Importing UK Astons to France!

[Calinours]

A whole new thread which I will run for a while that will be dedicated to describing my imminent quest to import 3 very different Astons from UK to France. It’s a 2018 DB11 with AMR upgrade, a modified 1980 V8 and a modified 2011 V8VS. I have much recent experience with French bureaucracy and I know that the French ‘system’ doesn’t like high performance or modified cars. For good measure I’m going to import my Rangie too, in full knowledge that they are taking against the heavy 4x4 stuff as well. I’m mentally prepared for the eye watering initial insurance costs….

Step 1 was to determine the documents I would need for import to France and make sure I have them all including the CoC - mostly done. The last one is the 846A customs forms which can only be obtained post douane inspection at the point of frontier crossing.

Step 2 is find out what the registration costs would be. There are lots of little charges, and there are some seriously punitive ones that relate to newer, high performance (big ‘puissance fiscal’ number) high CO2 and heavy 4x4 stuff. The good news is that the charges tail off as the cars get older.

It’s going to be:

DB11 - €5768
V8VS - €907
Classic V8 - €652
Rangie - €1407

I will do regular update posts on what is likely to be quite a challenging process especially with the modified cars. The tech check on the newer stuff is just the CT, so it depends on whether the tester doesn’t like all the noisy and obviously non standard Bamford Rose stuff. The old one has to go through a convoluted process involving the the Federation Francaise vehicule d’epoch (FFVE), and the non standard manual box may be a problem if the FFEV can access the original build sheet via AMOC affiliation, though I’m not sure they would. Technically you can’t have changed any part of the powertrain according to the printed guidance….

[Minglar]

Good luck Calinours. I’ve no personal experience of importing in to France, but I do know several who have done it in to Spain since you know what happened…..The “B” word has certainly made the process over there more complex and more expensive. As far as I know Import Duty is payable in Spain based on current valuation, indexed against the original purchase price and also length of ownership. I am fairly sure that the Spanish ITV system (MOT equivalent) requires all imports from the U.K. to be fully OEM too. Someone I know had to source an original exhaust for a twenty five year old Fiat Barchetta before he could get it through the ITV. You can imagine how difficult that was. Fingers crossed for you that it’s not quite as bad in France. BRM.

[Jon39]

Best of luck Calinours.

I get the general impression, that the French bureaucracy still do not like the UK, because we had the temerity to leave the European Union (dominated by France and Germany). They do seem to enjoy taking every opportunity, to make things awkward for us.

Perhaps they should remember, that but for us, they would now be goose stepping around, speaking German and having to work on Sundays, close all their nuclear power stations (German Greens would have seen to that), discover that Russian gas no longer reaches them, therefore oil, gas and petrol costs would have soared. That would probably have started their usual strikes (if allowed by their German masters).

For how long are you able to keep and use a UK registered car in France ?
Could you pop back to Dover at intervals for some shopping, to restart the temporary use period in France?

I have another idea, which might in fact be the ideal solution. Diplomatic number plates are very useful.
You could volunteer your services as the Nauru Ambassador in France. They would be extremely grateful, because they don't have any embassy representation in France. It would probably only involve attending the occasional formal dinner with President Macron.
I have a picture to help you decide on the correct attire for you and your wife, in your new honorary role.

Edited by Jon39 on Sunday 11th February 16:25

[Mike49]

Hope it goes well. I imported a car from Germany in 2019 and it was fairly simple, done online using the ANTS system.
These are the important steps, and the quittus fiscal, proof of vat paid is essential .
https://pha.ants.gouv.fr/demarches-en-ligne/immatr...
Headlights could also be an expensive point as they won't allow bits of tape and even when you have an adjuster for use on the continent, there is no certainty that the field of beam will be acceptable.
Rear fog lights will need to be changed to the other side in the event there is only one.
If they have loud exhausts I would suggest its not even worth trying to get a CT, as it will draw their attention, but maybe you have adjustable exhaust switch.
I think there may be a bit more leeway with the classic aston. I would only advise to get all the documents 1000% right at the first go with ANTS, as if you have a mistake there can be huge delays.Good luck!

[ram_g]

Interesting. Isn't having the steering wheel on the wrong side a safety issue?

[Calinours]

Mike49 said:

Hope it goes well. I imported a car from Germany in 2019 and it was fairly simple, done online using the ANTS system.
These are the important steps, and the quittus fiscal, proof of vat paid is essential .
https://pha.ants.gouv.fr/demarches-en-ligne/immatr...
Headlights could also be an expensive point as they won't allow bits of tape and even when you have an adjuster for use on the continent, there is no certainty that the field of beam will be acceptable.
Rear fog lights will need to be changed to the other side in the event there is only one.
If they have loud exhausts I would suggest its not even worth trying to get a CT, as it will draw their attention, but maybe you have adjustable exhaust switch.
I think there may be a bit more leeway with the classic aston. I would only advise to get all the documents 1000% right at the first go with ANTS, as if you have a mistake there can be huge delays.Good luck!

I’m good on rear fog lights, even the old car has them both sides.

On headlights dip side, it’s a menu item in the Rangie and DB11, and a wheel off accessible switch on the Vantage. The old V8 has ‘Cibie Oscars’ with a ‘z-beam’ which some on here may remember. It’s supposed to be directionless, though there is a direction indicated in the glass lens..

Mucho research has identified some pattern nasty indian RH dip 7” lucas units which I can fit if forced to, but the original Cibies, actually french made, will go straight back in once paperwork is done….

My research says I just need a sympathetic and friendly CT guy….

[Calinours]

Minglar said:

Good luck Calinours. I’ve no personal experience of importing in to France, but I do know several who have done it in to Spain since you know what happened…..The “B” word has certainly made the process over there more complex and more expensive. As far as I know Import Duty is payable in Spain based on current valuation, indexed against the original purchase price and also length of ownership. I am fairly sure that the Spanish ITV system (MOT equivalent) requires all imports from the U.K. to be fully OEM too. Someone I know had to source an original exhaust for a twenty five year old Fiat Barchetta before he could get it through the ITV. You can imagine how difficult that was. Fingers crossed for you that it’s not quite as bad in France. BRM.

Thanks. I still have the entire OEM exhaust for the little Vantage, I’m toying with getting BR to reinstall it all just to save myself any potential hassle. I know if I encounter a CT (french MOT) guy on a bad day it will be a problem.

I even have the original automatic transmission for the old car, the original hubs and the original wheels, but I’d be loathe to be forced to reinstall that crappy torqflite auto. The 1990’s DB7 6-speed manual Tremec has transformed that car…

[Mike49]

Sounds like you have done your homework. When I imported a couple of cars from the UK back in 2007 I had a local garage do a pre-contrôle technique which flagged up anything. I guess you'll be registering the old vantage with a carte grise collection, which if you do, you can't re-register it at any time after with a carte grise normale. Although if it is initially registered CGN you can thereafter revert to CGC. There are pros and cons of each, especially if you intend to enter low emission zones.
Which part of France are you moving to out of interest?

[Calinours]

Mike49 said:

Sounds like you have done your homework. When I imported a couple of cars from the UK back in 2007 I had a local garage do a pre-contrôle technique which flagged up anything. I guess you'll be registering the old vantage with a carte grise collection, which if you do, you can't re-register it at any time after with a carte grise normale. Although if it is initially registered CGN you can thereafter revert to CGC. There are pros and cons of each, especially if you intend to enter low emission zones.
Which part of France are you moving to out of interest?

I have done the homework best I can, but as with everything French there are still unknowables and all sorts of possible issues. Much comes down to the attitude of the CT (MOT tester) guy on the day.

We am moving to the border of Sartre and Mayenne, about 40mins from Le Mans.

[Jon39]

Judging by the Chateau TV programme, you need to be 'extremely nice' (are you with me) to your local mayor.
It seems he (think mostly he) has the inclination and power, to make your life a misery.

Do you think trying to take four (two modified) cars to stay in France, is asking for too much trouble?

To fit in well with the locals, maybe two French left hand drive cars would be easier.
Perhaps a 2CV and an Alpine Renault.

We look forward to your fully detailed reporting.

Are you moving to France for retirement, or perhaps a job move?

Edited by Jon39 on Monday 12th February 09:39

[Mike49]

Calinours said:

I have done the homework best I can, but as with everything French there are still unknowables and all sorts of possible issues. Much comes down to the attitude of the CT (MOT tester) guy on the day.

We am moving to the border of Sartre and Mayenne, about 40mins from Le Mans.

We'll be nearly neighbours! I'm just north of Angers and the more astons in the area the better. I've used Bourcier Autosport in Angers for servicing my 2010 V12 vantage (pricey but good) and also have a local small garage with an owner who is very good, but very busy. I've used AM Bordeaux , (quite far) and have avoided AM Paris.
I imagine in or around Le Mans there will be a few specialists but none of the ''specialists'' will have the factory software such as Bamford Rose has. If you need any help in this or other general stuff I'll help if I can.

[Calinours]

Jon39 said:

Judging by the Chateau TV programme, you need to be 'extremely nice' (are you with me) to your local mayor.
It seems he (think mostly he) has the inclination and power, to make your life a misery.

Do you think trying to take four (two modified) cars to stay in France, is asking for too much trouble?

To fit in well with the locals, maybe two French left hand drive cars would be easier.
Perhaps a 2CV and an Alpine Renault.

We look forward to your fully detailed reporting.

Are you moving to France for retirement, or perhaps a job move?

Edited by Jon39 on Monday 12th February 09:39

Ahh, it’s always fun to read your perspectives on the world Jon….

Why do it ? why not? Replacing this stuff with LHD stuff would cost a lot more than the registration costs in France. Plus I know each of them, I have owned them for many years, each in their own way represented a little milestone and all bar the Rangie are not easily replaceable over here. RHD in a LHD country doesn’t bother me in the slightest, I owned LHD cars in the UK which is way more of a challenge on the UK’s tiny and hedge lined country lanes. The tolls aren’t an issue any longer thanks to the tags, and thankfully with all the extra space there aren’t many paid for barrier car parks in France outside of major cities.

The only tiny issue is fast food drive throughs, given my longstanding penchant for a sneaky MccyD’s now and again. However, I long ago developed a solution for that in my LHD 911, I just reversed through.

I won’t be exporting from UK perspective - they will all simply be sorned, a little loophole in the UK system. If I want to sell any at some future date I simply drive back to UK, get a fresh MOT and stick the UK plates back on. I plan to buy a proper lift and do all my own spannering (and keep my own service records). For anything more serious there are lots of specialists in Le Mans and Caen and the ferry to UK is only a couple of hours (in a trailer, towed by the Rangie..).

Not retiring. Just moving to France to set up our own business. Like many folks during lockdown and a year of no commute and WFH I decided I didn’t much fancy either the commute or the office environment anymore

Also I’d had enough of that marginal 63% tax rate…

Edited by Calinours on Monday 12th February 11:44

[LesXRN]

You won't be too far from us Calinours, we are in Fougerolles du Plessis, North Mayenne.

As for insurance, my 2015 Vanquish is €1,044 all risks and my wifes 2015 Range sport is €823 all risks, so, not too bad I think.

As for the CT, I did wonder about the noise aspect of the Aston, but no problems at all, in fact, the CT guy suddenly found the ability to speak really good English, he was definitely an Aston fan.
For servicing, I take it back to AM Performance in Cheshire as the kids live close by. I am considering BR though as we like to holiday in the Cotswolds, two birds with one stone!

Good luck with the move.

P.S. For all of our legal stuff, tax, vehicle reg, etc, we use Valerie at SOSAnglo. she's wonderful.

Good luck with the move.

[Calinours]

LesXRN said:

You won't be too far from us Calinours, we are in Fougerolles du Plessis, North Mayenne.

As for insurance, my 2015 Vanquish is €1,044 all risks and my wifes 2015 Range sport is €823 all risks, so, not too bad I think.

As for the CT, I did wonder about the noise aspect of the Aston, but no problems at all, in fact, the CT guy suddenly found the ability to speak really good English, he was definitely an Aston fan.
For servicing, I take it back to AM Performance in Cheshire as the kids live close by. I am considering BR though as we like to holiday in the Cotswolds, two birds with one stone!

Good luck with the move.

P.S. For all of our legal stuff, tax, vehicle reg, etc, we use Valerie at SOSAnglo. she's wonderful.

Good luck with the move.

Thanks Les. Can I have the name of your insurer?

Our sale fell through, but Interestingly, we may have found a new place which even closer to where you live, we actually visited Fougeroles, it has a great bakery.

In meantime I went back to UK to MOT all cars and put the little Vantages exhaust back to standard EU5 using all the original components which thankfully I had retained. Even if the exhaust system somehow did get through the CT inspection, it was in any case way too loud for sleepy French villages

All BR stuff removed and put on PH marketplace. I don’t know if I’ve priced it right, just open to offers and looking to recover the cost of putting it back to standard.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Jon39]

Please excuse a slight digression, although it might be of interest as a French related matter.

The EU are scared of subsidised EVs from China, eventually decimating the European motor manufacturing industry. Quite rightly so, from what I understand.

At present I believe a 10% import tariff applies to Chinese cas imported into EU countries, but in July they intend to increase that to 35%.
Apparently half of all Teslas are made In China and some English sounding makes will also be affected (MG and Lotus).

I suppose it will therefore become much cheaper for French people to buy their Chinese EVs in the UK. Tesla claim their cars can drive themselves, so right hand drive might not matter. -

Edited by Jon39 on Saturday 15th June 11:37

[LesXRN]

Calinours said:

Thanks Les. Can I have the name of your insurer?

Our sale fell through, but Interestingly, we may have found a new place which even closer to where you live, we actually visited Fougeroles, it has a great bakery.

In meantime I went back to UK to MOT all cars and put the little Vantages exhaust back to standard EU5 using all the original components which thankfully I had retained. Even if the exhaust system somehow did get through the CT inspection, it was in any case way too loud for sleepy French villages

All BR stuff removed and put on PH marketplace. I don’t know if I’ve priced it right, just open to offers and looking to recover the cost of putting it back to standard.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Hi Calinours.

My insurer is AXA in Gorron, I've been with them for 18 years. They accept UK no claims bonuses too.

Sorry your purchase fell through, but there's always a reason. I did see an Aston drive past the restaurant in Fougerolles a couple of weeks ago, maybe you?
You're right about the village having a great bakery, the French champions for Brioche apparently.

If you need an agents name for houses, contact Amanda Fellows from Leggetts, she's a personal friend, she sold our Chateau and handled the place we're in now.

Good luck. Les.

[Calinours]

LesXRN said:

“she sold our Chateau”

When you went out from the chateau, I’ll bet you used to say “shall we take the Aston..?”

Ta for the insurance tip btw.

[andyduncan]

I also use AXA for all my cars and the house too, I'm in Alp Maritimes and pay around 1600 Euros for the Vanquish S and 700 for my BMW M5.
They also accepted my NCB from Hong Kong...

I imported my AM from Switzerland (in 2019) and the M5 (in 2015) from Germany both of which was relatively straightforward, albeit they are both LHD.

[LesXRN]

Calinours said:

When you went out from the chateau, I’ll bet you used to say “shall we take the Aston..?”

Ta for the insurance tip btw.

No, I had a modified Jag XFR Le Mans edition back then, I sold it to a local English Butcher here. Selling the Chateau gave us the chance to buy the Aston & Range Rover, plus lots of model railway stuff, that's my next project. My wife does prefer to take the Aston and often does, even to nip to the local shop.

Hope all goes well for you. Cheers.

[Calinours]

LesXRN said:

Calinours said:

When you went out from the chateau, I’ll bet you used to say “shall we take the Aston..?”
.

No, I had a modified Jag XFR Le Mans edition back then, I sold it to a local English Butcher here.

Not “Fred Elliot’s” butchers in Gorron? I’d spotted (I think) an L322 when I found that place and nipped in for proper some proper sausages and bacon. I can’t understand why food is so expensive and generally poor in France, the Brits don’t know how good they have it.