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Post by AnnieD on Nov 12, 2010 23:06:46 GMT 1
I REALLY don't want to offend anyone on here, cos I like you all but .................. I've seen so many examples of my pet hate recently that I just have to express myself. IT REALLY WINDS ME UP when I see a tradesman advertising on the side of his van, in french with a french phone number (which means he is almost certainly living & working here) with ENGLISH PLATES Now I know that there may sometimes be extenuating circumstances but I also know a number of the people by association & I know that they're just not bothering to re-register their vehicles. So ............... if they were still in England would they so blatantly break the law? I think they probably wouldn't, so why are they doing it here? Or maybe they would? But it's WRONG and it's ILLEGAL I 'know' a lot of private individuals that are still on UK plates and that irks me a bit, but a tradesman ADVERTISING on an illegal vehicle !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Once again, apologies if anyone on here has legitimate reasons for being in such a situation and I have refrained from speaking out for some time but yesterday I saw a total of 5 such people, 2 of whom are in direct competition with my very legal husband - and they just don't seem to care!!!
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Post by rodgearing on Nov 13, 2010 9:32:59 GMT 1
Question: Have you ever challenged any of these people? There may be some reason as to why they still have Brit plates. OK so I am not a trades person but I have two RHD cars on Brit plates. I have been here nine years. But......I bought them to take back to Blighty one is CTd and insured by a French company. The other is just insured by a French company. Now I have been told my insurance will expire six months from commencement of said policy. Thats OK cos hopeful said cars will be back in Blighty by then. Oh and we have LHD car all legal what ever that is!
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hellfire
I'm settling in nicely
Posts: 224
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Post by hellfire on Nov 13, 2010 9:34:13 GMT 1
We get irked too after taking the trouble when we came here to get properly legal. In fact, pre-94 we had both phone numbers on our van for Uk and France but had not moved fully andhad decided to advertise ourselves whilst doing so and the customs at St.Malo threatened us with legal action when they saw it. Out of interest I looked at another forum and noted some phone numbers for people advertising as artisans onit, only two out of nearly ten were registered here and most had mobiles which meant they could not be traced via the land line.That speaks volumes to me, but so far we have only come across one cowboy who ripped off some brits here for which we put the works right and even a french architect friend condemned his work as dangerous. He ended upincourt( as the clients were former insurance assessors and knew who to report him to)paying back years of unpaid charges and had to sellhis house and go back to the UK.
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Post by Elkay on Nov 13, 2010 12:55:57 GMT 1
Am not at all sure on this one, Annie D. We have a good friend who is a properly registerd tradesman here and he has just bought another van (cos his left hand drive french registered one is kn*ckered - from England this time as it was a lot cheaper) - and his insurance company has insured it and assured him that it is legal to do so without re-registering it. Is it just a case of the insurance co would say anything to get the money and then not pay up if there was an accident? Or is there something we are unaware of?
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Post by AnnieD on Nov 13, 2010 13:03:32 GMT 1
Question: Have you ever challenged any of these people? There may be some reason as to why they still have Brit plates. Yes I have and I usually get one of 3 replies: 1) I don't need to do it 2) I can't be bothered to do it 3) it's too expensive I have indeed come across a couple of people that have recently purchased from the UK (it's so much cheaper as we all know) and are in the process of re-registering - that is understandable, but blatant law-breaking is not
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Post by Elkay on Nov 13, 2010 16:14:53 GMT 1
Yes, but Annie, our friend has been assured by his French insurance company that he isn't breaking the law.
His little green insurance sticker displays the English registration. I am not saying that it is right - but he believes it is legal
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Post by lif on Nov 13, 2010 17:07:35 GMT 1
I love these Fred’s over on AI, don’t people get worked up over this one, I’m expecting Sunday Driver to popup at any moment. Illegal or legal it brakes down to Swansea having no authority in France, so the ‘I’m going to report them all brigade’ can do so, cuz nowt will happen, and the authorities in France are just not interested. I expect in time we will all get issued with an EU reg that is good for all member states, after all, we are supposed to have free movement are we not?
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Post by AnnieD on Nov 13, 2010 17:17:49 GMT 1
If you are a French resident & you purchase a car from another country then you must by law register it in France. It is illegal not to do so, although you can take quite a while doing it, but you have to show that you are in the process. Here is the official site vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F19222.xhtml And it states: Principe Un certificat d'immatriculation doit être établi, sous peine d'amende, par le ou les nouveau(x) propriétaire(s), dans un délai d'1 mois suivant la date d'achat du véhicule d'occasion. basically that you've got to get a french carte grise within 1 month following the purchase - the reality is that it's nigh on impossible to get it done within 1 month (quittus fiscal, CT, C of C etc etc) so 6 months seems to be the accepted maximum It's a botheration, but you are only legal on non-French plates if you are non-resident We've just bought a second hand car in the UK (for the same cost reasons) and have a green sticker with a UK plate reg on it & our insurer says "ok for 6 months too" but he know's we're going to change the plates (as we have done with several other vehicles over the years) and when we do then we send him a copy of the new carte grise and get a new sticker.
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Post by Elkay on Nov 13, 2010 17:23:13 GMT 1
That explains it, then Annie - as I know our friend is in the throes of getting his van ready to be able to register it here eventually
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Post by lif on Nov 13, 2010 18:20:42 GMT 1
My MX5 was a Grey import into the UK, its just not feasible to reg it here in France, none of the glass has the EC approved mark on it etc, so I drive it on English plates.
If it’s good for England then it’s good for France as far as I’m concerned.
I have bin stopped by the police meny times, no problems as far as they are concerned.
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