Frenchy the Die-hat-soo Terry-hos.

[DVee8]

I was offered this last month by a work mate

It is a French-registered, UK right-hand drive car.

French registered because he lived in both the UK and France where is mother and better half still live.

He lives in a huge 7.5t camper van on a corner of a farm for £50 per month.

The car is hanging.

 

[DVee8]

Plans  well, my lads want to fit a snorkel and a lift kit and go green landing.

Me as its French registered  I have no idea what to do with it.  As iI/we have 7 cars i think i'll spend a few days cleaning it, then it  may come to a for sale thread near you.

Today is day 1 of cleaning it up.

 

 

[DVee8]

More about the car.

I believe its a 2002 car 1.3 petrol in E or base model with 2 keys that have to be inserted into a lock in the door,  also  keep fit windows 

But it us 4 wheel drive.

It looks like its had a recent exhaust and the tyres look recent.

[lesapandre]

Check: Does it have the Carte Grise - it's the French log book? It may still have the CT - French equivalent of the MoT - that will be in a little square pouch attached to the windscreen like the old UK tax disc was - likewise the insurance certificate should be on the windscreen in a pouch if it is still insured - these both need to be valid if present - in date and unexpired.

Depending on how long it's been in the UK it may be legal to drive as long as it has insurance and CT - but if it has been here over 6-months you'll need to get it UK registered as it will have outstayed it's welcome on French plates... and risks being impounded possibly.

[loserone]

Once you have it registered, give us a shout and we'll take you over some lanes in Weardale 

[DVee8]

These are on the windscreen.

 

[Missy Charm]

I'm not completely convinced that car is road legal, at least not with @DVee8 behind the wheel.  Foreign plated private cars enjoy a six month (in some cases longer) exemption from the usual tax on import rules if they are brought into the country on a temporary basis by a foreign resident.  That exemption ends if the car passes into the hands of a UK resident, which means there is an immediate requirement for the car to either be taxed or taken off the road.  The former can only be done if the thing is UK registered, which in turn requires the ball to start rolling vis a vis the import process - NOVA declaration and the like.  

Whether anyone is likely to do anything about it, enforcement wise, is another matter, but it's something to bear in mind.  What's the deal with insurance?  

[DVee8]

At the moment is sitting outside my garage at the top of the street, while we clean it up and then decide what we are going to do with it.

[gm]

2 hours ago, Missy Charm said:

I'm not completely convinced that car is road legal, at least not with @DVee8 behind the wheel. 

c’est pas d’un probleme, mon ami  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305210193236?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=D380fce3Qge&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=LKn5X0MqTxu&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

[loserone]

I custom made @Lacquer Peel a french driving licence when the express was in the process of being registered.  Was insured on the VIN I believe.

 

Probably also full of vin 

[lesapandre]

4 hours ago, DVee8 said:

These are on the windscreen.

 

The French MoT has run out - so it needs to go back to France to get it renewed - unless it's going to be re-reg on a UK MoT.

The insurance is still valid - depending on what kind of cover the insured party took out and who it covers. It won't cover another driver in the UK I'd expect.

Yes - the car can be 6-months in the UK if owned/ driven by a foreign resident - that's either a French person or it could include a UK passport holder who is resident in France - but it has no valid roadworthy certificate under the 1949 Geneva Treaty that covers reciprocation of vehicles in use.

If it's now also  as @Missy Charm says in the hands of a 3rd party - then yes it needs registration in the UK - it can't be driven by a UK national.

There were loads of foreign registration cars in London for a time but the police clamped down - I've seen vehicles impounded. You'd be like to get it snatched  (Except if it was MoT'd - on the vin and UK insured and awaiting the new registration perhaps...perhaps...it would be ok to drive to the MoT station but that would need checking with Swansea in detail). General interim use would be excluded I'm sure because at that point the car would be effectively 'stateless' in that it would have no official valid ownership doc with an identified keeper in either country.

This is just my experience of these matters - please check everything for yourself too as opinions differ...

Our resident ninja @LightBulbFun may be able to advise on the last part.

[LightBulbFun]

if its an ex UK car, then it will have a record with the DVLA already, worth checking that out before doing anything with it further, especially incase it has any markers on it, but otherwise will be fairly simple to get its logbook back.

 

as for MOT's it can be MOT'ed as is on its French number plate here in the UK, you dont have to return it to France  for an MOT, but you are better off finding out its UK identity and doing the MOT on its UK mark.

 

as mentioned however, technically as I understand it a UK resident cant drive on the public highway, a foreign registered car here in the UK, it must be UK registered, so again you will want to find what its original UK identify was