JW9

Hello, newby here

About 3 months ago we started the processes of registering for becoming resident, joining the French health service, and around a month ago registering a UK registered Ducato van for private use. The first two are proceeding well, I have a question or three for registering the van.

In my ownership from new, 7 years old.

I am interested in whether registering a commercial vehicle in France is different to a car?

Also as in one or two other EU countries is RHD frowned upon especially as it is a van?

Have applied for a fiscal tax certificate to enable application for registration to begin, discovered that as from 1 January 2021 it is no longer the local tax office who supply the certificate but now the Customs (Douane) who handle all 3rd country (UK) imported vehicle tax affairs. Having registered a UK registered a car in France several years ago the Douane version is more involved but getting there, slowly...

I am bothered that if in 2021 importing and registering a vehicle has been made more difficult, in particular for a RHD van then I'll return it to the UK and sell it and sort out something already registered in France.

Any experience or information re my questions please?

Thanks

EuroTrash

If you're OK with a RHD, nobody else is going to bother about it.
Commercial vehicles have slightly different regulations I believe, I think they have a more rigorous test schedule, but the import process should be basically the same.
Don't be put off, a Ducato shouldn't be a problem if you want to do it..

JW9

Thank you for your encouragement, it's appereciated.

This coming Thursday the 25th we have to present ourselves, original papers and the van to a custtoms office, we should recieve our tax certificate at that point. In the meantime we are changing from UK to French insurance, a fair amount more expensive but no road tax so almost the same total running costs. As soon as we have the tax certificate we will make our application to register the Ducato via a recommended agency (as we don't have residence as yet). If the costs are as outlined we are still thousands of euros better off than selling our current van in the UK and buying the equivalent in France.

Last step before the next 3 months are up but before we have managed to registered the van is to change milometer reading to km, new headlamp assemblies and an additional fog lamp for the side that doesn't have one, then the Contole Technique which the local car CT workshop are happy to do.

If at any stage large hidden costs appear we will reconsider the whole process. We need our van every month or two over the next 2-3 years, but no other purpose. It would also work to sell into the UK and rent for the 6 or 7 times each year we need one, but would prefer to keep what we have as it is in superb condition, low mileage and absolutely top of the range.

EuroTrash

Sounds like you have it well in hand. I'm a bit surprised your insurance was so much more expensive in France, did you get your UK NCB/driving record taken into account? Also if you don't use it much, did you look into capped kilometrage policies? You can choose an annual limit, maybe as low as 5,000, and that can cut the cost too. But at least you get breakdown cover included so that may help balance it out. Also surprised you had to change the speedo, I thought most modern-ish vehicles showed both miles and km.
If you've gone through the online carte grise site and got a figure for the CG, it is usually spot on accurate (as long as you entered the correct info of course).
Bon courage.