# UK car in France - insurance problems



## M&S

I need some help - PLEASE - I bought a UK car in France, it has UK plates. I continued to insure the car with the company who the previous owner insured with (Aviva - France) I am now told that I will have to register my car in France if I wish to renew the insurance. I have taken the car off the road and it is not now insured.
I have a home in France which I visit now and again, I am a UK citizen. I have a car in the UK which is insured
I have arranged and obtained a Control certificate.
The car is a classic Mini Cooper convertable and it looks better with UK plates - RHD
Does anyone know how I can insure this car. Can I register it in France but keep UK plates
It is just a 'fun' car which I use now and again
Ideas please
Mike


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## Crabtree

You are required to re register a uk car in France after one month if you are resident and after six months if the the vehicle is to be kept permanently in France say for use as a car for holidays and the insurance company is quite correct in withdrawing cover You cannot have UK plates on a french reg car The person who sold you the car should not have done so because it should have re registered by them You also have a further problem because French law requires a continual insurance record
My advice to you is to register the car with the V5 with DVLA get it insured with a UK company take it back to the UK sell it and use the cash to buy a french registered car if you feel you need a car permanently in France but TBH why would you?
There are some UK companies that claim to be able to insure UK cars in France but this is only if the car is temporarily out of the UK eg someone on a work contract in France so be careful about them


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## M&S

Many thanks for this


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## Clic Clac

What is its current status with regard to UK 'road tax' & MOT ?


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## BackinFrance

I assume, but don't know, that the car is registered to its current owner in the UK. I t the OP may have bitten off more than he can chew for what he describes as a fun car.


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## M&S

M&S said:


> Many thanks for this





BackinFrance said:


> I assume, but don't know, that the car is registered to its current owner in the UK. I t the OP may have bitten off more than he can chew for what he describes as a fun car.


On the V5 I indicated that the car was to be exported, I'm not intending to bring it back to the UK
I don't wish to part with the car as it is exactly as I say: 'a fun car'
The car is a rebuilt Mini Cooper, I have had it totally stripped down and re-built, as it is a convertible, it's just great to drive in the sun.
Looks as if I will have to register it in the French system & then insure it again on its new, French plates


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## Zombies

For me, if not already dont send the v5 off as exported, it gives you or someone else options with the car, just mark the car as Sorned in uk.
It will now be liable to import duty
Insurance as is, for non eu vehicles under eu you're allowed 12 months to register, in fact, you have as long as it takes
Insurance companies or the person behind the desk will want evidence of you starting the process and state you have x weeks, so youcan't argue.
Some people might not agree with export thing but fact is exported french vehicles are never removed from system, easy to bring one back.


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## Clic Clac

Zombies said:


> For me, if not already dont send the v5 off as exported, it gives you or someone else options with the car, *just mark the car as Sorned in uk.*


You are advising OP to break the law.

Could be a big problem, depending on what details DVLA already holds on the vehicle.


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## Zombies

Clic Clac said:


> You are advising OP to break the law.
> 
> Could be a big problem, depending on what details DVLA already holds on the vehicle.


So what will happen?
I know the answer


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## EuroTrash

Zombies said:


> So what will happen?
> I know the answer


Wow, is that generally your approach to deciding whether or not to obey the law?
Do you have a twin brother who calls himself Boris?


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## Clic Clac

EuroTrash said:


> Wow, is that generally your approach to deciding whether or not to obey the law?
> Do you have a twin brother who calls himself Boris?


Boris Zombie 🤣



Zombies said:


> So what will happen?


It will depend on what the previous owner told DVLA, which may be different to what they told OP. 

He could end up falling between two stools. 
Everything is on a computer somewhere these days.


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## M&S

Clic Clac said:


> Boris Zombie 🤣
> 
> 
> It will depend on what the previous owner told DVLA, which may be different to what they told OP.
> 
> He could end up falling between two stools.
> Everything is on a computer somewhere these days.


I just sent the export bit of the V5 back to DVLA - id it a few moths ago


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## Lffsam

I think then, that you are between a rock and a hard place. From personal experience, if you wish to 're import the car to the uk, you must inform the HMRC of the date the car returns to the uk. Then jump through lots of hoops to essentially get the old registration number 're issued to the car. You will not legally be able to drive the car before the new v5 is issued. You may struggle with the 're registration as you will not have a registration document from the country that you exported the vehicle to.
If you proceed to register the car in France, be prepared to pay import duty (5-10%), plus the current rate of TVA on the purchase price plus the import duty. Depending on the age of the car ( pre 1998 ), no certificate of conformity will be available, further complicating the registration process in France. I wish you luck in these new and difficult times which ever road you go down.


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## manuka

We have a camper van registered in Uk with Uk plates and we should be moving over to France to a long term rental after January, eventually buying a house. We want to use the camper to visit houses- so we can sleep over in the camper and check out houses and different regions where we may have house viewings. From this thread it looks as if we can only use the camper for a month! Which puts spanner in works. Once we don't need the camper for the house viewing, and have settled on a property, my husband would put it on UK eBay returning to UK to sell it. But from the info here it looks like we have to let go of the camper before that- after month? Anyone have a link for this to clarify the rules please?


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## Befuddled

This has become considerably more complicated post-Brexit. There were hundreds of expats running their UK registered cars here while being permanent residents ignoring the law and playing a dangerous game with insurance. Many even SORNed them when in fact they can only be declared off road in the UK. Once they left UK they were meant to be officially exported and then French registered but many couldn't be bothered to go through the process. Insurance brokers used to turn a blind eye and kept renewing policies but the authorities began cracking down on this. Sadly, a lot of these cars get sold on to newcomers who are not up to speed with the rules and they are the ones who lose out.


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## Zombies

manuka said:


> We have a camper van registered in Uk with Uk plates and we should be moving over to France to a long term rental after January, eventually buying a house.........


Will you still have a UK address whilst in France with the UK van?
If so you're ok, check insurance for abroad use - LV do 180 days abroad, Saga do 365 days
If not, maybe register at a family UK address.
The absolute rule is if you're no longer UK resident and live and plan on France residency then you must register the UK vehicle but its easier said, you'll need utilities in your name, rent agreement to prove address etc to start the registration process which you don't want to do so the best option is using a family address whilst you get settled.


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## Crabtree

And when you have an accident in France with the camper the UK insurance will ask you to provide evidence that you live at the false address eg utility bills You also commit the criminal offence of obtaining insurance by a deception and the insurance walks away You then get flashed by a speed camera and the paper work is sent to the false address so you do not get it for several weeks and the fine has gone through the roof as you have not nominated the driver in time You get stopped by the French Customs at a motorway who after studying the french equivalent of ANPR decide that you have indeed imported the van from an EU country so you get a huge fine have to pay import taxes etc and possibly have the van confiscated 
These are just a few scenarios that I can think of off the top of my head all of which means your french dream has turned into a nightmare before it starts so ignore anything that Zombies has said if you value your savings and your sanity 
My best advice is to ditch the van and plan on staying at cheap french hotels whilst house viewing


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## Zombies

Crabtree said:


> And when you have an accident in France with the camper the UK insurance will ask you to provide evidence that you live at the false address eg utility bills You also commit the criminal offence of obtaining insurance by a deception and the insurance walks away You then get flashed by a speed camera and the paper work is sent to the false address ...


I had an accident in 2010 in UK after 2 weeks whilst staying at a caravan on a farm, I was never asked to provide proof of living ant the address, I was actually french resident for 6 years.
Anyone can think of a scenario but used the UK farm address for the UK car insurance I set up 2 weeks prior, im not saying do this, im saying its an option

In fact, its probaly what 99% of brits do when they move to France but because they eventually register their vehicle, you must do it now because I have
I bet Crabtree this is exactly what you did when you moved to France, or did you go over on foot and walk to the house


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## ko12

Zombies said:


> I had an accident in 2010 in UK after 2 weeks whilst staying at a caravan on a farm, I was never asked to provide proof of living ant the address, I was actually french resident for 6 years.
> Anyone can think of a scenario but used the UK farm address for the UK car insurance I set up 2 weeks prior, im not saying do this, im saying its an option
> 
> In fact, its probaly what 99% of brits do when they move to France but because they eventually register their vehicle, you must do it now because I have
> I bet Crabtree this is exactly what you did when you moved to France, or did you go over on foot and walk to the house


I recall that when we moved (permanently) to France (2006), taking one of our UK cars with us (donating the other to our eldest son), it was something of a nightmare as regards insurance. I no longer recall the details, but it was possible to do it all legally. The re-registration in France was not difficult; the problem was getting the insurance right to cover the period we drove from UK to France and changing the insurance to our French address/French immatriculation.


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## Zombies

ko12 said:


> I recall that when we moved (permanently) to France (2006), taking one of our UK cars with us (donating the other to our eldest son), it was something of a nightmare as regards insurance. I no longer recall the details, but it was possible to do it all legally. The re-registration in France was not difficult; the problem was getting the insurance right to cover the period we drove from UK to France and changing the insurance to our French address/French immatriculation.


Registration of a car was (as france goes) straight forward, specially using ANTS, 20 years ago you could get away with french insurance on a UK car for how ever many years (might not be legal UK wise but this is France and they insured you) but now its not so easy
The OP states they marked the car as exported, it simply has to be reg'd in France, if not then re reg'd in UK and get mot, insurance etc etc
Keeping it on UK plates in the French system because it looks better is not happening


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## Befuddled

I have just read the topic from the first post. It got me to wondering what the car actually is. "Classic" Mini Cooper. Does that mean a proper old school Mini with 10" wheels with tyres that are almost impossible to find these days? The convertible was never a factory option but a modification. And the French authorities hate that sort of thing. Even if such mods were done professionally by Crayford, Radford or Wood & Pickett it would be an uphill struggle and probably a case for registration with the FFVE. FFVE - Fédération Française des Véhicules d'Époque -


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