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Buying a Car in FranceIt is possible to use an English registered car in France and also to re-register the car in France. For us it was more convenient to buy a French car with left hand drive. How we purchased a used carOur UK registered car was terminally ill. The suspension was going, the brake discs were warped and something connected to the gear box was screaming in protest. Being right hand drive it was worth less than the cost of repairs. Hiring cars is OK for a week or two but its not a long term solution. Time to replace it with something French we thought. Our first step was to look at the free paper and check out advertisements for used French cars. We quickly found out that second hand cars in France hold their value much better than in the UK. The French equivalent of our existing car was about 3,000 euros where as it's value in the UK was about £800. Time to lower our expectations. Had we been in the position to buy a new car it would probably of been cheaper than in the UK. We sent out an SOS to find out if anyone knew of a small cheap French car that was economical to run and had some life left in it. A friend of a friend had such a car in their barn and we duly arranged to go view it. In the UK that would of been it a done deal and with an exchange of money (300 euros in this case) and a quick call to the insurance company for a cover note we could of driven off. Registering Change of Car Ownership in FranceYou can not sell a used car to someone unless the CT (contrôle technique MOT equivalent) is less than six months old. This was the first step and amazingly enough this 21 year old car passed without a problem. The person selling needs to fill in a form confirming they are selling the car to you the "certificat de vente" which is obtained from the Mairie. You need to fill in a form requesting a new Carte Grise (log book) this is called the "demande de certificat" also obtained from the Mairie. You then take these along with photocopies of your driving licence and a utility bill and the old Carte Grise (don't forget your cheque book it cost us 67 euro) to the Prefecture or Sous Prefecture. In our case we went to Prefecture de la Haute Vienne, Rue des Combes, Limoges
As you go in the main door there is a little machine with buttons on the top you press the button for the service you require and it prints you out a ticket which gives you a number and tells you how many people are in front of you in the queue. If you decide you don't want to wait behind 33 people (how patient are we?). They ask that you surrender your ticket at the reception desk before you flounce out. Anyway, one hour later you will see your number come up and also which desk to go to. You can fill in the time reading the screen that tells you what documents you need and quadruple checking that you have them all. You hand over your documents and the person taps in your details. You are then handed another bit of paper with the amount you need to pay on. You can then go sit on another bench and wait for your number (the same one) to come up over the cash office. You then hand over your cheque (or you can pay by bank card) and they present you with your Carte Grise for your vehicle. Voila! (as us trying to be French folks say) you are legally the new owner of the car. Don't hold off on doing this as you only have about 10 days to register the change of vehicle ownership. As it happens we got stopped by the traffic police a day or two after we bought the car. Luckily we had the form from the vendor but we were reminded that we had better go deal with the formalities by the observant gendarme. |
Why France? No road tax. The CT (MOT equivalent) lasts for two years, the car insurance includes breakdown recovery as standard.
Links Honda Accord Estate - Estate cars from Honda UK - The Honda Accord Tourer
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Insuring Your Car in FranceYou do not have to have road tax for your car in France in it's place on your windscreen you display two tickets. One that says when your next CT is due and the second showing the details of the car insurance. The insurance usually includes breakdown cover as standard and normally anyone is allowed to drive it (providing they have a licence of course). As in the UK you can have various levels of insurance the legal minimum being third party. |
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