The six month rule and other things to know about bringing a British car to France

I’ve read that it isn’t worth it, and very interested in other opinions. We have a 2015 American VW Golf Sportwagen TDI ( ie diesel) that we’d so much prefer to keep and one day bring to France. Would love input on how that would be to try to bring our beloved vehicle to France.

Update on my tale of woe above; I have at last received the Carte Grise for my Golf last week, a full 14 months after my original application. The Carte Grise itself has cost an additional 1,089 euros, so the whole importation and re-registering process has cost me well over 4,000 euros! It's a money-making process if ever there was one and all the more annoying when you see some of the absolute wrecks, which are already on French roads perfectly legally, although how they pass the Controle Technique beats me!

We are trying to import our used car into France, but have been refused a quitus fiscale by our local Maison des Impots, who told us that we can drive a British registered car for as long as we want. The Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés (ANTS) also told us the same. This is not our understanding and goes against your report above.<br /><br />Last year we imported another car without any of these problems.<br />

Sorry, but the tale of woe above (Mr Witton) is not typical at all. VW are a problem, but most manufacturers have happily supplied CofC documents for the several UK vans and a couple of cars that my friends here have brought over. There are a few specialist firms who will help with all the documentation and processes, for a fee, if it all seems too daunting. The main problem is that it is taking so long at the moment, but so long as you have reported the vehicle as "exported" to DVLC, and you have evidence of having applied (a receipt of application is normally sent to you within a week or two), then the cops on both sides of the Channel seem fine with that. Of course, post-Brexit, it may all change.

My strong advice is don't bother at all - this process is a beaurocratic minefield as only the French can make it and could cost you thousands.<br />I imported a Left Hand Drive Golf GTi into France last December and still don't have French registration yet, so far the process has cost me over 3,000 (three thousand) euros in fees and travelling, not to mention the time spent on the paperwork.<br />The UK branches of your manufacturer won't help with the European CoC; they will redirect you to their French counterparts, who in the case of VW were no help whatsoever.<br />I therefore had to embark on DRIRE process described, which they devolve for a series of technical tests to a company called UTAC CERAM (who only have two sites in the whole country - Paris and Salon-de-Provence) and which costs 2,038 euros for the full set of tests. This was inspite of me already having obtained the Controle Technique without a problem, but that wasn't good enough for the DRIRE some of whose tests were an exact repeat of the Controle Technique (e.g. emissions and brakes). There are all sorts of rules which they don't tell you about beforehand, such as that both your wing mirrors MUST be convex in shape. Anything else and they are non conforming and they check them with a credit card initially to see if they are flat or not. One of mine was flat; cue a replacement glass and another 240 euros for the re-test, which I am currently awaiting. My advice is to hire a car on arrival in France until you find the French registered car you want to buy, it could save you alot of time and money.

Would you be kind enough to expand upon this remark. please? I'm just in the process of plunging into this morass of bureaucracy and would appreciate any helpful insights I can get.

Apply direct to the uk supplier of your vehichle, eg renault uk, and it could save you a lot of money.

Typical French beaurocracy. There must be a simpler way