Bringing your car to France

[le2012]

Originally Posted by monza

Hello everyone. Thanks for all the info on this. I am currently resident in France and a couple of weeks ago I bought a BMW in Germany and drove it to France to get it registered. I have bought cars in Germany before and registered them in France with no probs, it's just a tedious process.

Anyway, back to the BMW, fully registered in Germany, TUF (MOT) certificate, all in order. Got to France, phoned up BMW France for the conformity letter, just be told that as the car originated in the US it will not comply!!! I explained that it was registered in Germany under european law and that all the work was already done - headlights, etc.... Their response? France only cares of the origin of the car!!!! So much for the idea of a European union with free borders!!!!!

So they are charging me 250 euros to send me a letter of non-conformity - great :-(

Any, I have to take the car to the DREAL for inspection but have been warned to not count on it passing!!! To register for inspection is about 150 euros!!!

Next step is to wait for an appointment for the inspection. Cost of this will depend on the number of hours they decide they need to inspect the car. I am guessing 200 to 500 euros!!!!

Then a 3 week wait for the answer. Either no - export the car within 3 months or Yes - change this and that. The cost - who knows.

Needless to say, I am amazed at this, and more at BMW. Just unbelievable.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you as I am committed and there is no way back for me!

Vive la France - not in this case ;-)

Ouch! Thanks for the information. We've decided to buy a car in Europe when we need one, after settling in, etc. We'll be careful about what we buy!

(The end of our story on this .... The only car for us that passed conformity test was the 1969 Alfa Romeo, but we're going to sell it here where it's more valuable and get something else in Europe.)

[rynd2it]

Originally Posted by monza

Hello everyone. Thanks for all the info on this. I am currently resident in France and a couple of weeks ago I bought a BMW in Germany and drove it to France to get it registered. I have bought cars in Germany before and registered them in France with no probs, it's just a tedious process.

Anyway, back to the BMW, fully registered in Germany, TUF (MOT) certificate, all in order. Got to France, phoned up BMW France for the conformity letter, just be told that as the car originated in the US it will not comply!!! I explained that it was registered in Germany under european law and that all the work was already done - headlights, etc.... Their response? France only cares of the origin of the car!!!! So much for the idea of a European union with free borders!!!!!

So they are charging me 250 euros to send me a letter of non-conformity - great :-(

Any, I have to take the car to the DREAL for inspection but have been warned to not count on it passing!!! To register for inspection is about 150 euros!!!

Next step is to wait for an appointment for the inspection. Cost of this will depend on the number of hours they decide they need to inspect the car. I am guessing 200 to 500 euros!!!!

Then a 3 week wait for the answer. Either no - export the car within 3 months or Yes - change this and that. The cost - who knows.

Needless to say, I am amazed at this, and more at BMW. Just unbelievable.

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you as I am committed and there is no way back for me!

Vive la France - not in this case ;-)

Lesson 1: Get the Certificate de Confirmite FIRST!

However, the inspector will probably not find much if it's already in compliance, this sounds like a bureacracy thing more than technical. BTW cost for a COC for Lexus was going to be 130 Euros, negotiate

Cheers

[RayRay]

Originally Posted by rynd2it

Lesson 1: Get the Certificate de Confirmite FIRST!

However, the inspector will probably not find much if it's already in compliance, this sounds like a bureacracy thing more than technical. BTW cost for a COC for Lexus was going to be 130 Euros, negotiate

Cheers

David

Are you saying you can negotiate the cost of the Certificate de Confirmite with the manufacturer? I assumed that there would be a fixed price for the manufacturer to issue a Certificate.

We have the finally received the phone number for the homologation office of MINI France (it took about 2 months, perhaps a bit longer). We'll be contacting them this summer with the VIN numbers of our two MINIs to find out if they meet the homologation requirements.

The MINIs are only 2 and 3 years old, are quite well equipped, and they have very little mileage. From the modest research I've done, the cost of shipping a compliant car from the East Coast to Le Havre is a great deal less than buying even a small, modestly equipped Clio. Keep your fingers crossed for us <s>.

Ray

[GALLUS]

Sorry Monza to hear your sad story.

I had my Mercedes car tested and registered in 2005 after a bit of scare:
- bought in Belgium
- exported to Africa
- reimported to France
- Manufactured in Germany
- first licensed in Luxembourg

The DRIRE people are jsut
= corrupt, they take grease money from profesionnals
- probably incompetent
- certainly chauvinist and racist, they fail all the guys from African origin for sure
- extremely contemptuous

My expert
- firstly questionned the opportunity to import a car from Africa and announced he would fail me
- when he saw teh car, was extremely impressed
- did not ask fro certificat de conformite, since it was EU build and VIN vehicle identification number can testify
- failed me anyhow for a fictitious reason (seat belt did not have EU certfiication) which of course was wrong, but he could not locate the seal
- immediately went to Mercedes and came back with the info
- reluctantly approved the car

I told him when done, that he should keep running around in his old Renault laguna.

They are just jerks these guys, and this is why you better be prepared when importing. In my view, BMW is not cooperative but if the car is US made , it will fail, even if a German engineer said it is road worthy.

Buy a car manufactured in EU and reexported saves a lot of money and hassle.

[MataMata]

Unfortunately I have to agree, a US built BMW is very unlikely to pass muster in France.

Gallus seems to have had a bad experience with his DREAL (not called DRIRE any more) but I take a little exception to the sweeping characterisation as in my area they were extremely helpful and accommodating when registering a UK sourced box trailer.

[-mia-]

Originally Posted by RayRay

David

Are you saying you can negotiate the cost of the Certificate de Confirmite with the manufacturer? I assumed that there would be a fixed price for the manufacturer to issue a Certificate.

We have the finally received the phone number for the homologation office of MINI France (it took about 2 months, perhaps a bit longer). We'll be contacting them this summer with the VIN numbers of our two MINIs to find out if they meet the homologation requirements.

The MINIs are only 2 and 3 years old, are quite well equipped, and they have very little mileage. From the modest research I've done, the cost of shipping a compliant car from the East Coast to Le Havre is a great deal less than buying even a small, modestly equipped Clio. Keep your fingers crossed for us <s>.

Ray

Have you already brought your Mini's over? I'm surprised by what you say. Mini's are a dime a dozen in Europe. Are you sure you can pick up another one or two for a good price?

[RayRay]

Originally Posted by -mia-

Have you already brought your Mini's over? I'm surprised by what you say. Mini's are a dime a dozen in Europe. Are you sure you can pick up another one or two for a good price?

No, we've not brought over the MINIs. I'm still writing my Competencies & Talents project plan for our Visa application.

I'm clear that there are quite a few MINIs in France. And there are even MINIs in our tiny village in the Dordogne, though the nearest MINI repair / sales is about 40km away in Perigueux. Our MINI was built in the UK for US sale, though, so I don't know if it meets the French homologation requirements.

Based on what I've read, it seems as if it will. That is, the correct icons and logos are on the windows and windshield for the EU, the tires have the right information on them, etc. But I'm waiting till I hear from MINI that our particular vehicles, based on the VIN, are a 100% match and that they'll give me a certificate.

If a Certificate of Compliance isn't available, we will likely sell our MINI Cooper S Convertable and our MINI Countryman in the US, then buy a new car in France.

Ray

[rynd2it]

Originally Posted by RayRay

David

Are you saying you can negotiate the cost of the Certificate de Confirmite with the manufacturer? I assumed that there would be a fixed price for the manufacturer to issue a Certificate.

Ray

No, just that Toyota France quoted me 130 Euros ifthey issued the COC. Seems there is room for maneuver here.

Fingers crossed.

[rynd2it]

Originally Posted by GALLUS

Buy a car manufactured in EU and reexported saves a lot of money and hassle.

Correction - buy a car already licensed in France and save a lot of money & hassle - anything else is a something of a lottery. My German built Mercedes would never pass the inspection nor could I get a COC for it.

BTW, the absence of "E" marks may not indicate a problem. After I dropped my plans to import the Lexus I saw one in a parking lot here and it's headlights were identical to mine - no "E" marks discernable.

Cheers

[-mia-]

Originally Posted by RayRay

No, we've not brought over the MINIs. I'm still writing my Competencies & Talents project plan for our Visa application.

I'm clear that there are quite a few MINIs in France. And there are even MINIs in our tiny village in the Dordogne, though the nearest MINI repair / sales is about 40km away in Perigueux. Our MINI was built in the UK for US sale, though, so I don't know if it meets the French homologation requirements.

Based on what I've read, it seems as if it will. That is, the correct icons and logos are on the windows and windshield for the EU, the tires have the right information on them, etc. But I'm waiting till I hear from MINI that our particular vehicles, based on the VIN, are a 100% match and that they'll give me a certificate.

If a Certificate of Compliance isn't available, we will likely sell our MINI Cooper S Convertable and our MINI Countryman in the US, then buy a new car in France.

Ray

Definitely get the CoC first. I don't know how it will work with the Mini. But you I'm not sure it will be worth the hassle for a Mini considering the sheer number of them on the used market. Of course if you want a brand new one they are still more expensive than in the US.

Check out the prices for similar ones on autoscout. You might be surprised (or I might be surprised, not being completely versed on the prices in the US! ) I know here in Switzerland there are a lot of them on the market and the price of a fully loaded one is not far off from the more basic ones (used market). We had to sell ours and couldn't get a good price because of the sheer number of them.