Registering an English Car in France

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Allan
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Registering an English Car in France

Post by Allan »

I am trying to register my wife's car here. In order to do that I have to obtain a Cerificat d'Aquisition de Vehicule en Provenance d'un Etat de la Communaute Europenne, from the Centre des Impots in Perpignan.

They have asked for a Certificat de Cession, can anybody tell me what this is? I phoned the DVLA and they said that they do not provide any confirmation of export.

On a different note, how do you type accents on here?
thumbelina
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Post by thumbelina »

I helped Kathy do hers last week Allan, and yes, we had to go the Centre des Impots for this certificate. They asked for a utility bill, but as we didn't have one with us, they just looked up Kathy's taxe d'hab records and used that.

We weren't asked for a Certificat de Cession.

We were surprised how straightforward the process was - we had it all done and dusted in less than an hour and the carte grise was sent within the week.

Accents can only be added with the French keyboard, I believe.
Allan
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Post by Allan »

[quote="thumbelina"]I helped Kathy do hers last week Allan, and yes, we had to go the Centre des Impots for this certificate. They asked for a utility bill, but as we didn't have one with us, they just looked up Kathy's taxe d'hab records and used that.

We weren't asked for a Certificat de Cession.

quote]

What paperwork did you take?
thumbelina
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Post by thumbelina »

Certificate of Conformity
Control Technique
Certificate from the impots (this is actually the Quittas Fiscale which confirms there is not a debt against the car)
English logbook
purchase invoice
copy of passport
Cert of Aquisition (if I remember rightly) was the copy of the purchase invoice.

I think that was it.
Allan
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Post by Allan »

Thanks for that, all I need now is a purchase invoice
thumbelina
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Post by thumbelina »

That's easier said than done, isn't it? lol

Luckily, Kathy had just bought her car with the intention of bringing it here, so she'd kept everything handy. :D
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john
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Post by john »

From what I remember when we did MY wife's Golf,Allan,the Certificat de Cession is some sort of Document (supplied in your case by DVLA) to prove that it is no longer on the UK register(which is not quite the same as saying it's been exported). I honestly can't remember whether here they,in practice,demanded to see it,but it was on the list of obligatoire documents so I got one anyway.
Allan
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Post by Allan »

john wrote:From what I remember when we did MY wife's Golf,Allan,the Certificat de Cession is some sort of Document (supplied in your case by DVLA) to prove that it is no longer on the UK register(which is not quite the same as saying it's been exported). I honestly can't remember whether here they,in practice,demanded to see it,but it was on the list of obligatoire documents so I got one anyway.
I phoned the DVLA and they say they don't issue any form of certificate to say it is no longer UK registered.

I'll try printing off their on-line enquiry showing the current status of the vehicle

Thanks anyway
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Post by thumbelina »

I thought that the Certificat de Cession is the document that you complete when you sell a vehicle.

Don't forget that you should also complete a SORN for the DVLA.
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john
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Post by john »

thumbelina wrote:I thought that the Certificat de Cession is the document that you complete when you sell a vehicle.

Don't forget that you should also complete a SORN for the DVLA.
Trouble is Thumbs ,we did not sell it. Nor does Allan intend to,clearly. I suppose the Registration authorities require the sort of thing you allude to to guard against you nicking a car,then re-registering it here to make it seem it is "legit".

I remember having to go in person to the DVLA office in Norwich to get this "off the UK register" document,but that was 6 years ago,and ,as Allan is discovering,it seems they no longer do that now.
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Post by thumbelina »

Well I don't recall suggesting that either you or Allan had sold or were wanting to sell a vehicle, John.

In fact, I made a mistake, Allan. You don't need a SORN if the vehicle is permanently based abroad.
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Post by Allan »

thumbelina wrote:Well I don't recall suggesting that either you or Allan had sold or were wanting to sell a vehicle, John.

In fact, I made a mistake, Allan. You don't need a SORN if the vehicle is permanently based abroad.
Yes I know that thanks, but you do have to send section 11 of the vehicle registration document to the DVLA as notice of export. It is this bit that they do not send any confirmation of.
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Post by thumbelina »

Allan wrote: but you do have to send section 11 of the vehicle registration document to the DVLA as notice of export.
That's it. :D
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john
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Post by john »

thumbelina wrote:Well I don't recall suggesting that either you or Allan had sold or were wanting to sell a vehicle, John.

.
With respect it was you who brought up the question of SELLING the vehicle (in your posting previous to that one ),Thumbs. Stop being so touchy.

The point I was making is that the various authorities presumably still have some sort of certificate mechanism in place to stop those who have come about vehicles in a less than honest way of re-registering them abroad and selling them.

And,as you are obviously in a touchy mood,just to make it clear that I'm not suggesting that either you ,Allan (or indeed me) have ever been involved in that sort of activity,either.......
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Post by thumbelina »

Your comment
Certificat de Cession is some sort of Document (supplied in your case by DVLA) to prove that it is no longer on the UK register
My reply
I thought that the Certificat de Cession is the document that you complete when you sell a vehicle.

That is not suggesting that either you or Allan wish to sell or were selling a vehicle. It is suggesting that perhaps there is some confusion with the names of the documents, as I believe the Certificat de Cession is a document that is produced by the French Government, not DVLA.
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collioure_bee
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Post by collioure_bee »

I did mine recently and didn't need a certificate of cessasion or whatever it's called. I went to the impots office with my log book, certificate of conformity, an edf bill and voila!
I sent my form back to DVLA to say the car was imported before I went to the impots.
The carte grise was there in a week.
"She knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing"

If it's hard to do, it's not worth doing.
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john
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Post by john »

thumbelina wrote:Your comment
Certificat de Cession is some sort of Document (supplied in your case by DVLA) to prove that it is no longer on the UK register
My reply
I thought that the Certificat de Cession is the document that you complete when you sell a vehicle.

That is not suggesting that either you or Allan wish to sell or were selling a vehicle. It is suggesting that perhaps there is some confusion with the names of the documents, as I believe the Certificat de Cession is a document that is produced by the French Government, not DVLA.
May well be. I wondered if the DVLA produced something similar for UK reg vehicles(which would clearly be the case for Allan). allan has since ascertained they don't.

I thought I'd made it clear that my memory was a bit hazy on this,as in my case it took place 6 yrs ago. It was merely a suggestion to Allan. In short ,I don't know,but personally speaking,when I don't know something for sure,I do not pretend I do.
J-Paul
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Post by J-Paul »

Anyway, going back to the original post about typing accents......
before I got a french keyboard I used the following link

http://www.primaryfrench.net/accentcodes.html

hope this helps
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Post by DaveM »

OR, on an Apple Mac (qwerty), use the 'alt' key together with the vowel keys to produce à é ü ê ç œ and many other things (alt 2 gives €). Experiment.
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Allan
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Post by Allan »

Success! The Centre des Impots were happy with an original invoice for the car, kindly furnished by the dealer.

I know there is an article in the forum on how to register an english car but I thought I would add a few notes to help anyone in the future.

1 tell the DVLA you are exporting the car ( section 11 on the registration document) that way they won't chase you for car tax.

2 Get a Cerificate of EC conformity in French from the car manufacturer - this cost me £100

3 Get a CT ( French MOT ) €65 if the car is more than 4 years old

4 Download a copy of the Demande de certificat d'immatriculation d'un vehicule
https://www.formulaires.modernisation.g ... erfa=13750

5 Get a certicate of insurance if you haven't already

6 Go to the Centre des Impots and get a Certificat d'Aquisition de Vehicule en provenance d'un etat de la communaute europeen.

In Perpignan it is at 24 Avenue de la cote vermeille - this is a huge building and the entrance is at the top of the big steps in front of the building - parking wasn't a problem

Take with you:-
  • Passport or other proof of identity
    Electricity or other utility bill
    Car Registration document
    Certificate of insurance
    Certificate of EC conformity
A good time to go to the Perpigan office is exactly 1:30pm when they re-open after lunch - ignore reception and take the lift to the first floor and go straight to the first window, there must haved been 50 people queuing downstairs at reception but I was attended to straight away.

Armed with the certificate and a completed Demande de certificat d'immatriculation d'un vehicule, you then need to go to the Prefecture which is down the steps from the Quai Sardi Carnot next to bridge by the Castillet

You need to take the same documents as above plus the Controle Technique if one is required. You go to reception and they give you a ticket with a number on and when your number is displayed you go to the appropriate counter.

Afterwards you are then called to the Caisse to pay the matriculation fee €550.50 (ouch!) and given a provisional Certificat of Matriculation. The matriculation fee varies depending on the power of the car.

Another tip is to have multiple copies of everything, the woman at the Centre des Impots pinched my electricy bill which caused problems at the Prefecture

Hopefully my new Carte Grise will shortly arrive in the post and I can rejoice in no more car tax.
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collioure_bee
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Post by collioure_bee »

Nice to see they did it no fuss Allan.

However, I would say get the certificate of european conformity from the manufacturers in the UK. I sent copies of my log book to renault and they sent it back free of charge.

And take a copy of the bit on the log book you send off saying you've exported the car, because they lost mine and charged me for tax I hadn't used. I know they lost it because it was in the same bloody envelope as the tax disc and sorn which they reimbursed me for but because I couldn't prove it, they fined me (which I refused point blank to pay) and made me pay six months road tax. I seem to remember them giving up after a series of to the point letters one of which said I will pay if someone comes to the door here in France to collect it :wink:
"She knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing"

If it's hard to do, it's not worth doing.
Allan
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Post by Allan »

collioure_bee wrote:Nice to see they did it no fuss Allan.

However, I would say get the certificate of european conformity from the manufacturers in the UK. I sent copies of my log book to renault and they sent it back free of charge.

And take a copy of the bit on the log book you send off saying you've exported the car, because they lost mine and charged me for tax I hadn't used. I know they lost it because it was in the same bloody envelope as the tax disc and sorn which they reimbursed me for but because I couldn't prove it, they fined me (which I refused point blank to pay) and made me pay six months road tax. I seem to remember them giving up after a series of to the point letters one of which said I will pay if someone comes to the door here in France to collect it :wink:
I got the certificate of conformity from Jaguar in the UK, they are clearly not as generous as Renault - £100 for a bit of paper - a bit steep.

The DVLA has a web site where you can check the status that they are holding for the vehicle
http://www.taxdisc.direct.gov.uk/EvlPor ... =link.next
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Post by thumbelina »

My Renault Espace was actually made by Matra, not Renault, and they charged me 140€ for a conformity certificate!!!

Glad all went well, Allan. Kathy and I certainly found it much easier than anticipated when we did it last week. :D

(Incidentally, Kathy received her immatriculation certificate only three days later.)
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Post by collioure_bee »

I know exactly what you mean Allan, I felt that the 150€ that French Renault was a rip off for a piece of paper. Thankfully the UK were ok about it and said that if the car was originally French and being registered UK they would charge the same.
"She knew the price of everything, but the value of nothing"

If it's hard to do, it's not worth doing.
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Kathy
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Post by Kathy »

The Sous Prefecture accepted a German Certificate of Conformity which cqme with the car, just by the by, it is therefore an unneccessary expenditure to pay for another one.
thumbelina
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Post by thumbelina »

No longer possible to do this at Ceret.

http://www.lindependant.com/articles/20 ... 239650.php
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