Moving to France and re-registering a vehicle
there
You have a vehicle that is registered in the UK, and
you want to RE-register it in France. The term
‘re-register’ is used here because the vehicle
is changing its registration status or
‘matriculation’ status within the European
Union. The EU has long-since established a
philosophy and ‘spirit’ of the union replacing a
collection of individual nation states, in the
sense of freedom of movement. This freedom of
movement is also enshrined in EC law. Legally,
there must prevail - the unrestricted free-flow
of goods, capital and labour. This of course
means people, AND THEIR VEHICLES!
Buying British Vs Buying French
French cars are expensive and buying and selling
cars in France can be very stressful, especially
if language skills are not great. So many expats
still choose to take their British car with them
or buy here and re-register in France. However,
it may be worth weighing up all the time and
costs in re-registering and considering the
option of buying there instead.
Benefits of
re-registering a British car in France:
1.
If you return to the UK, the process of
re-registering a car previously-registered in
the UK is easy comparatively.
2.
You get the old number back if you return and
re-register in the UK.
3.
You get to continue with right-hand-drive.
4.
If you return to the UK with your French plates
on you can usually continue driving on UK roads,
under French insurance. This is useful if the
DVLA process drags on a month, which it can
easily do. Consider
www.vehicleregistrationservices.co.uk
for assistance. Beware that you have to retain
your French base or primary residential status
if doing this.
The Law
If a vehicle has already been duly registered in an EU
member state, it therefore meets EU/EC
homologation and type approval compliance. It
will not require a manufacturer’s certificate of
production or manufacturer’s certificate of
conformity (COC) if being re-registered in
another EU state (In accordance with EC
directive 2007/C68/04 - if a vehicle is/has been
already registered in a member state, it should
not pass again the same homologation criteria
tests already passed, nor criteria, for
registration again), only a national
roadworthiness test.
Vehicle Classification: OLD and ‘TYPE APPROVED’
and ‘NON EU’
In the early 1990s, EC type approval was introduced and
then formalised in the mid to late 90s. A
uniform minimum standard for key features and
safety aspects of vehicles was allocated to all
new vehicles and they were marked with an E
number
[it looks
like this: E1/2001*116*0242*27].
Some manufacturers were slower than others
and some used the type approval numbering system
and some didn’t. Some marked vehicles with the E
number, and some didn’t. Right up until 2010
some vehicles, such as vans and trucks were
allocated and marked in ad hoc or varying
procedures.
Nowadays, you can bet, for sure, that any
vehicle you buy new in the EU will bear a type
approval number. But this is all a very boring
subject. The point is, if you are re-registering
your vehicle in France you need to know which of
the 4 categories it falls in to. This is
summarised below:
1.
OLD.
A vehicle which, quite simply, predates the EC type
approval system.
2.
TYPE APPROVED.
You are in luck. If your vehicle has a type approval
number, on the vehicle VIN (vehicle
Identification Number) plate, or on one of its
documents, it should be easy to register,
re-register, enter LEZ (Low Emission Zones),
etc. Go to
Step 2;
Gathering your Documents.
3.
NON EU.
This is bad. Any vehicle made for a ‘market’ outside
the EU may conform, as such, to EC road
regulations. But it won’t be type approved, as
in – it will not have a type approval number.
This can be very frustrating. If you put two
BMWs together, side by side, one having been
sent from the factory to the UK, and one to the
middle east, they will both feature the same
safety and technical aspects. But one is type
approved, the latter isn’t.
4.
NON-MOTORISED VEHICLES.
IMPORTANT,
1. Old Vehicles:
Generally speaking, if you
have an OLD vehicle, you will not be able to get
a manufacturer’s COC (certificate of Conformity)
for it as it predates the system. That means
that if you are registering your old vehicle in
France, if and when the authorities ask you for
your COC, which they usually will, you can only
produce one of the following:
(i)
Availability for old
vehicles:
An independent document
- that relates to the matter or issue of
conformity (such as the EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate –
www.eurocert.uk). This
document will explain why there is no type
approval number for the vehicle, but all other
pieces of information, as applicable, will be
included.
(ii)
Availability for old vehicles:
An Attestation d’Identification. This is some
kind of document that some vehicle manufacturers
can produce, in place of a COC. It allows French
bureacrats to tick a box, but that’s about it.
(iii)
Availability for old
vehicles:
Other documents that
do the same as (i) and (ii), such as a ‘Partial
COC’, available from certain companies, mainly
in France.
If
your vehicle is very old, it can be classed as
COLLECTION. This is similar to the UK’s
‘HISTORIC VEHICLE’ category and although it
seems to vary, the benchmark in France is ‘more
than 30 years old’. This can be an easier
category to work with as the authorities do not
expect a type approval number, However, they do
still ask for a COC. In this instance you have,
again the three options above to produce an
‘alternative’ document.
IMPORTANT,
3. NON-EU Vehicles:
If you have a vehicle that has come from outside the
EU, it will not have a type approval number, and
sometimes its VIN will give away the fact it was
made for outside the EU. Even if it has been
registered in the UK, by way of an IVA test, the
French authorities may very well not acquiesce
on the issue of type approval number and insist
on a COC. In this case you can only hope to get
a document such as the EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate –
www.eurocert.uk,
or a Partial COC maybe.
IMPORTANT,
4. Non-motorised Vehicles:
It is not only cars,
motorbikes, motorhomes, vans and trucks that
have to be registered in France. Trailers and
caravans do too. This is a surprise to most
British people and is daunting since there is no
registration history from the UK for these
vehicles.
(i)
Availability for
non-motorised vehicles:
An independent document - that relates to the matter or
issue of conformity (such as the EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate –
www.eurocert.uk). This
document will explain why there is no type
approval number for the vehicle, but all other
pieces of information, as applicable, will be
included.
(ii)
Availability for non-motorised vehicles:
A manufacturer’s COC - may be available for your
caravan, horsebox, trailer. This document may
include a type approval number for the
non-motorised vehicle.
The French Registering Authority and its Duties
The law as summarised above may be followed or
considered by a member state’s vehicle
registering authority. In the UK, this is the
DVLA. In France this is currently the Agence
Nationale des Titres Sécurisés (ANTS).
The ANTS users and operators
do not normally recognise foreign compliance
tests, such as the UK’s IVA or MSVA test.
However, they will usually recognise
a UK MOT test pass certificate issued in the
past 6 months.
The ANTS users and operators
will sometimes accept a UK V5C that bears an EC
WHOLE VEHICLE TYPE APPROVAL NUMBER [it looks
like this:
E1/2001*116*0242*27]
as
evidence of EU/EC compliance.
The ANTS users and operators
will sometimes accept a UK V5C that does not
bear an EC WHOLE VEHICLE TYPE APPROVAL NUMBER as
evidence of EU/EC compliance.
The ANTS users and operators
will usually accept an independent source or
provider of EU/EC compliance (such as the
EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate –
www.eurocert.uk).
Aside from the above, there
are many other elements of the re-registration
process at the ANTS level of processing.
ANTS procedure 1: assess the vehicle’s current registration and/or its
origin (within the EU or from outside).
ANTS procedure 2: check the vehicle’s TVV (Type, variant and Version;
AKA ‘D2’).
ANTS procedure 3: enter the vehicle’s TVV in to the ANTS computer system
and obtain a Code national d'identification du
type (CNIT) number.
ANTS procedure 4: check all other documents
relating to the vehicle and the registrant
(person). See below, under MAKING THE
APPLICATION.
Step 1; driving your vehicle to France on
‘foreign’ plates.
Under current EU rules and norms, a
foreign-registered number plate can be used for
UP TO 6 months while the person is settling in
and looking for work, etc. Note that this is
starting to crumble and fade around the EU. It
used to be set in stone and not aggressively
enforced by local Police (meaning you might have
got, and might still get, much more than 6
months). In Italy in December 2018 this was
reduced to 60 days by state legal statute, so it
now seems that this rule can be changed by
member states at their discretion.
Step 2;
Gathering your Documents, to apply for a
Carte Grise (officially now called
CERTIFICAT D'IMMATRICULATION)
Below is the list normally required for
immatriculation (issue of certificat
d’immatriculation);
1.
Completed
application form
(Demande de certificat d'immatriculation,
[cerfa 13750]).
2.
Contrôle
Technique (CT).
The equivalent to the UK MOT
test; if the car is more than 4 years old.
3.
Previous
certificat d'immatriculation
(V5C, aka ‘British log book’).
4.
Facture d'achat.
Original ‘VAT invoice’ or receipt from the vehicle’s
seller [to you]. This may of course be totally
impossible to obtain or present. If the person
or agency processing the application insists it
may all drag on for weeks or months, but see
point 9 (below).
5.
Pièce d'identité. Photographic ID.
6.
Justificatif de domicile.
This means proof of address.
A utility bill, such as EDF, or another proof of
address. Or you may be asked for your social
security number.
7.
Certificat de Conformité - ‘COC’.
This is the fly in the ointment, and the main reason
for this lengthy article. It can always be
overcome but you may need a huge amount of
staying power. Note that usually this is
required in French and in some areas must be in
French.
8.
Fees for tax. Fees are based on region, the age of the vehicle and
the CO2 emissions. But the ancient method still
used for car tax assessment is
Puissance
fiscal, which is based on a calculated CV
(its ‘chevaux fiscaux’).
Note that this does NOT mean
horsepower. It is a calculation, which may be
got from the vehicle manufacturer or on some
documentation you can purchase for your vehicle
(such as the EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate –
www.eurocert.uk).
9.
Quitus
Fiscal. This is a document stating
that the vehicle complies with VAT rules. The
same system is now in place in the UK; it is to
stop vehicles being smuggled around the EU by
road, now that customs borders have disappeared.
This can be obtained from
your local tax office (Centre des Impots) or
Tresorerie.
In itself, the
Quitus Fiscal may be accepted in place of a
receipt or invoice for the vehicle.
To obtain a Quitus Fiscal
you may need to present to the tax office person
the vehicle COC. This is because they consider a
COC the identity document for the vehicle, which
of course it isn’t. The V5C is the identity
document. If they do ask for a COC as well, they
will usually accept an independent company’s
document stating the same basic information as a
vehicle manufacturer’s COC (such as the EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate –
www.eurocert.uk).
Step 3;
Making the Application for a Carte Grise
CT:
A Controle Technique (CT) test must come first,
as it always has done. This is the French
equivalent to the UK MOT test. You will need
some paperwork to book this test. Usually the UK
V5C will suffice but this is all at the
discretion of the tester and testing station or
garage. Quite often they will ask for the
vehicle COC at this point. A manufacturer’s COC
(aka ECWVTACOC or ‘type approval certificate’)
will then be required, but almost always they
will accept an independent source or provider of
EU/EC compliance (such as the EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate –
www.eurocert.uk).
After the CT:
Previously (before 2018) a vehicle owner would
go to the local Prefecture or even French Town
Hall and present documents for scrutiny and
consideration. Nowadays most Prefectures have
closed and there is a wide variety of ways to
make an application for ‘immatriculation’.
According to the region, the ways and as things
change, the following are ways that may be open
to you in your area:
(i)
CT garage or testing station may do
all the work. They will do the CT, and they will
gather your documents, scan everything, and
upload in an online application using ANTS
system access.
(ii)
Special shop or office called
SERVICE
CARTE GRISE (if you google it you may have
one nearby).
(iii)
Agents and agencies exist and these will gather up your
documents, advise you, take a fee, and upload an
online application using ANTS system access.
(iv)
Prefectures
and administrative desks at
Town Halls – some do still exist in remote areas
and you will be able to take all your documents
and speak to someone, before and after the
application.
(v)
Online
access to the
ANTS system is being made available
directly to members of the public.
(vi)
Main dealers
may do all the work. They will gather your
documents, scan everything, and upload in an
online application using ANTS system access.
Step 4; Dealing with arising problems
(REJECTION)
If your application is
rejected there could be any number of reasons.
However, if the rejection is because of the
‘COC’ side of things and/or no CNIT number was
generated, the following section is relevant.
In the unfortunate situation that conformity
verification/corroboration is mentioned by
Prefecture staff as a reason for rejection of
your application (i.e. not enough
corroboration), what they mean is THE COMPUTER
SAYS NO.
1.
Missing
documents.
Even though a
bureaucrat or email may tell you that one thing
was missing or ‘not accepted’, it may be that an
entirely different document was missing. Revisit
the list above of gathering your Documents. The
most common omissions and/or objections are
referred to below:
a.
Quitus Fiscal. This is the more difficult
to obtain for new arrivals in France and many
people overlook it. It is true that sometimes an
application can go through without it. But this
is becoming rarer now that the ANTS system is
centralised, rather than the old person-person
system.
To obtain a Quitus Fiscal, as
mentioned above, this can be obtained from your
local tax office (Centre des Impots) or
Tresorerie
b.
Missing Type
Approval Number on V5C, COC, ICOC,
Attestation (for whatever reason).
If the system operators are
insisting on a type approval number, which
really is not available or applicable, and
agencies such as EUROCERT cannot find one, you
can do the following to overcome the problem:
If you have one nearby, you go to a local
DREAL
office, present your V5C and give them a
photocopy of it (they can't copy it for you) and
a cheque for around 64€. They will send you by
post, often within a week, an "identification
document", which the ANTS operators will usually
accept for input of vehicle information
(bypassing the type approval element).
If DREAL can't give you an "identification
document", you have to apply to them for a
"DEMANDE DE RÉCEPTION À TITRE ISOLÉ", which will
cost you around 86€.
Sometimes DREAL will get in touch with the UK
DVLA to get the information on which
registration was granted (eg. an IVA test).
Sadly, this can take a month or more but
eventually a document will usually arrive that
can be used to force the ANTS operators, agency
or Prefecture to issue a Carte Grise.
2.
Their
entry into the ANTS computer system didn’t work.
First, if the staff say ‘not accepted’ or simply ‘non’,
please ask them why. It is normally the D2 (TVV)
section they have problems with, because the TVV
input generates a CNIT, which is needed to
create a Carte Grise. Your COC or ICOC (www.eurocert.uk)
provider may be able to modify and reissue
accordingly, usually free of charge.
Last Resort
If all your efforts have failed with the ANTS
procedure, whether on your own, or through an
agent or garage, or any other way, because your
vehicle is too old for their liking, or its
origins unclear, etc etc etc. you still have the
vehicle compliance testing option. There has
been some confusion about who is handling
compliance testing, which is similar to the
British IVA test. It was the DRIRE (Les
Directions Régionales de l'Industrie, de la
Recherche et de l'Environnement) and
subsidiaries, then DREAL. But then DREAL centres
and offices started disappearing and/or limiting
their responsibilities.
It varies
from region to region but at the point of
complete rejection, ask the ANTS representatives
or your agent or garage how you can get the
vehicle tested by DRIRE or DREAL.
Or….sell the car or return it to the UK.
Re-registration in the UK and/or removal of
Export Marker can be done by Eurocert (www.eurocert.uk).
Conclusion
If you have got this
far in this document you probably have not
succeeded, at least not yet, in re-registering
your vehicle in France. If so, you may like to
appeal to the ANTS operators, using email, or
via your chosen agency or garage. Below are some
bullet points for your appeal.
The principle
and philosophy of the European union is freedom
of movement of people. In this case, the vehicle
is already registered within the EU (in an EU
member state) and the owner wishes to relocate
freely within the EU.
En vertu du droit communautaire et des principes de
la CE / CE, tous les services administratifs
du gouvernement sont tenus d'apporter une
aide positive en cas de demande de
modification de l'immatriculation d'un
véhicule dans l'UE.
I understand
that the Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés
(ANTS) system will generate a CNIT after the
user input of the vehicle TVV (D2) and/or the
‘ECWVTA’ number (homologation number).
Therefore, your system can check the validity of
the numbers provided on the COC / UK V5C CARTE
GRISE / ATTESTATION / EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate.
Je comprends que le
système de l'Agence Nationale des Titres
Sécurisés (ANTS) générera un CNIT après la
saisie par l'utilisateur du véhicule TVV
(D2) et / ou le numéro 'ECWVTA' (numéro
d'homologation). Par conséquent, votre
système peut vérifier la validité des
numéros fournis sur COC / UK V5C CARTE GRISE
/ ATTESTATION / EUROCERT ICOC Conformity Certificate.
18 August 2021
Updated by Data Management Team of VRS ©
EUROCERT LIMITED 2021

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