A friend is about to move from California to France, and is considering
bringing his two (fairly new) cars with him.

Does anyone know how difficult it is to get the cars registered in
France? I seem to remember bikes were tricky, but are cars the same?

Cheers.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - "He's hopeless, but he's honest"

"Environmentally, it is our duty to re-use our plastic bags.
To suffocate our children" - Frankie Boyle.

On 2010-03-01 22:38:37 +0100, Wicked Uncle Nigel
<(E-Mail Removed)> said:

> A friend is about to move from California to France, and is considering
> bringing his two (fairly new) cars with him.

Has he owned them for more than a year? If not, he's probably liable to
pay tax on their importation, which under NL calculations would be in
the *eeeek* category.

> Does anyone know how difficult it is to get the cars registered in
> France? I seem to remember bikes were tricky, but are cars the same?

Do the make and models exist in europe? If so, US imports can usually
be brought in line with EU spec, although it's not necessarily cheap.

The list of difference between a US and EU model of the same car can be
quite a lot. Even the Mini Cooper S I brought back from Cali had some
fairly big differences that I had to rectify. Or was supposed to.


--
Dnc

Wicked Uncle Nigel <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> A friend is about to move from California to France, and is considering
> bringing his two (fairly new) cars with him.
>
> Does anyone know how difficult it is to get the cars registered in
> France? I seem to remember bikes were tricky, but are cars the same?
>
I believe so, yes.

--
BMW K1100LT Ducati 750SS Honda CB400F Triumph Street Triple
Suzuki TS250ER GN250 Damn, back to six bikes!
Try Googling before asking a damn silly question.
chateau dot murray at idnet dot com

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Wicked Uncle Nigel
<(E-Mail Removed)> saying something like:

>Does anyone know how difficult it is to get the cars registered in
>France? I seem to remember bikes were tricky, but are cars the same?

Eisenhower managed it no problem.

Wicked Uncle Nigel wibbled forthrightly:

> A friend is about to move from California to France, and is
> considering bringing his two (fairly new) cars with him.
>
> Does anyone know how difficult it is to get the cars registered in
> France? I seem to remember bikes were tricky, but are cars the same?
>
> Cheers.

Drop dog an email, he can give you the lowdown on the issues with H's
bike.

It can be done, but it's a nightmare apparently. If the cages in
question are already sold in France, then it helps (they'll still need
to be brought up to French specs though). They'll need to go through
the "Passage aux mines" in any case to prove that they're roadworthy
(and get the certificate that will enable them to be registered in
France). I see a lot of Merkin cages in France (there's a stretch
Hummer not too far from home) so it can be done. It's just a PITA.

--
Cab :^) - "It's not a fookin' budgie, you daft tart!"
Z1000ABS : http://www.rosbif.org/ukrm (just for WUN)
The ALL NEW ukrm website : http://www.ukrm.info
email addy : ukrm_dot_cab_at_rosbif_dot_org

doetnietcomputeren wrote:

> The list of difference between a US and EU model of the same car can be
> quite a lot. Even the Mini Cooper S I brought back from Cali had some
> fairly big differences

That would explain why " ... on twisties not much less than a porker is
going to be close ... "

--
Eiron.

On Mon, 1 Mar 2010 21:38:37 +0000, Wicked Uncle Nigel
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>A friend is about to move from California to France, and is considering
>bringing his two (fairly new) cars with him.
>
>Does anyone know how difficult it is to get the cars registered in
>France? I seem to remember bikes were tricky, but are cars the same?

If it's a model sold in France as well, then no, there won't be a
problem. He'll first need to "dedounier" it, i.e. declare it to the
customs people and possibly pay tax on it (not sure how it works if
you're moving here at the same time). They'll issue some certificates
which he needs to take the the vehicle registration people aho'll
issue the carte gris and plates etc.

If it's not a homologated model in France then he may have problems.

On 2010-03-02 09:19:19 +0100, Eiron <(E-Mail Removed)> said:

>> The list of difference between a US and EU model of the same car can be
>> quite a lot. Even the Mini Cooper S I brought back from Cali had some
>> fairly big differences
>
> That would explain why " ... on twisties not much less than a porker is
> going to be close ... "

I think I'm being whooshed here.

The differences are things like no rear fog light (or switch in the
panel), additional lights on the wheel arches which aren't allowed in
Europe (or at least NL).


--
Dnc

"doetnietcomputeren" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2010030211185860298-doesnotcompute@gmailcom...
> On 2010-03-02 09:19:19 +0100, Eiron <(E-Mail Removed)> said:
>
>>> The list of difference between a US and EU model of the same car can be
>>> quite a lot. Even the Mini Cooper S I brought back from Cali had some
>>> fairly big differences
>>
>> That would explain why " ... on twisties not much less than a porker is
>> going to be close ... "
>
> I think I'm being whooshed here.
>
> The differences are things like no rear fog light (or switch in the
> panel), additional lights on the wheel arches which aren't allowed in
> Europe (or at least NL).

And what about the Cali smog system. That's well known for castrating power
outputs, making a Porker less useful than a Cooper.


--
Beav

VN 750
Zed 1000
OMF# 19

On 2010-03-02 21:52:48 +0100, "Beav" <(E-Mail Removed)> said:

>>>> The list of difference between a US and EU model of the same car can be
>>>> quite a lot. Even the Mini Cooper S I brought back from Cali had some
>>>> fairly big differences
>>>
>>> That would explain why " ... on twisties not much less than a porker is
>>> going to be close ... "
>>
>> I think I'm being whooshed here.
>>
>> The differences are things like no rear fog light (or switch in the
>> panel), additional lights on the wheel arches which aren't allowed in
>> Europe (or at least NL).
>
> And what about the Cali smog system. That's well known for castrating power
> outputs, making a Porker less useful than a Cooper.

Only if you're an idiot. Most people that have performance cars in Cali
quickly open them back up once they've been smog tested.


--
Dnc