Taking your car with you to another country involves a lot of paper work and a stressful procedure and this could be even more so if the country you’re moving to happens to be France. Being a country that is very strict about its road rules as well as its standards of environmental and safety measures, they have a specific regulations for foreigners planning to ship their vehicles to the country and knowing what these are will help you avoid much heart burn and frustration not to mention the inability to drive on French roads unless you have the “Carte Grise” with you.
A carte grise is none other than the vehicle registration certificate that is mandatory for anyone to drive on French roads and getting it is a long process, but not necessarily if you have all the proper documents with you. Whether you take your car to France and sell it or make use of it, there are certain procedures that you have to follow strictly. If you’re hoping to drive the car you imported from another country, you will have one month’s grace period to apply for your new registration certificate or Carte Grise without which you will not be able to drive.
If however you plan to sell your used car you must be prepared to submit various documents including your old vehicle registration certification on which the date of sale should be included. The other documents of importance consist of the certificate that states you have no outstanding payments to be made against the vehicle and lastly the vehicle inspection certificate and a document that transfers the vehicle to the new owner.
The buyer on the other hand must always check that the serial number on the vehicle he is purchasing is the same as that on the Vehicle Registration certificate and the owner of the vehicle is in fact the same person selling the vehicle to him. No vehicle should be paid for or taken possession of until the seller has submitted all above documents without which the buyer will not be able to apply for his new Carte Grise.
One you have all the necessary documents in your hand, its time to apply for your own Carte Grise and for this you will have to submit your passport or any form of identity, proof of residence in the form of a water or electricity bill, the vehicle standards conformity certificate together with the completed application form which can be downloaded from the internet. When you have all these ready, you can submit your application online or post it to the local prefecture. It’s best that you check what the fees are for the registration of your vehicle because this will vary according to each area and the size of the engine.
Processing time is usually 48 hours if you have sent the application online and once you receive your temporary acknowledgement form, you can apply for your license plate, but if not, you will have to see what’s gone wrong and make the necessary amendments in your documents before sending them out again to obtain your new Carte Grise.
