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Importing a car from the USA to France

2K views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  83496 
#1 ·
Hello, thank you all for your help. We are moving to france for work this summer, on a 3 year visa, so technically we are relocating and France will become our primary home.

I have a 2021 Volvo I'd like to bring. Looking at replacement cars in France, I am realizing the expense of transporting my current car could be a lot lower than setting up a new lease in France.

I am trying to figure out the conversion and approval process to make the car legal on French roads. It's a new European produced car, so I am hoping it's minimal.

I found on Volvo's website this process for "d’homologation", seen here: Service d'Homologation et d'Immatriculation Volvo | Volvo Car France

Does anyone know if this process is complicated? Do I need to bring my car to a special shop and have anything physically modified? Or can it done via paperwork?

Thank you for your advise!
 
#2 ·
If you do a search on the forum here, you'll find a number of threads on shipping your car to France from the US. A few folks have insisted on doing so, but most seem to give up before they get too bogged down in the process. Interesting to see that Volvo has an online portal to work the process.

The main issue comes down to whether your car was built for the US market. There are different standards in place and if it was built to be sold in the US, it may not be "street legal" to be registered and driven in France (or in Europe overall) due to the different requirements, particularly for safety features and equipment.

We've got a few folks here on the forum who have imported a car, or who were certain they wanted to do so, but who changed their minds when they ran into a major hurdle. Let's see if we can get one or more of them to chime in here with their experiences.

The one thing I can mention here is that, depending on the model you have, it may or may not be easy (or possible) to get replacement parts. Worked with someone in Germany who paid lots of money to ship his sporty Datsun (Nissan's prior identity) to Germany. Unfortunately, he got into an accident - not terribly serious, but one that required some major repairs to the vehicle. Because the parts were not available in Europe (as the model had been produced exclusively for the US market) his insurance company was quick to "total" the car and only paid him a "scrap value" settlement. Back in the US, the car could have been repaired.
 
#3 ·
Whenever we have visited Europe and rented a car, we have always gone for the smallest we can manage. What with tiny parking spaces, small streets and roads (lets not get into underground parking lots) a large 'American' size car is just a pain.
 
#4 ·
@Bb2023 -- I recommend selling your U.S. model Volvo in the States, before you move and obtain a replacement vehicle after you arrive in France. Is it possible to covert a U.S. model to EU specs. -- yes, but it may be expensive, depending on the vehicle. There are a few companies that specialize in this work. In the end, after you've spent maybe thousands on the conversion, you'll have a gray-market car, that will be worth about 50% of an equivalent EU model.

I've owned an EU vehicle, made for the U.S. market in the EU and there were so many things that were different -- I was constantly waiting for parts to be shipped from the States and even from Brazil where some of the parts on the U.S. version were sourced. I don't recommend it. This was a German car, built in Germany, and was an absolute pain to maintain while I lived in Germany.

The only possible way, this would make sense is if you had a very high dollar vehicle, like a Porsche 911 GT3, or similar car where you could literally save maybe $50K and you do not plan to ever sell the car (and you were personally competent to do repair work.) Also any U.S. warranty for your vehicle would probably be void in France. Additionally, some things might not be required to be changed, but also won't work properly -- in dash radios and electronics may or may not be able to be set to EU specs. (although some models, these are simple fixes.)

Good luck, whatever you decide. Just FYI, I shipped my German made U.S. spec. car back to the U.S. and had to go through another round of issues (EPA & NTSB.) Cheers, 255
 
#5 ·
I brought a U.S. bought Toyota Corolla over many years back. The entire process was complete He**. It took a total of two years to get it licensed and legal. I would never, ever ever ever ever ever do it again. Just not worth the 5000 pages of hassle, letters, phone calls and trips to the DRIRE (at the time).
 
#6 ·
Advice for those planning to import a US vehicle into France - DON'T.
You won't believe the parts that are different - window glass, airbags, seat belts, mirrors; the list goes on. And I have noticed that there seem to be very few Volvos in France - least where I live, no idea why but it's very obvious when you only see one or two a month.
 
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