Living in France with your classic?

[skiday]

Hi Chaps

I would very much like to hear what experiences members have had going to live in France with their RHD car. The French are well known for their love of red-tape, so is it hard to take a classic car to France if you decide to live there? How hard is it to register as a French car, and how hard (and expensive) is it to insure? And are there perhaps other things that I haven't even thought of.

Brexit may well have made peoples plans to retire to France and other European countries more complicated, but my wife is Belgian and I hope that may help us to achieve our long standing dream in a few years.

Andrew

[rfs1957]

I had been here for 25 years when I bought mine, 15 years ago.
Registering it under what’s called a Carte Grise de Collection is pretty easy, if that’s what you want.
You theoretically lose your UK registration, but I’m inclined to think this is theoretical, as I would be surprised if the FFVE bother to tell every country from which cars are presented to them that they have become French.
The procedure does require a customs declaration, however, and I expect this to get expensive, if it’s not already become so, as we dance towards the exit.
RHD or LHD, peu importe, the driver’s side is not specified on a French log-book.
Theoretically you cannot get insurance on a UK registered car for any length of time, and its not meant to stay on UK plates for more than six months. In practice nobody gives a toss about the latter, especially as it’s not your daily driver, and it is possible to get insurance from a French company, tho’ you will only get third-party, with no breakdown ; I pay around 60€ for this. Sixty euros. Per annum.
Forget what people will tell you in the pub, insuring a classic car on UK plates, with a French address, with a UK insurer, is - in my experience - impossible.
Other than those constraints I would say it’s a good approximation to motoring heaven.
If you want some more, more off the record, advice then PM me.

[skiday]

Hi Rory

Thanks for the reply, very comprehensive - even if your insurance isn't! I'm not sure I'd want to drive such an expensive car on 3rd party though. Anyway, the info 'off the record' sounds intriguing. PM on way.

One thing I forgot to mention; some countries make a fuss about what percentage of the car is original. If a car had a completely different engine for example (Don't worry, I wouldn't do that to an E-type, but I do have a '68 Aston Martin DBS with a '95 Jaguar XJR6 engine. I wonder if that might hinder? What even if a car had been electrified?

The bit about no one caring about not re-registering is perhaps like when I brought a car over with us from Jersey; no one cares until they decide they don't like you (in my case because I complained about a neighbour's son's behaviour. Nothing happened, I got it UK registered in due course, but it was thrown in my face!)

Regards

Andrew

[TurboScab]

It isn't just what you might have to do to register the vehicle in France. DVLA have to be notified that the car has been permanently exported from the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/taking-vehicles-out-of-uk

[Hubert Dallard]

Hi Skiday,
I don't know what do you mean by "red-tape"...Something true is that the French are well known for their love of red wine !

Seriously, my E came from California and I hadn't any problem to register it.
My insurance gave me 1 or 2 months to get the french "carte grise".

It 's very easy in France to drive a classic car. I can tell you that people are happy to see beautiful old cars and friendly salute you. No jealousy at all.

And fast driving the E on the Alps roads is unforgettable pleasure...

regards,
Hubert

[rfs1957]

DVLA have to be notified that the car has been permanently exported from the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/taking-vehicles-out-of-uk

But if I'm taking my car abroad for 6 months, am I exporting it permanently ? Many Europeans actually live lives that are split between two countries, and have vehicles that spend lives crossing frontiers.

When my car is "abroad" I just use the SORN process ; it's not on UK roads, and it's not permanently exported.

It's easy to get tied up in paper nit-picking ; in my experience, in practice, nobody gives a toss.

We're more concerned whether the grapes are the right size for the season, n'est ce pas, Hubert ?

[JerryL770]

How do you manage for insurance on that basis, Rory?

[P B-B]

Hi everyone. Sorry to crash this topic.
Wondering if someone can help.
Living in France. ( 6 years now) I purchase a 1968 series 1.5 from a guy in Spain 5 years ago.
Originally from the US has not been registered since it arrived.
Been slowly restoring it in my garage ever since.
Trying now to register it. I have the FFVE certificate for collection car and the tax exemption certificate
Spent the whole day surfing without a huge amount of success.
Do I need to have normal registration before I can covert to collection?
Can anyone please give me advice on where to start?
HELP please much appreciated

[rfs1957]

Your only portal is the FFVE web-site, where - if you dig, and can read French - the whole process is pretty straightforward.

I have not personally used it for 10 years but know people who have, and recently, so I have no reason to think that it has got any worse.

You probably need a Controle Technique BUT it doesn't have to be "vierge" to get through the FFVE process.

If you have the old log book, a bill of sale, maybe the CT, and the 846A tax document that proves it was imported into the EEC, then I think you have everything they ask for.

Sometimes a bit of PhotoShop creativity can help, just repeating what a friend told me.

[P B-B]

Thanks for the reply.
I have a controle technique and insurance on the car.
So ready for the next step.
I will keep digging.

[P B-B]

It now seems I need a Certificate of Conformity?
For a 58 year old car?

[Philippe-J.]

Salut Phil !

maybe you can ask Chris24 who followed the process recently. He lives in Dordogne and told his story recently.

Anticipating this step for myself, I asked a respected "expert" in Toulouse, who evaluated my on restoration 67' OTS, if he would take charge of the administrative steps. He doesn't. But he advised me to appeal to a company such like https://www.s3toulouse.com/. I have no link with them, and have not yet used them, so I can't give any opinion about them myself. At least that advice convinced me that this issue might not be straightforward (in France, that is).

Good luck, let us (french people) know.

Philippe

[P B-B]

Thanks for the info.
I have messaged chris24.
Cheers.

[P B-B]

New update on the certificate of conformity.
Eplaque.fr have updated the requirements and this is NO longer required.
All after I messaged them.
Thank goodness.