Driving licences and vehicle registration

I thought it might be useful to talk about the requirements and obligations while driving in France. These obligations apply weather you are here visiting, on holiday or living here permanently. Here is an small extract from our Driving and Licencing pack

“In France, driving comes with a number of mandatory documents for your car. To be in good standing with the law, you must therefore be able to present a driver’s license – permis de conduire , vehicle papers – papiers du véhicule and insurance certificate – attestation d’assurance .

But there are other optional documents that can be used depending on the situation. For example, the amicable report may be needed in the event of an accident – constat amiable en cas d’accident or the parking disc to park in the free blue zones – disque de stationnement pour se garer dans les zones bleues gratuites.

All documents that are required to be carried in your vehicle are the same no matter what country your vehicle is registered in“.

Driving Licence – Permis de Conduire

The driver’s license is one of the mandatory documents you have to have in the car. In case of theft or loss, you must imperatively obtain a duplicate. If your licence is French, the application for a new licence can be made on the government website ANTS. Once the application process is complete and authorised, it is now sent to you directly by recorded delivery letter to your home. It used to be that you could go to your local prefecture or in some cases, even your town hall, but this is no longer the case as the French government strive to digitalise their procedures. Based on correct information at the time of publishing, you may drive in France on a British licence if you are resident here.

The pink cardboard permits remain regulatory until January 19, 2033, the “credit card” formats are valid “only” 15 years before they have to be renewed. For British people driving in France, as things currently stand, it is not possible to exchange your British driving licence for a French one, UNLESS it has less than six months left before its end date, or you incur 3 or more penalty points, for which the Gendarmes will insist you make the exchange. Under normal circumstances, if this happens, you will be required to present your new French licence at the Gendarmerie when it arrives!

Vehicle registration

If your car is registered in France, you must carry the Carte grise also known as the certificat d’immatriculation with you at all times whilst driving.

For all vehicles registered in another country, you MUST still carry the registration documents while driving. If you are living in France and have imported your car from another country, you have a limited time to make an application to ANTS to register the car in France. You will be required to provide various documents to complete this process – which I will elaborate on in future posts – some of which can be hard to get your hands on, if you have missed a step during the importation process or you do not have all the paperwork relating to the purchase of the car. If you are importing a vehicle from outside the EU – from the UK for example, the process doesn’t really seem to follow a set pattern. For people like myself, who regularly help people import and re-register their vehicles in France, the process should be streamlined and function correctly, but the reality is very different.

Who knows???

The process should be straight forward. You should officially import your vehicle at the time of arrival with the Douanes. If the process is done correctly, they should then issue you with an 846A import certificate. This certificate is your ‘proof’ that there is no import tax to pay on the vehicle if you fit the right criteria.

Of course, it doesn’t always work like that, and in some cases, for various reasons, the certificate is not issued at the time of importation. In this case, it is possible to go to your local douanes to get the right paperwork. This is where the smooth process sometimes falls apart. It appears that despite being several years after Brexit (I use this example because for the clients I assist, this is where most non-European cars come from) some of the regional customs police and local authorities are still not clear about the procedures and taxes that should or should not be applied. Many people have had a nasty shock regarding the length of time it takes to register non-European vehicles and the duites and other expenses they have had to pay, while others have been spared the pain and expense. It really seems to be pot luck as to how the process rolls out. Hopefully as time goes on, these issues will be ironed out and a level playing field for everyone will emerge.