The process began back on March 4, when Mr Mike Shearing formerly of 4 Longs Yard, Bradford on Avon, wrote to Honda Central for a Certificate of Conformity, which confirms the car meets UK requirements. He also approached the Honda Jazz garage in Chippenham for a major service for Honda Jazz LR06 BGR, also formerly of 4 Longs Yard, Bradford on Avon, to include a change of headlights so as to comply with French regulations. The completed service was duly signed off. Three weeks ago we moved to Cravant les Coteaux, France and last week we began the process of registering our car here.
The first stage was to acquire the French equivalent of the British MOT which is known as the Contrôle Technique. Armed with original purchase invoice for our car and our blue UK car registration form - V5C - we approached the special unit in Chinon for an MOT. We also took along the Certificate of Conformity from Honda UK, proof of our address in Cravant (utility bill) and proof of identity (passport). This took about an hour during which we wandered down the road for a coffee. Came back. Car had passed with flying colours and was awarded its Contrôle Technique.
Stage two of the process was to acquire what's called a Quitus fiscal. Essentially it proves that your car is in good standing, tax/vat etc., and is required in France for the registration of a vehicle purchased either new or used in another country within the European Union. For this we went to the Centre des Impôts in Chinon, taking with us the V5C, the original purchase invoice, proof of identity, Certificate of Conformity and proof of address in Cravant. Charming lady at Chinon. Very helpful. All was in order, so we then walked round the corner to the sous-préfecture where according to their website they would help us with stage three.
Stage three is the acquisition of a Carte Grise - an important document (as are all the others). It is the official title of ownership of a motor vehicle in France. The ladies at the sous-préfecture were again very helpful but most apologetic as they explained that this was no longer handled at Chinon and we would have to go to Tours. A day later we went to Tours by train. There isn't an appointment system for this sort of thing, so the earlier you go, the better chance you stand of being dealt with. For stage three we needed the Certificate of Conformity, the Quitus Fiscal, the Contrôle Technique Certificate, proof of identity, proof of address, the V5C and in addition the Certificat d'Immatriculation (number plate form), which is downloadable, fortunately from the internet. There were only three people ahead of us. Our turn came. We explained to the lady behind the counter who, what, where etc., and gave her all the paperwork. It was all there and all correct. However she had never processed documents for an English car before. It took a little while. She again was very helpful, but there was so much information and small details to be transferred on to her system, that she got into a little bit of a muddle (we would have as well) and had to get some additional help. Finally an hour later, we moved to the next kiosk where we paid the tax on the car for France. This time they keep the V5C, the Quitus Fiscale and the Certificate of Conformity. The carte grise is sent to you in the post. Ours arrived two days later. Very efficient.
So now to this afternoon, Tuesday 23 April. First of all we went to our regular insurers and got the car covered. The insurance lady Sophie is remarkably efficient, twenty years in the business, so very well informed and explained everything thoroughly. From the centre of Chinon we went to the outskirts, to a car accessories and garage place to see if they did number plates. They did. We chose the style of number plate, gave them our carte grise so they could take down details for number plate printing, which they do on the premises in a matter of minutes. The old British number plates were removed and the new ones put on the car. The whole process took about twenty minutes.
It sounds very involved and paperwork heavy. Probably it is. Mike had done a brilliant job of researching on the web and luckily found a site written by someone who'd gone through the process. Everything they'd learnt was on the site, so that those following in the same footsteps had an easy ride. Thank you!
As a result we had all the correct papers, got everything done in the right order, everyone was very helpful, no hitches anywhere and best of all, we're now legit on the roads here in France.
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