France - British Expat Forum

I have recently had to fight the system and register the wifes Peugeot 206 in France, I have my Range Rover to do but that is throwing up a different kettle of fish, akin to a dustbin size tin of worms.

Right this is what I did and in this order.

I speak NO French

Control Technique, Approx E70 Take your UK Logbook V5. and your driving licence proof of FRENCH address and of course Euro's

I went into book and ended up with a Control Technique carried out, seems there is no booking just turn up.

Immatriculation. Approx E130 varies with Manufacturer

No not the immaculate conception, its a piece of paper required by the Sur Prefecture from Peugeot to prove the Peugeot is in fact a Peugeot.

Proof of No TVA or import duty, This ones Free Local Tax Office or Customs

Insurance, Now we used Generali (they will insure on a monthly basis a car on UK plates)

Now you need at least four copies of every document before you attempt to go to the Sur Prefecture's office for the Certificate Provisoire d'Immatriculation ( a temporary Carte Grise) this paper will allow you to purchase your number plates, in Grasse they also fit them as they have to be pop riveted on by law. you don't have this paper until you pay what is deemed the registration fee which is worked out on the C/O part of your logbook (cars over 10 yrs don't have this so you have to ask for it when applying for the Immatriculation, don't ask don't get) and if you don't ask you have to pay again!!!!!!!!!

The Carte grise (UK equivalent to a Log Book is sent to you in the post)


A few words of advise, take plenty of copies of everything and staple the relevant ones together, keep them SEPARATE from the original forms.

If doing the running around for some one else have a letter from them in FRENCH that says it is ok for you to work on their behalf. ALWAYS have your Passport and driving licence.

The final bill has to be paid in Cash or FRENCH cheque.

It took me three attempts at the Sur Prefecture mainly as I didn't have the correct paperwork, and the Sur Prefecture employees where i went are sticklers for the letter of the rule. Each time I went it was a wait in excess of two hours.

I suppose you could call it a dry run for the Range Rover which also has the added problem of being fitted to run on GPL Liquid Propain Gas, don't ask the problems that has thrown into the pot!!

Good Luck

Quote:

Immatriculation. Approx E130 varies with Manufacturer No not the immaculate conception, its a piece of paper required by the Sur Prefecture from Peugeot to prove the Peugeot is in fact a Peugeot. Confused

I think you mean homologation This certifies that the make and model conform to EU regs.

Ive checked the paper again and it def says Immatriculation, but as ime finding with the French they like to change their paperwork, I will see what it says on the Range Rover one when I eventually get it back

... just don't try it with a Chinese tractor like I did...

Well its been a while but after lots of phone calls to Land Rover UK and e mails to Land Rover France I have the piece of paper that says wait for it................The RR is in fact a RR thank you very much E180 for the privilege, took the RR in for a Control Technique and they almost had an orgasm, its fitted with LPG or in France GPL the whole system has to be checked, they have a specially trained chap who comes out with his Doctors bag full of what turned out to be Gas sniffing equipment, well failing crawling into the gas tank and doing an internal it is enough to say he was through, fortunately I had taken just about every piece of paper to do with the RR with me so when they asked for the fitting certificate I was able to produce it, a warning for anyone on here that also has Gas fitted to their petrol vehicles, as from the 1st of Jan after the tank is eight years old it has to either be changed or checked by a company that is licensed to do so, they didn't know of such a company, Now there was a very nice lady working there who spoke perfect English I asked her to ask the tester before he tested the brakes could I insert a fuse to put the transfer box into neutral electively separating it from the wheels so no transmition wind up would
acure she duly told the chap but he knew best and tried to test the front brakes with the rears still on the concrete, well he shot fwds when the electrics cut in and decided that the rear wheels had to have more drive and crushed the headlight beam setting machine, he then allowed me to insert the fuse, he still didn't get it as he put it into drive with the fuse still in and wondered why it wouldn't move, in the end I sat in and applied the brakes and moved the RR for him, on the final check he went underneath to the inspection pit and called me over and in very broken English informed me it had failed at the last hurdle as the power steering was leaking, I had forgotten that the cooling pipe from the gearbox was leaking, after a long explanation and translation by the young lady he agreed when he found the steering reserviour full, that lot cost me E90 but it passed.

I have found this site that will help you calculate the final price of the Carte Grise

http://plaqueimmat.fr/carte-grise-en-ligne.html#LastStep


Good Luck

Hi Folks

Sorry about the delay on the continuing story with the Registering with the Range Rover.


Things have got sooooooo bad I have thrown the towel in, it went something like this


Took all the forms to the Sur Prefecteur (issue of the French V5) thought I had everything cracked, not many people waiting, took my number and sat down, and waited, whilst waiting I noticed that the faces I had seen on my previous visits were missing and every one seemed to be having a hard time, one particular woman seemed more fierce than the rest, I start to feel like the little boy sat outside the headmasters Study, my confidence draining away, wonder if I will get her I thought, my number flashed up and "[danglies]" it was her, if it was my imagination or not but my legs definitely didn't want to carry me to certain doom, my meeting lasted for about three mins during that time she put more red lines across the paper work than I ever accumulated at school, I think my first mistake was asking her if she spoke English, her reply was an extremely loud "NON" I do believe we fell out at that point, well the upshot is the paperwork I had paid E180. So Land Rover France to could say that the RR was infact a RR was incomplete, and the paper with all the details on the RR was a photocopy (I must admit it looked shabby and was in black and white possibly printed on a Banda machine!!) but thats what Land Rover France sent) not that she would beleive it, a woman that had finished what she was doing in the next cubicle asked me if I would like some help as she spoke French and English, I hurriedly excepted her offer, I said that I didn't understand why the paperwork was so wrong, she put the question to the female version of Hitler and was told the paper work was a copy and was incomplete, why would a company such as Land Rover send me such rubbish? I asked her why and she said it was only partial conformity as the RR was fitted with GPL (LPG) and I had to have another peice of paper to say the gas had been inspected, well at this point I saw a glimmer of hope and asked the woman to explain that when the Control Technique was done the gas system had to be checked by law, got me no where as it has to be checked by a gas installer, of which they didnt know who to reccomend, all this in three mins my head is spinning.

This morning I rattled off an e mail to Prinz to see if they had come across the problem and could help.

Their reply was an apology and to tell me France was the only Country in Europe that they cannot get type approval for but don't feel alone as no LPG system manufacturer can, apparently Opal offer dual fuel from the factory using Prinz units and they are stuck in storage due to French paper work

I am pretty piddled off with Land Rover, Bloody Useless, as they knew when they had my V5 that it was Dual Fuel and would not get approval they just wanted the E180

So rather that take all this I went on the defensive, I contacted Land Rover GB explained the problem to them, they spoke to Land Rover France and found I could get approval by taking the vehicle to the Drire I believe our version of Vosa, but I would have to open a "Book" and the total cost would be E1000 However Land Rover France have a way round it, a cunning plan you may say, they ask the owner of the imported car from the UK to send the V5 to DVLA and ask for the fuel to be put back to Petrol not Dual Fuel as per the V5, on receipt of this they can issue a full Conformity letter remember the one that Says the Range Rover is in fact a Range Rover, rather than a Partial, you then nip off to register the car and Bobs your Dads Brother, BUT there is always a but when it comes round to the Control Technique you have to remove the LPG tank and filler, when it has passed you refit it, sounds good if it works!!!! The down side? If you have an accident and you are found with a working LPG unit the insurance is null and void.

Hence I have thrown the towel in

Anyone want an immaculate Range Rover 4.0 Auto with a Brand New Land Rover engine fitted? I have to sell my Baby But it can only be used in the UK

Oh, hellfire. What a pain in the rear end. Really sorry to hear about this - hope you manage to salvage something from the mess.

Thanks for keeping us updated, anyway, painful though it must have been.

The annoying part i suppose that the Gas makes it viable to run, at around 15MPG average the Gas conversion makes it around 30MPG to remove it would be financial suicide, my Nipper has volunteered to fly over and drive it back to the UK at our expense, but as said just about everything was replaced before bringing it over to France, I started at the front and finished at the rear and spent approx 5k on the way, my main concern with fitting the new engine (I didn't go for recon) was also fitting the ancillaries such as new Radiator hoses thermostat coil packs the total works as I wanted to come over and not have to fiddle with it apart from general servicing, I even changed the Aircon Radiator and made sure the aircon was working which involved changing the blend motors on the heater/aircon controls you name it I changed it shocks airbags discs and pads, ime a bloody fool, for not checking what would be required to register it, still we live and learn

An expensive lesson

Well ime back, gave up with the Range Rover advertised it on UK e bay sold it and drove it back only cost E500 in fuel had a week in the UK to look for another car, I had started and found a few possibilities whilst in France, settled on a Citroen Xsara Picasso 2.0HDi with little mot low mileage and a years tax, thank you very much £865 but needed a dam good clean and a lot of mechanical work, so I press-ganged my son into a weekends work we replaced the lower arms drop links and track rod ends along with the timing belt and water pump and all the ancillary pulleys, rear shoes and cylinders on the brakes, and had four tyres fitted as the tyres are so damned expensive in France, oh also had the aircon re gassed as it didn't work, total price £1400, and the result was a good car. started the process in the UK to get the piece of paper that says that the Citroen is actually a Citroen booked my passage and the Dawg's back to France on the Ferry, drove the 1200 klms down and only refuelled once, after the Range Rover I thought the gauge had stuck, I averaged around 50mpg better than 10mpg LOL considering the Car was full of food that you just cannot get in France and two tyres for the wife's car.

I have now found that to register the car in France has all changed for the Third time in a year, so here we go again, you can get the paper from the Tax office to prove that there is no VAT owed on the car BUT you have to have an official receipt from the UK seller (the French have forms for selling a vehicle No surprise there!! and do not believe that the UK does not) or Vendor IN FRENCH marked with the mileage covered in Kilometres the date of sale obviously the amount in Euro's this has to be typed!! Oh thank you to pc's LOL as i ended up constructing and printing my own receipt, I now await for the paper from Citroen as without that you can no longer have the Control Technique carried out, would it be cheeper to purchase a car in France? Simples NO

Watch this space

You're right. French s/hand prices are much higher than UK. However, I did get a bargain through the local equivalent of Exchange & Mart online - only becaiuse the seller didn't know what his vehicle was worth.