Online delay hits 100,000 cartes grises

A new internet system meant to speed up car registration for a carte grise has led to a backlog of 100,000 applications and dealers unable to deliver cars.

Registration has been online- only since November but bugs caused problems with non-French cars: dealers at one point had 400 cars stuck for more than a fortnight and 22,000 files to be dealt with.

At a meeting with the Interior Ministry the CNPA trade federation said dealers were under heavy financial pressure as failure to get cars to customers meant they could not get paid.

New bonus-malus emissions rules coming in from January 1 also meant pressure to get cars registered and delivered as pollution penalties were payable on registration and not order date.

Some owners were also having difficulty registering cars in the time period allowed by law.

The ministry said problems were being resolved but a CNPA spokesman said: “We do not see any sign of our backlog clearing – and it is not clear what is being done for private owners.”

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