-mail).
As it appears you don't intend to use the cars here - and I'm guessing wildly now - it's possible that there wouldn't be a need to re-register the vehicles etc. But as you plan to live in France, would you not have a legal requirement to import the vehicles thus pay the necessary taxes? Not something I can answer, but would welcome clarification.
The other very important issue is insurance. Would a UK insurer cover the vehicles securely locked up in a French barn? Ditto query for a French insurer if the vehicles were not legally imported?
Again not wishing to dishearten you unduly, but please be aware that there has been an enormouse increase in the number of thefts of all kinds from rural areas here during the last couple of years. Just to give one example of many, the vineyards in the Gironde region have been plagued with thefts, ranging from the Bordeaux vines being ripped-out and hangers broken into in order to empty the contents of costly maintence equipment.
The bottom line being, that sophisticated security and solid insurance policies are a must if eventually planning to store a valuable collection of vehicles.
Good luck!

Tweedpipe

Deleted. duplicate post.

sean111

Thanks, concerning about the thefts.

The cars would be declared as imports within 6 months as is required by law so an assessment of whether VAT or equivalent would be payable in France would be carried out. I would assume pre-end of brexit transition at least, this would be zero, because VAT would have been paid in the Uk when the cars were new. This is the norm.

I assume this is a separate issue from actually registering the cars, as there seems to be no time limit on this as far as I can see.

Thanks very much for the link. I will follow this up.

thanks again.

calman014

Try this in Google:

importing historical vehicles into france

Lots of info online. Special rules for historical vehicles.

tooboocoo

Or speak to a specialist dealer/garage in your local area - classic cars are a global business and there must be thousands of Brits who have done what you are planning.

Tweedpipe

Mmmm......I would very much doubt if there was even a handful of Brits who have shipped a whole collection of cars to France to store in a barn and not use on the roads - let alone thousands of Brits. I've personally never heard of anyone doing this and I'm in contact with a few keen collectors.
If I were the OP, I'd keep my vintage car 'museum' located in the UK, and take a trip back from time to time to enjoy them to the full, i.e. drive them whenever the weather was fine. And once settled in France, look around for an unusual collectable such as a 40/50's Citroen 'Traction', I drove one a number of years back at it was a wonderful experience. Or if something far more sporty is the order of the day, look around for a vintage 'Italian'. There are currently a few very tempting Alfa Romeo spiders on LeBonCoin, namely Guilia 1600's, 2600's and more recent very exciting 4c spiders. I would expect they are somewhat more costly than similar UK purchases, but this would eventually balance out on re-sale in France.
Matra's, Panhard's and some of the earlier Simca's are also becoming very collectable to name just a few.