Register an Imported Car in France

Part One - First Car

Registering a car imported from another EU country is not difficult, but it does take some time and there are many steps, some of which are not required if it is fewer than four years from the car's first registration.

What is clear is that not all garages, prefectures, etc follow the same rules, so there will always be steps here that can be left out, or additional ones that will be added in.  This guide does however describe the process that I have been through to register my Saab 9-3 in France.

The first step is to make sure that you have all of the documents required to obtain the French certificat d'immatriculation (colloquially called a Carte Grise).  The required documents are:

• Your registration document.  For Britain, this is the V5;
• A Certificate of Conformity - In my opinion this should be provided by your vehicle's manufacturer with the car, but unfortunately it isn't. If you bought the car new from a main dealer, then you can ask them to approach the manufacturer for you. For me, Squire Furneaux in Dunstable contacted Saab and after a little bit of prodding got Saab to send me a duplicate of the Certificate of Conformity. If you don't have this option, there are many online services that will supply a Certificate of Conformity for 150 to 200 euros. For cars registered before 2006 you can take them to the successor to DRIRE who can issue an attestation, but I think that this is probably only suitable for where it is impossible to obtain the manufacturer's Certificate of Conformity;
• A Quitus Fiscal, from the service des impôts. There is no charge for this document, which basically states that you do not need to pay any VAT on the car;
• Your passport or identity card;
• A bill from your French address to show that you are living in France.

When you have all of these document you need to go to a prefecture with this PDF form requesting that your car be registered. If you are not comfortable that you know the answers, pick up a form at the prefecture and have them fill it in from your V5. One of the massively beneficial changes that has recently been made in France is that there is now a national car registration system, so any prefecture will do.

Because my Saab was more than four year old, I needed to have a Controle Technique (French MOT) before I could be issued with a permanent registration, so to begin with I needed to obtain a Certificat Provisoire d'Immatriculation (CPI) that is valid for one month and that enabled me to register it with temporary number plates so that I could take it for its MOT.  The prefecture charged about 40 euros for this, and the plates themselves were another 40 euros.  These registrations start with WW and enable you to drive the car in France.  You cannot take the car outside France with WW plates.

It was while getting the CPI that I bumped up against the infamous French bureaucracy.  The young man at the prefecture took all of the details off the English Certificate of Conformity, issued the CPI, and then said that he would not be able to issue a permanent Carte Grise because he couldn't understand the Certificate of Conformity.  To get around this would require about four weeks and a lot of expense, and I needed the car to return to England the following week.

With the CPI, I was able to arrange insurance and drive to the Controle Technique.  My car failed because one of the new headlights that I had purchased was broken, but luckily I had purchased an additional set for my second car.  I changed the broken headlamp and took the car back for its retest, which it passed.

Knowing that our local prefecture would not give me a full Carte Grise with the Certificate of Conformity in English, I decided to try my luck with the neighbouring prefecture.  I queued for three hours with the other 300 people trying to get their documents, and after a little bit of discussion they issued me with another Certificat Provisoire d'Immatriculation but with the proper registration number on it.

It was then back to the garage for a new set of number plates and then to the insurance broker for a new insurance disc to display in my window.

A few days later the Certificat d'Immatriculation (carte grise) turned up by registered post.

This took me about four weeks from start to finish, with the longest time being the wait for the Certificate of Conformity.  If I had known that this was required I could have re-registered the car within just a few days.

Finally, thanks again to Phil at Squire Furneaux in Dunstable as without him I would still be walking!

Part Two - Second Car

I followed my own advice and gathered together all the required documents; V5 registration document, quitus fiscal showing that I didn't have to pay VAT or other taxes, proof of residence, certificate of conformity and passport. 

I knew that the prefecture in Loir et Cher was a difficult place, but as everything that had caused me a problem last time had been addressed there would not be any problem with getting a provisional registration certificate so that I could get the car through its MOT Controle Technique.

Oh, silly me, I really shouldn't believe that the French bureaucrats have changed! Last time having a duplicate certificate of conformity was ok but it had to be in French. This time, having it in English was fine but it couldn't possibly be a duplicate.  You might think that this was different functionaries interpreting the rules differently, but in Blois there is only one functionary and he makes the rules up as he goes along.

However, contrary to the advice that I thought that I had been given previously I did not need to change to a French registration to obtain an MOT Controle Technique. So, all I had to do was change the headlamps and take it for its MOT Controle Technique, which it duly sailed through.

The next day we went to Tours where the Carte Grise was issued without a problem.  We now have two cars registered and, more importantly, insured in France.

Certainly there was a lot less drama with this one, and once all the paperwork was organised then it took only two days, one for the Controle Technique and one for the Carte Grise.