moving to france

[sawman]

Some friends of mine are planning to spend a year in France starting later in 2009. They were asking me about how best to get a car of some sort. I suggested buying something cheap and cheerful and then sell it before they return to Canada, Question is can a temporary resident get can insurance at a sensible rate?

I know that renault do a scheme whereby they will lease you a car for a period including insurance etc but for 12 months they are looking at $10000,

any advice gratefully passed on

s

[Paul 2000]

As long as they have an address in France they can 'use', rather than living out of hotel rooms for a year I can't see any problems with insurance. No claims discounts are a bit different to the UK (don't know about Canada) so make sure they bring proof of NCD. Like the rest of the world at the moment French car dealers are struggling so there are some really good deals to be had. Also, second hand cars have a much higher value here so they could consider buying at the beginning and selling at the end of their visit - especially if they have a mate over here that could flog it on their behalf once they've gone.

[sawman]

Thanks paul,

Have you any idea what a typical rate of insurance would be for a run of the mill family car?

Insurance in canada is much more expensive than the UK (eg I pay 600 sterling to insure a 10 year old cherokee!), how does france compare with UK?

s

[Paul 2000]

I pay about 500 euros for full comp, max NCD on a Land Rover Freelander which used to compare well with the £420 I paid in the UK, but with the plummeting pound doesn't look quite so good. The lower the horse power the better from a cost point of view.
Edited to add: do your friends speak French? If not there are various English-speaking brokers over here that can make the whole process easier to sort out.

Edited by Paul 2000 on Monday 29th December 16:50

[sawman]

Thanks paul I'll pass that on, my chums speak a reasonable amount of french (canadian version)

[goodlife]

We pay around EUR 800 for a Toyota Landcruiser but it's high spec and big petrol engine mean it has a high CV rating. Also paying EUR 950 for an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage but that's limited to 8000 Kms per year and has a EUR 3000 excess

[sawman]

How do used car prices stack up in france? nothing fancy, something like a scenic a few years old

s

[Paul 2000]

sawman said:

How do used car prices stack up in france? nothing fancy, something like a scenic a few years old

s

Have a look here: http://www.lacentrale.fr/

should give you an idea.

[sawman]

Yikes - seems expensive compared to UK prices!

[Turbo5]

The parents of my neighbours live in New Zealand, they tend to come over to Europe for about 6 months of the year. (They spend about 2 months in the UK the rest touring Europe)They buy a car in Belgium and it has some sort of red number plates. not like the normal Belgium plates. I think its tax free or something. They sell the car back to the garage when they return back to New Zealand, they do it every year and say its the cheaper than hiring/leasing a car.

[sawman]

that sounds a bit like the lease/buyback deal that renault and peugeot do, I am familiar with the red plates they are temporary plates I had two sets in my garage until recently

[Scimmy53]

If your friends can handle a RHD car in a LHD country, you'll often find a few bargain UK registered cars on one of the many expat forums (ie Angloinfo). There are many insurers who are happy to take on UK regd cars as well.