loveroy80

Dear all,

I desperately require some specific advice. I am in France since early this year. My insurance is valid(?) till the end of the year. I mixed up my MOT and Tax dates and just realised my MOT ran out first instead of the tax. In this situation:Based on this gaffe, I have no idea how to address the MOT issue as I have no idea how that would reflect on the whole situation or on my insurance. In hindsight I should not have done what I have. Now I need to find out what need to be done. SO PLEASE HELP.

BritInParis

If you have told the DVLA you have exported your car then you'll need to officially import it to France and register it with the French authorities. Currently it doesn't sound it is registered anywhere. Your UK insurance, tax and MOT therefore become a moot point.

Vinosity

As an extension to what BIP said...

You are currently driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle. The MOT is the least of your worries.

BritInParis

What's the registration plate number?

Vinosity

I would advise against answering that specific question.

EuroTrash

As others have said.
It sounds like the car has been/will be in France for over 6 months. If that's the case, depending on your circumstances, the advice to declare it exported was likely correct and your gaffe was in not registering it in France when you arrived. If you'd done that, you wouldn't be in this situation now.

Are you a student, working, or what? as this may have a bearing on the situation.

Regarding the insurance, hopefully you explained to your insurers that the car was going to be kept abroad long term, and they agreed to keep cover in force? If you didn't, and the car is insured on the basis that you are living in the UK and the car is normally kept overnight at the postcode you specified on the form, it's unlikely they would meet any claim since you have broken the contract by failing to declare material facts.

Whatever, you could start by inputting your vehicle details into the DVLA vehicle check website, and see what status is showing for your car.

Chatter Static

First in a prompt fashion get your car booked in for a CT "Control Technique" French equivalent of a MOT, Secondly go and find a French car insurer most banks offer this service on top of all of the other normal suppliers. Then get all the documents needed and take a trip to your local Prefecture to change the plaque d'immatriculation.

Personally I would refrain from driving said vehicle until you have a CT and French insurance.

audio

Yes +1 and you may need to have the headlights adjusted (if a RHD vehicle) before you go.

Chatter Static

Yes but if he has had the Control Technique and gets given a demand for retest then you have two months to make the repairs or changes and the car can be driven in the meantime with the appropriate French insurance as well.

The legal onus is getting the car into the testing station wether it passes or fails at this stage.

audio

Yes CS, good point.

Tweedpipe

I agree that the OP needs a Control Technique asap, but surely this isn't possible without a French Carte Grise (CG). Every time we've taken our vehicles in for the CT (several different stations), the first thing they ask for is the CG.
Has anyone here ever had a UK registered car CT'd here? I'd be surprised!

EuroTrash

Seeing as you have always needed either a CT or an MOT carried out less than 6 months ago in order to get a carte grise in the first place, and using a UK MOT wasn't an option until very recently, then I think the answer must be Yes, or nobody could ever have registered a UK car old enough to need a test could they, it would have been chicken and egg.
I believe they use the VIN number for the CT report.

Chatter Static

You can take a British registered car in for a CT have done it although it was about 15 years ago and the OH wrote the car off 2 weeks after we got the CG

audio

Sell it, risk it, scrap it or put it on a low loader back to the UK.

Pulaski

As has been discussed several times on several different forums, it is virtually impossible to scrap a "foreign" (unregistered) vehicle in many (all?) countries in the EU.

It is also likely impossible* to sell to anyone in the same country because you have to be the legal owner to register it and you can't register a transfer with the DVLA when you aren't living in the UK. So if you want to sell or scrap a British registered vehicle after you have taken it to a country in the EU, first you have to register it locally.

* An exception might be to sell it to someone who repatriates it to the country where it is registered.