Re-registering abroad, anyone done it? (1 Viewer)

[mikethebike147]

We bought a nearly new LHD Hymer in the UK in October last year, with the sole aim of taking it over to France and keeping it there. We spend about half of the year there. But getting it re-registered with French plates is proving a nightmare. We have established the way forward but it appears we have to have a Certificate of Conformity and it must be in French. We have two documents that look like that, one in Italian (presumably from Fiat) and one in German (from Hymer). I went on the Hymer website weeks ago and filled in one of those 'contact us' online forms, but never received any reply. Does anyone know how I can contact Hymer more directly, either in Germany or better still France?

 

[bjandlin]

Kundendienst@hymer.com
Try here, always helpful when I've contacted them. It's customer service.
Seems they only issue C of C in German.
French registeration an expensive mine field. Wouldn't do in again. Better to buy there, we did.
They even charge silly money for carte gris.
Be careful with insurance, most only seem to give 90 day cover outside France, limits winter long stays.
Guess you have French address.
If you read DVLA it says your UK license doesn't cover you to drive non UK plated vehicle in UK.
Barrie.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Yes we bought a Hymer from Bundesvan ( great company) and imported it to France, took six months and €1,100. But it is doable. You need a friend very fluent in French and technical. See my post here: https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/importing-from-germany-to-france.175599/#post-2840872 post #3.
My Hymer CofC was in German with a covering letter in French the one from Fiat was in Italian. Both were accepted.
How far have you got so far. Ours was a heavy weight which made things more difficult. Get a full MOT from the UK before exporting.

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[OldAgeTravellers]

Just read @bjandlin post above again. Do you intend to keep it in France? If you take it back to the UK beware of the three month rule. If you stay in the UK with it more than three months you are supposed to register in the UK. A friend got picked up on ANPR cameras with his French car even though he had been back and forward with it and they tried to fine him for not reregisteing. Luckily he could prove with his ferry tickets which he had kept. Always keep ferry tickets.

 

[laneside]

We did it two years ago and it was reasonably easy, yes we needed c of c but ours was a Rapido so no problem there. We then had to take all the documents to the imports tax office to confirm if any or all taxes were payed. From there it was our local prefecture who issued us with a temporary carte grise to obtain insurance with and required a signed blank cheque, the carte grise came eventually and the cheque was cashed for about 450 euros.

Big warning..... since then all has changed and I believe the local prefecture cannot do it and the system has slipped into bottom gear with huge delays. Oh ours did not require an MOT so a CT may be required and of course proof that the headlamps conform

Good luck, yes it can be done but I would not do it again.

 

[bjandlin]

Sorry, should have said that fully comp insurance is limited to 90 days, after that reverts to third party.

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[OldAgeTravellers]

Sorry, should have said that fully comp insurance is limited to 90 days, after that reverts to third party.

Do you mean UK insurance? Because French Insurance certainly isn't limited like that. But they have a problem on foreign plates over six months. But much better than UK insurers. At least you get a permanent green card for all countries that touch the Med which includes Bosnia.
But expensive, no road tax though. Our little scooter is going to cost nearly €250 whereas it would be less than £100 in the UK.

 

[mikethebike147]

Hi folks, thanks for your input. Sorry for the delay but have been back and forth to the UK and not had either internet or time lol. Ok, since my original post I have had a reply from Hymer Loisirs. They seem to be saying that I need to send them all the details of the vehicle incl chassis numbers etc and photos of it and a copy of the carte gris. That is something I have no idea about, I see one of you mentioned it above, what is it exactly? And how do I get one? They also seem to be asking for a floor plan as well as details of the interier, will the one that Hymer show on their website be suitable? It was mentioned about CofC being in German and that with a French translation is acceptable. But who has to do the French translation? Anyone French?? Or does it have to be done by someone officially ie a Hymer dealer?
I am aware that the system has changed and that you can no longer go to the local prefecture to do it, it has to be done online and that throws up all sorts of problems for anyone who is not 'domiciled' in France but has an address that they have as a 'holiday home'. But it seems there is a possible way round that, as the online system is overrun and clogged up and hence not working most of the time, you can get a motor dealer to do it for you (so long as you have all the right paperwork) as their online system is a different one the one for the public. So for a fee they will do the registration for you. A few things that are still puzzling me. On this Hymer of mine is it likely that the headlights can simply be adjusted to dip to the other side? If not then will I have to fork out for new lights? It's a B778 Premium line if that helps. Secondly will the speedo have to be changed? It currently shows mph in large numerals and kph in small numerals inside the mph ones.
Finally I'm not sure just what it is that Hymer Loisirs are going to do for me for the fee they are asking, here is the email they sent me:
Monsieur,

Nous vous remercions pour votre courriel et pour votre intérêt envers notre marque..

Pour les importations en France nous fournissons une attestation partielle pour la partie cellule et le fabriquant du porteur (ex : FIAT, MERCEDES…) vous fournira celle pour la partie châssis/moteur.

Afin de pouvoir vous établir ce document, nous vous prions de bien vouloir nous faire parvenir par retour de courrier à l’adresse mentionnée ci-dessous, les éléments suivants :

Le type du véhicule

Numéro de série du véhicule (6 ou 8 chiffres)

Numéro de châssis

Photocopie de la carte grise

Photos ¾ avant et arrière

Plan de l’intérieur du véhicule

Chèque d’un montant d’ € 275 à l’ordre d’Hymer Loisirs.

Le délai d’obtention du document est d’environ 4 semaines et nous précisons également qu’un passage auprès de la DREAL de votre région sera nécessaire pour l’immatriculation de votre véhicule en France.

En attendant de vous lire,

Veuillez agréer, Monsieur, en l’expression de nos sincères salutations.

 

[yodeli]

Anyone French?

Yep! I'm French! Give me a little time as I'm busy working right now and I have to read your post with all the required attention!
Be back in a while When you want me to help you just type @yodeli

Amicalement
Frankie

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[yodeli]

First of all NO HYMER translation it is just not worth a single penny. I've been there and 275 euros for NOTHING! Same with FIAT. What year is your motorhome is the main question for a start

 

[Lenny HB]

Well I can answer the one on the headlamps.
Being LHD I would expect it to have LHD headlamps which have been adjusted to flat dipping, just need to get your hand behind the lamp and flip the lever over. Even if it has RHD headlamps they will also be adjustable for flat dipping so no problem either way.

 

[yodeli]

Second point: Carte grise is the official paper of any motorised vehicle in France, and of course you can't have it unless it is registered in France. There! We starting with "the snake biting its tail" french saying!

Third point : Where is your holiday home? I mean what departement ? Is there a DREAL there or do you know which Dreal you'll have to deal with? If you know the phone number please put it on here so I can give them a ring and see if they are the sturburn kind or helping people more like!
Then ... I'll have to work on it and see what can be done. Please do not spend money on this before you know all about it!

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[yodeli]

Just realised that you said the MoHo was nearly new. Certificate of conformity is to be delivered for any van made since 2000. "Nearly new" for sure doesn't mean it is more than 18 years old does it? So your dealer is the one who should give it to you in the first place. Have you asked him? It MUST be in the selling papers. This is going to be your very first and I would add only step. As once you have it, you can register no prob in France . @Munchie Did you need anything else Ken? Was it to be translated in French???
And what about you Steve and Judy ? @OldAgeTravellers . I recall you had troubles with the selling and buying bits but can't remember with papers, but then I'm not very good at remembering these things!

 

[yodeli]

sturburn

Sorry for the mispelling you must read "stubborn"

 

[Munchie]

My certificate of conformity was in English and accepted by the Prefecture in Limoges.

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[mikethebike147]

thanks to all for your input
@yodeli special thanks to you, will get back to you later with more info, sorry for delay, have my daughter staying for the week and she has Putocki-Lupski syndrome which is very rare, so it's hard to get time to deal with my stuff! thanks

 

[mikethebike147]

Hi all, thanks again for your help. Thanks Lenny for the advice about the headlights, hopefully that should be an easy fix! Thanks Ken that is handy to know that they accepted the CofC in English at Limoges. But of course things have changed, more of that later.
Thanks @yodeli having someone French on board may well be a big bonus! To answer your questions, the Hymer is quite new. It was first registered in Germany in 2016 where I believe Hymer used it as a kind of demo vehicle and drove it to shows etc. It was imported into the UK and we bought it from a dealer (non Hymer) in 2017 with the sole aim of bringing it to France. As I think I mentioned earlier the papers we got from the dealer included a CofC in German (for the van itself) and one in Italian from the maker of the chassis (Fiat).
Interesting what you say about the carte gris, that was my thought to be honest. How stupid to ask you for that when you clearly won't have one. And what do they do for the 275 euros? Just give you a certificate in French??
Initially I wasn't sure what you meant by DREAL, but I have googled it and now I understand. We are in the Haute Vienne region and so it would be in Limoges that our nearest office would be. I have found it online and the phone number is 05 55 11 84 50
As I understand it the system for doing this has been changed recently. You no longer go to the DREAL with your paperwork. All applications to register a vehicle are done online. And that is where the problems start. Our situation is a little complicated. We live in the UK but spend around half the year at our place in France. We have a lovely mobile home in a rural location near St Yrieux-la-perche. The owner of the small site we are on is happy to give us an attestation to say that we 'live' there. And with the old system of taking your papers to the local govt office that would have worked out fine. But now with the new online system they ask for various evidence of your being 'domiciled' such as council tax reference number and utility bills, we have neither. So, people have suggested to me that there is another way, that you can get a local garage to do it for you, as their online system is different to the one that the public use. Another twist to the tale is that the system is already 'broken' as the website is never working properly, probably because it's swamped! So because of that I think they are very keen to accept applications from garages, and maybe they will even let you do it the 'old fashioned' way by going to the DREAL with your papers. Perhaps you could find out about that? If you need any further info let me know. Thanks

 

[yodeli]

Ok. What I will do first is get in touch with someone who both works with BRIVE Dreal and LIMOGES Dreal, and will ask him what can be done. That man's name and place was given to me by @spitfire ... I will never thank her enough. The man is great and I was in such a mess with my van coming from Germany too... I thought I would never be able to have it on the road. He's done it for me for 700 euros and put the van straight for the control visit. I had spent so much like you on Hymer and Fiat .... plus many more people , all asking for quite a lot of money. All this could have been avoided if I had met him before. What I hadn't got in your case is the fact you do have a COC . I thought it was just the usual papers from hymer and fiat. The fact it's online now might make things a tad different too. Time will tell.
Once I've got in touch with him I might have a few clues. But in any case if HE interferes , he'll want to see you and the van. So may be important to plan a trip here. I don't know if I'll find some time today to do this but on tuesday (unless he's off) I should have an answer.

700 euros mainly because I had to get Gas pressure alright for France, Step had to have an alarm , and electric board had to be like a french one, it was not 700 euros doing nothing by all means. Your van is a new one so no need for all this.

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[yodeli]

http://www.savignat-roche.com/
Just to give you an idea of who he is, but mainly allows you to see if he is not too far from your place .

Also... how did you get your UK registration ? Didn't they give you a UK COC?

 

[mikethebike147]

hi again @yodeli I've looked at the website, not too far for us at all, certainly ok for a days drive and even possibly back the same day.
Just to confirm, the van already had UK registration ie had it's present registration number when we saw it at the dealers. And yes, only docs we seem to have are as stated, a German one and an Italian one, both issued when the vehicle was brand new by the looks of it. So the UK authorities must have accepted those docs as ok to give it a UK registration. Thanks again for your help

 

[spitfire]

hi again @yodeli I've looked at the website, not too far for us at all, certainly ok for a days drive and even possibly back the same day.
Just to confirm, the van already had UK registration ie had it's present registration number when we saw it at the dealers. And yes, only docs we seem to have are as stated, a German one and an Italian one, both issued when the vehicle was brand new by the looks of it. So the UK authorities must have accepted those docs as ok to give it a UK registration. Thanks again for your help

He might do it on a day but I think he kept Frankies and certainly ours for 2 days . We took the van and the car so we had transport .

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[yodeli]

Yes he did keep mine a long time (a fortnight) but mainly because I had no days off and could only come on a week end , and he was 450 kms away from me. I had to take mum with me driving in her car.

 

[klaatu]

Do you think he could do my 11 year old 4.25 tonne Canadian motorhome, with no CoC?

 

[yodeli]

Do you think he could do my 11 year old 4.25 tonne Canadian motorhome, with no CoC?

Read what's coming for the OPoster (honestly I think he can do anything.... best magician ever ...after @JJ of course )

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[yodeli]

@mikethebike147

Just called Mister Christian Boullet and .... not to worry he's going to do it all for you to have your French COC.

You will still have to see how to solve your address prob and bills proofs for the Prefecture. He can't do a thing about this specific point.


So, as I thought, he wants to see your motorhome and make a check of all the points to get a french COC (50 eur for the check). If there is nothing to change /fix/ put right according to french rules, then he will give you your French COC :183 euros (same price as me, he said this is a set price by law).
You will also need him to make the load repartition as it will be one of the papers you will need for the DREAL 70 euros.
Find a french weight bridge and get your van weighted with full fresh water tank, full gas bottles or tanks and full diesel tank.
Then you'll have to go to the prefecture with proof of your address (I would ask the Maire if I were you, he might do something for you!)

If he has to work on it, then it might take a bit of time as he is overbooked with all the foreign vans at the moment.
Last point , as law has changed a bit now, you need a french FIAT COC not Hymer there is no use at all for this one. If you need help in french just let me know.
Last thing is send me via PM your e-mail address so I can give it to him and he will send you the exact list of all required papers. He wants to make sure you have it all before you pay him a visit!
No Need of internet at all. You can rely on the man, he does a great job

 

[Minxy]

@mikethebike ... Am I right in assuming, from all that's been said previously, that you will NEVER want to bring the MH back to the UK? If so then driving it here won't be relevant, but if you ever DO bring it here you won't legally be able to drive it on your UK driving licence (as per post #2) as it will be registered abroad so you'd need a French licence to do so I believe.

 

[yodeli]

@mikethebike ... Am I right in assuming, from all that's been said previously, that you will NEVER want to bring the MH back to the UK? If so then driving it here won't be relevant, but if you ever DO bring it here you won't legally be able to drive it on your UK driving licence (as per post #2) as it will be registered abroad so you'd need a French licence to do so I believe.

@Munchie @elamessa @laneside ????? Do you have a french licence? Have you been told to have one?

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[spitfire]

@Munchie @elamessa @laneside ????? Do you have a french licence? Have you been told to have one?

As we are now 70 have applied for our French licence . A photo UK licence is accepted to drive in all of Europe which atm includes the UK !! It is not necessary to change your licence to a French one if you have been a good person and got no points ! DVLA take it as acceptable that their system is unable to change the address

 

[yodeli]

@spitfire Thanks! I forgot to ask you. I forgot you were a french resident too, silly me!

 

[spitfire]

@spitfire Thanks! I forgot to ask you. I forgot you were a french resident too, silly me!

Not at all no problem . Up to 6 months to get new licence as I guess you know now centralised at Nantes ! You have to love French admin You would think they could hire temporary staff to clear the backlog ! My Friend Martine worked for the tax office in Pezenas on a 6 month contract with no tax experience ! Maybe I should e mail Mr Macron with this idea lol

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