[LittleMissMolly]

I need some advice please (or rather Dad does). As you may know my Mother recently passed away in France, and Dad is now starting to organise his return to their property in the UK

Dad's car (right hand drive)was originally registered in the UK.... when he became Resident in France, he re-registered it onto French plates and took out French Insurance:

Now he has arranged for English Insurance to take over once he returns here already, but.....

How does he go about switching back to UK plates and re-registering in the UK?

How does he get the V5 and his other documents back from the French Authorities/Insurance? (I'm not too clear who exactly is holding them).

Any advice/help would be gratefully recieved as he is worrying himself over little details like this, and the more I can resolve for him the less anxious he will be.

Thanks in Advance

 

[Guest]

The 'Carte Gris' ( ie registration doc) should be in the glovebox; it is unlikely that it will have been deposited for any reason at the Pref.

However, because keeping the reg doc with the vehicle is a bit alien to british minds, be prepared for a search thru' his papers.

I can't help you with th export side of the process, Ive only ever imported from teh uk.

However, there is a dicument called the 'Quitus Fiscale' in the process; this should have been filled out when tyhe car was french reg'd, it merely states that 'VAT has been paid somewhere in Europe at some time'. I'll hazard a guess that you WILL need this document when you go back to tackle the comedy store that is DVLA.

 

[Bevdeforges]

I'm not sure that the French authorities are actually holding any car documents for your father. Unless he was on those limited term plates (usually for someone transferred to France for a limited period of time), they consider the old documents replaced.

Basically, I suspect he'll have to simply re-register the car in the UK - probably surrendering his French papers (carte grise etc.) in the process. I know when I moved to France from Germany (admittedly a few years back) there was no mention of holding documents should I return to Germany.
Cheers,
Bev

 

[LittleMissMolly]

Ahhh....

I did think it was more than a little odd for the French Authorities to hold such things LOL

Dad's problem is that my Mother did absolutely EVERYTHING, so he can barely negotiate UK systems, let alone French ones (and even after 20 years his French leaves something to be desired.... he told the funeral director that 'the bird is dead' and recently ordered fish with his chicken dinner instead of peas)

I'm back in the UK now - but I will email my uncle who is also an expat in France and ask him to search for the Carte Gris (he at least will know what he is looking for and fortunately Mother's filing systems are impeccable).

I've ordered the relevant pack from the DVLA already - but I'll give them a call and ask about surrendering the Carte Gris etc before I give all the info to Dad.

Thanks Guys

 

[GALLUS]

If the car comes from UK , the prefecture has exchanged the British circulation papers against the Carte Grise. The prefecture will not hand it over to you in any circumstances.
You might want to re-register the car in the UK with the French Carte grise, as I understand, you only need an MoT .

good luck

 

[Guest]

If the car comes from UK , the prefecture has exchanged the British circulation papers against the Carte Grise. The prefecture will not hand it over to you in any circumstances.
You might want to re-register the car in the UK with the French Carte grise, as I understand, you only need an MoT .

good luck

Gallus, you've confused me. When you say 'The prefecture will not hand it over to you in any circumstances' to which document are you referring? If you mean the Carte Grise then the owner would ALWAYS be given the CG by the Pref or sous-Pref. If for any reason they DID keep it then LittleMissMolly has every right to demand its return.

However, if you mean the ENGLISH registration document (V5) then yes, they will have kept it, but since LittleMissMolly has no need to produce it in England as part of re-registering it as english, then let them keep it - it is now a useless piece of paper.

 

[GALLUS]

confusion

Sorry for confusing

The original British certificate that you call V5 (that was exchanged against the French Carte Grise) has now been filed and will not been handed over back to you.

For the Carte Grise, it is your property and you could ask UK authorities how to file an exchange against a UK Official document, based on your story.

It is better?

 

[Guest]

I would confirm that original documents are not only not handed back by the French authorities, they are not even archived - in fact in the case of my original UK driving licence, it was destroyed.

I know this for a fact as when originally moving from France to Thailand, I dared to ask my prefecture whether they still had my original British licence that I had surrendered to them in exchange for a French one 15 years previously. It gave them all a good laugh, and the answer was an emphatic 'No'

 

[MataMata]

The prefecture does not archive or destroy V5's (nor exchanged driving licences) but eventually returns them to DVLA. Receipt of the V5 is the defining document confirming that a car has indeed been exported and properly registered in another EU state.

To re-register the car in UK you simply apply to the DVLA for an import pack. You can do this online HERE but they will not post to France.

The procedure is described HERE and is very straightforward.

Note that you cannot drive it in UK until it is registered.

In terms of the current French registration you do not need to do anything or tell anyone when you re-export the car back to UK, all you need is the Carte Grise for the re-registration with DVLA. If it is not in your name but that of the deceased then this will present a problem as technically the car is not yours so you will need to approach the prefecture to get this changed.

A useful tip: unlike in UK in France you can register a vehicle in joint names, e.g. M et Mme, this negates any problems in the case of the death of one party.

 

[Guest]

The prefecture does not archive or destroy V5's (nor exchanged driving licences) but eventually returns them to DVLA. Receipt of the V5 is the defining document confirming that a car has indeed been exported and properly registered in another EU state.

Anything's possible in France! But that's not what the lowly fonctionnaire told me on the phone - she categorically stated that it had been destroyed. On the other hand I only asked one fonctionnaire, and as we all know, ask 5 French fonctionnaires the same question and you'll get 5 completely different answers...

I'm now trying to imagine phoning the DVLA to obtain my original licence that was - if you are correct - and I'm sure you are - sent back to them 20 years ago... "Oh yes Mr FB, we have it right here!"

 

[MataMata]

I can't answer to what happened 20 years ago, maybe such documents were destroyed then, but if you previously held a full UK licence your entitlement to that has not changed. If you were to return to UK you could surrender your current French licence for a nice shiny new UK photo one.

You can check your entitlement by applying to DVLA for a Letter of Entitlement which cost's £5 (credit cards accepted) which can in fact be used to obtain a French licence in cases where a UK one has been lost or destroyed and cannot be replaced via DVLA as they will not post a replacement to an address outside the UK.

I know of one or two people who have used this route in order to hang onto their UK licences whilst also taking out a French one. This is futile as it is illegal to hold 2 EU licences at the same time and the most recent one, i.e. the French one, effectively invalidates the former.

 

[Guest]

If you were to return to the UK .../...

Well I haven't gone completely insane, and there are still around a hundred or so other countries in the world where I would rather live, so I can happily rule that possibility out! Even if it means missing out on a shiny new UK photo licence

As it happens I'm waiting for a shiny new French licence from the local Préfecture, as well as a shiny new international one, the original French licence which was printed on something resembling tissue paper having virtually disintegrated. Three weeks so far, no sign yet.

 

[MataMata]

Well I haven't gone completely insane, and there are still around a hundred or so other countries in the world where I would rather live, so I can happily rule that possibility out! Even if it means missing out on a shiny new UK photo licence

Only been in France for about 3 years but a resounding Here Here from me on that