Moving to France in September 2008 - what to take?

[catpower2000]

Hi all! I'm new. Thanks for providing such a great forum. I've read some threads that pertain to my situation, but I still have questions. Maybe you can help!

My husband and I are moving to Lyon from suburban Philadelphia in September. My husband is British, and lived in France (Marseille) for 7.5 years before moving here to the states. He is bilingual. I am working hard on my French, using a course called "French by Michel Thomas" and also a textbook, and I start French lessons Tuesday next week. I hope to be at a solid beginner's/basic level by the time we get there.

Anyway, when he moved here, my husband was a bachelor and didn't bring much stuff with him, so we have no experience with shipping our stuff, or what to take. Since we were married, we've amassed a small house full of furniture, possessions, and we have my car. What should we attempt to take with us?

1. The furniture is all IKEA or similar - nothing expensive, no family heirlooms, nothing with sentimental value. We just purchased it last August, so it's near-new, but if we sell it, we'll be lucky to get half what we paid for it. There are no plans in the near future to return to the States, so it doesn't make sense to store it here. With the dollar where it is in comparison to the Euro ($1.53 as of this morning - eek!) is it worth it to ship it over in a container, or sell it for whatever we can get and buy new over there?

2. The car is a 2001 Toyota Corrolla, about 70 thousand miles on it. We own it outright. Is it worth it to ship the car, or should we attempt to purchase one there? We must have a car in France. This car will run for another 150,000 miles if we take care of it. Also, are there special European emissions tests that the car will need to pass, and will the car need to be retrofitted with items to allow it to pass those tests? And how much is import tax on a car?

3. If you remove the furniture from the equation, we have about 40 medium-sized boxes of other stuff that we will be bringing no matter what. Books, clothes, etc. If we get a container, this will be moot, as everything will fit in there. If we don't get a container, is shipping through the postal service in crates a better option?

My husband has been in touch with shipping/freighting companies and is getting estimates, but of course it behooves them to have us take as much as possible. I wondered if anyone had experience moving their possessions to France, and what the best options are? Any information much appreciated, thanks all!

[Bevdeforges]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

1. Do you know yet where you'll be living? I only ask because you will find that houses in France are generally much smaller than those in the US, and the rooms are generally quite a bit smaller than what you're used to in the US. IKEA had to redesign its furniture for the US market because it was too small. So, the same stuff bought from IKEA in Europe will actually be smaller than what you bought in the US.

If you know where you're going to live and the furniture will fit, go ahead and take it. It's really nice to have "familiar stuff" when you first get overseas. And IKEA stuff is usually easy to move, since you can take it all apart for easy shipment. But you should also consider that, if you replace your furniture (with more IKEA) when you get to France, it will be smaller and possible a better fit with where you are living.

2. I would advise against shipping a car. Although Corollas exist in Europe, they aren't the same as the Corollas you get in the US. Also, there is a very strict inspection system in France - to get the initial registration in France, you take the car to a special government inspection site to make sure it is up to French standards. Normally, you also have to pay VAT (19.6%) on the car if you haven't paid it before, though they may not assess that if you can show that you paid sales tax when you bought it. (I'm not sure if they consider sales tax to be the equivalent of VAT.) It's complicated - and probably you can do better to get a car that is already registered in France.

3. I've moved from the US to Europe twice. Unless you're trying to save money any way you can, I'd advise using an international mover and getting adequate insurance for your stuff. The big hassle is clearing your shipment through customs when it arrives, and that's one of the services the mover should be able to provide. The list you provide for insurance purposes also serves to clear your shipment through customs.

When you move to France, you're entitled to bring in all your stuff duty free, though you'll be charged VAT (19.6%) on any items you have owned for less than one year. Having a customs agent to clear your stuff makes life considerably easier.

All this is, of course, my opinion and you'll find folks with other points of view.
Cheers,
Bev

[catpower2000]

Bev, thanks so much for your prompt and detailed reply! I have forwarded it to my husband as well. We really appreciate all the information - this is a big move and we want as much info as possible so we can prepare ourselves. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again!

Cat

[Bevdeforges]

Glad you find the information useful. Not to nag you or anything <g> but do start thinking about your visa status in France, too. Your husband doesn't have to do anything to move there, but you need to get a visa - especially if you have any intention of trying to find work.

I only mention that because I spent my first 20 months in France as an illegal (called "sans papiers") and it's really not fun. With your husband an EU national, you shouldn't have any problem getting a visa, though the application process is sort of a first step in getting used to French bureaucracy.
Cheers,
Bev

[verbal]

Hi,

Not too sure about the answers to your other questions but I'm guessing that with 70K miles on the clock the cost of shipping the car might be more than the cost of buying a similar left hand drive car when you get there.

Cheers.

[catpower2000]

Hi Bev,

Hee, no problem with the nagging! My husband is taking care of all the French paperwork, because he is comfortable with the bureaurocracy over there. He says my visa is actually easier to get than it would be if he were French; odd, isn't it? I don't know exactly what's involved, and I don't want to know! I really do appreciate the advice though - your experience sounds terrible.

Verbal: thanks for the reply! I have a question - what is a left-hand drive car? My Corrolla is an automatic, and I believe we drive on the same side of the road as the French, so I'm not sure what you mean? Thanks...

[Vincent Sottile]

Catpower2000:
We are going through the same problems you are going through apparently. See my post above (“Just about to make the leap”). You are in Drexel Hill Presently; we are in New Castle Delaware. If you have any Ideas that can help us, we are at xxx-xxx-xxxx

[Vincent Sottile]

Catpower2000:
We are going to buy a Renault when we get to France because it will be more cost effective to buy than to ship a car.
It looks like that I may have to give up my motorcycle for the same reason (Honda Valkerie).
We are negotiating with The Salvation Army and Goodwill to donate our furniture and belongings that we do not want to take (appliances, Stereo, etc.) with us. The tax breaks actually out weigh the bother of shipping stuff.

[CHERYL BLUE]

Having just recently moved to the Gironde i realise that furniture here is both old fashioned and a lot more expensive.
My family and I lived in Florida when my daughter was 2 years old and i always regretted not bringing more furniture back with me then .
Now with the dollar being so weak and a new house of our own being renovated at the moment I wish i had the opportunity to go on a spending spree in the US .
We gave lots away before we moved here not realising that they have large self storage places in all the big cities I wouldnt advise you to do the same .

[parsnips]

Whether you ship furniture will depend very much on the prices you are quoted,but I think it's likely to be cheaper and easier to sell and re-purchase in france.
Regarding the car I would recommend selling and purchasing in france , not only to avoid the cost of shipping , but also because it is very difficult to register a non-european car in france; although Nissan cars are sold in france ,they are almost certainly made to different safety specifications , and because french officialdom is addicted to paperwork you would have to obtain some kind of certificates of conformity acceptible to the licencing authorities which would almost certainly be an exhausting and expensive task-I know someone whose camping car (built in Germany!) took 2 years to be registered in france, and then for his use only and prohibited from being sold in France!
As regards shipping the personal possessions I cannot help you, I can only suggest comparing quotes.