Buying a 1980s French Registered Car

[neutral 3]

I am negotiating to buy a car that was sold new in France in the late 1980s.
It was recently bought over to England by a trader.
It still has both of its French number plates ( region 25 ) and its Carte Gris.
I’ve no idea when it was last used on the road in France, guessing up to 10 years.
My plan is to take it back to France and leave it @ friends place to use when I’m over there until ive bought my own place out there.
Anyone know what will need doing to make it road legal in France again ? Eg MOT type test, etc etc.

[smifffymoto]

I would check that you can own it,you have no address,you are not resident and with Brexit,that’s another spanner in the works.
Pose the question on facebook group,registering vehicles in France(or similar).

[Poshbury]

As stated above, you can't legally do that. You have to be fiscally resident and have access to the ANTS system.
You would also need a 'Certificate de cessation' from the previous registered keeper, without that, you're in a world of aggro.

[LSDiff]

You could also:
1. Register it in the UK and then when you're settled over here, re-register it in France
2. Register it in your friend's name
There's always a way if the car is worth it.

[smifffymoto]

What happens if he gets tickets or fines?
More importantly,points!!!!!!

[Lee UK]

You dont need to be resident but you do need an address.
Norauto etc can get the CG changed into your name or someone who has access to ANTS can do it for you.
You will need some change of owners forms

[Rushjob]

Whose name is the Carte Grise in? If it is who you're buying it from then not too difficult. If it is not, or the carte has been crossed through then its a pain if not almost impossible to register to you in France......
Edited to say if it's a UK trader I'd say you have little to no chance to get it back onto French plates unless it is registered in the UK then re exported.

Edited by Rushjob on Saturday 9th October 12:05

[Lee UK]

Rushjob]........ you have little to no chance to get it back onto French plates unless it is registered in the UK then re exported. said:

Still has FR plates
I have bought 2 off dealers and we blagged owners last name on the forms, not the right way but gets it done

Edited by Lee UK on Saturday 9th October 13:04

[neutral 3]

[quote=LSDiff]You could also:
1. Register it in the UK and then when you're settled over here, re-register it in France
2. Register it in your friend's name
There's always a way if the car is worth it.[/

Yes, it’s definitely worth it, it will be a keeper.

[smifffymoto]

What is it?

[Rushjob]

Lee UK said:

Still has FR plates
I have bought 2 off dealers and we blagged owners last name on the forms, not the right way but gets it done

Edited by Lee UK on Saturday 9th October 13:04

Sorry Lee but that means absolutely nothing.

You register now through ANTS it's all done online - no going to the Prefecture any more and speaking to a human....

With the online system, you need a code which is held by (or can be sent by ANTS to ) the registered owner of the car, there has to be a digital certificate de cession entered on the system and if it's more than 3 months old you've got problems..

If the CG is not in the name of the person you are buying it from, or the company selling it is set up with the French govt as a registered dealer, then getting the CG in your name is VERY difficult.

If you look on Leboncoin, the French gumtree you'll see loads of vehicles for sale with lost CG's or CG en retard, or not in the current sellers name and they are sold cheap, that's because the Govt make it extremely difficult to register them if they've been through several pairs of hands without the Gov getting their registration fees!

There are companies advertising that they can sort this for you, but I haven't heard any good reports coming through.

The French immatriclution system is VERY different to the UK one and is getting tighter each year

Much easier to import to the UK, so much easier

Bonne chance!

[Pete54]

You need to understand that the French Carte gris, is legal proof of ownership - very different to the UK.

So unless there is a very clear and straight forward ownership trail - it is no longer a vehicle., hence the early comments regarding parts vehicles

If it is outside France, then the registration should have been cancelled. If it was not then you need to (cancel the French registration - which can only be done by the owner!) and establish UK registration and then export to France. If that was not done then in theory it may still be owned by someone in France. So YOU cannot register it!

If you can find them, you may be able to pay them to help, but frankly why would they?

We have just been through this process with a French vehicle, which was fortunately correctly exported. Even with help it is tricky......

[lowdrag]

It is required when selling a car that the MOT (Carte Grise) be no more than six months old. I live in France and have dealt with importing three cars with no real problems, including a classic. If you put the car on UK plates there are still insurers who will give a 12 month green card too but all insurers this year have now refused to insure a UK registered car if the owner's address is in France, so make sure you use a UK address. I used to be insured with Saga and used my daughter's address while I still had UK plates and a quick look at their site confirms that European cover is included within the EU with no green card required. It was for a few months after Brexit but the EU relented on that one. HTH

[Rushjob]

lowdrag said:

It is required when selling a car that the MOT (Carte Grise) be no more than six months old. I live in France and have dealt with importing three cars with no real problems, including a classic. If you put the car on UK plates there are still insurers who will give a 12 month green card too but all insurers this year have now refused to insure a UK registered car if the owner's address is in France, so make sure you use a UK address. I used to be insured with Saga and used my daughter's address while I still had UK plates and a quick look at their site confirms that European cover is included within the EU with no green card required. It was for a few months after Brexit but the EU relented on that one. HTH

Think you mean that the Controle Technique is less than 6 months old, not the CG

[ReverendCounter]

Rushjob said:

If you look on Leboncoin, the French gumtree you'll see loads of vehicles for sale with lost CG's or CG en retard, or not in the current sellers name and they are sold cheap, that's because the Govt make it extremely difficult to register them if they've been through several pairs of hands without the Gov getting their registration fees! !

Bit late to respond to this specifically, but this seems like it opens up a business opportunity:

1) buy up anything useful/ interesting advertised as lost CG/CG en retard
2) bring back to UK
3) make any repairs
4) MOT/register in UK
5) re-export to France + sell
6) profit
7) repeat from 1)

[Pete54]

Reverend has the bones of a scheme. but it is a little more complicated than that. As the owner you would need to import it to France, pay the taxes and then sell it.

Frankly it makes more sense to buy a 'non-car' in France, bring it back annd sell it in the UK. Getting it back to France is full of issues - if they check the VIN and discover it is a 'non-car' you are stuffed. There are a variety of these issues - any linkage to the non-car French registration will stop the scheme.

As with most things in France there are few ways of beating the system.

[Lee UK]

Rushjob said:

Sorry Lee but that means absolutely nothing.

You register now through ANTS it's all done online - no going to the Prefecture any more and speaking to a human....
!

I did it on ANTS

[lowdrag]

Rushjob said:

Think you mean that the Controle Technique is less than 6 months old, not the CG

Put it down to old age! Apologies for the slip-up.