Importing Your UK Vehicle Into France

We often get asked if you can import your UK vehicle into France. There is more cost (notably the customs tax paid on the value of the vehicle – this was not required before) and regulations post Brexit but the simple answer is, yes you can. However, you will need to make sure you have French car insurance for your British registrated car.

One insurance provider often deals with UK clients and here, Géraldine Capdordy from Agence Generali, explains the process and what her insurance company will require from you. She also lists what documents you will require to import your vehicle into France.

We can cover your car while it still has its UK plates for a maximum of 3 months, provided you start the procedure to register your car in France immediately (see below), knowing that ANTS can take up to 3 months to issue the Carte Grise.

If you take insurance with us, your car will be covered in 42 countries in Europe, however, while the car remains on UK plates, we would advise against driving it in the UK as the authorities there are unlikely to accept a French insurance (according to UK regulations, if you have a UK registered car, it must be insured with a UK insurer).

To be able to make a quote for your car insurance we would need to know :

Your precise address in France, your postal address, if different, and your telephone number.

Your date of birth and the date you obtained your driving licence, as well as for any other regular driver of the car (e.g. spouse or partner).

Your place of birth.

Whether or not you have a closed garage at your house in France.

Your profession in France for both of you.

What is your no-claims history ? The French no-claims system works differently than the English system. In France, it takes 13 years to acquire a maximum no-claims bonus of 50 %. Thanks to a special agreement we have with our headquarters, we can take your English NCB into account (if you’ve not had insurance in France already), and we would need to have a copy of your no-claims bonus attestation for the last three years (or more if you can) from your current /previous insurer.

Have you had within the last 5 years any suspension or removal of your driver’s licence? If so please can you give us the details?
The full details of the car (preferably a copy of the registration document by fax or e-mail) stating : make, full commercial name, date of first registration, date you acquired the vehicle, chassis number, engine capacity , puissance fiscale (CV).

The cover you require, in case of fully comprehensive please also state : the new value of the car, the price for which you’ve bought the car, the current mileage.

HOW TO IMPORT YOUR CAR IN FRANCE

You need :

1 – Conformity certificate (“Attestation d’identification du véhicule à un type national ou communautaire”)

You can ask your car dealer in your country for a European conformity paper for cars whose first date of registration comes after January 98, or, if not possible, ask this document from the import company in France. For cars first registered before 1998, only the import company in France (e.g. Renault, Citroën, Peugeot) will be able to deliver this document.

We can provide the import company’s data if necessary.

2 – « Certificat de contrôle technique » (equivalent of the MOT certificate)

. Only if the car is older than 4 years

. This certificate should not be older than 6 months

. There are control centers in every town

. You can take your car to a local garage first, to have the car checked and replace anything necessary to ensure the test requirements will be satisfied. For cars coming from England, headlights will have to be changed.

. Cost of the technical control: around 80 €.

3– Custom or Tax form

UK or non-EU registered vehicles : All imported vehicles will require the certificat de dédouanement n° 846 A (customs clearance certificate), to prove duties and taxes have been paid, before being able to complete vehicle registration.

EU registered vehicle : « Certificat d’acquisition d’un véhicule terrestre à moteur » .You have to fill this in at the Centre des Impôts (tax office) of your area. If the car is older than six months and has more than 3 500 kms, you won’t have to pay any tax.

4 – Finally, you need to log on to the government website https://immatriculation.ants.gouv.fr/Vos-demarches/Immatriculer-un-vehicule-d-occasion-en-provenance-de-l-etranger and follow the instructions for registering your car

To this purpose, the following documents are required :

. Original registration document from your country (keep a copy for you)

. Conformity certificate (1)

. Technical control certificate if appropriate (2)

. Tax or customs certificate (3)

. Copy of your passport

. Proof of residency (copy of an electricity bill, or water, or house insurance bill).

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT, BY LAW, YOU MUST MAKE YOUR APPLICATION FOR A CARTE GRISE WITHIN ONE MONTH OF ARRIVAL/PURCHASE OF THE CAR, OR RISK A FINE

We can provide all types of insurance cover (house & contents, car , health, business, travel and life) and all the members of our team speak English.

You can have a look on our website for more information :   www.insurance.fr

Géraldine can be contacted below and we thank her for her very informative article. We hope you have found this helpful.