Must UK authorities be informed if we bring back car from France on visit?
Vehicles should be registered in the country where they are kept
Check with your insurer what exactly you are covered for, including length of time driving outside of France
Alicia G. Monedero / Shutterstock
Reader Question: My wife and I moved from the UK to France a few years back, but kept and registered our UK vehicle to use here. We are planning to take the ferry back for our next holiday and drive our car (still the same one) while there. Is this possible, and if so must we inform someone as the car used to be registered in the UK?
Foreign-registered vehicles can be driven in the UK, provided they meet certain conditions.
Firstly, the vehicle needs to be fully taxed and registered in its origin country (in this case France) – we assume as you use the vehicle here it has its French certificat d’immatriculation and you are driving the vehicle legally here.
In addition,you must be merely visiting the UK, and not be moving back to the country.
The vehicle must be used in the UK for fewer than six months across a 12-month period. This includes either one larger single trip or several smaller visits.
As you are not importing the vehicle for permanent use in the UK, you do not need to inform the DVLA (British driving authorities) nor any border officers that you are bringing it over.
This is the case even if the vehicle was previously registered in the UK but has since been re-registered in France following your move.
As part of the process to register the vehicle in France, you should have informed the DVLA that you were taking the car out of the UK via the ‘permanent export’ system, by sending back part of the vehicle’s UK registration document (‘log book’).
If you did not do this, we advise sending them a letter informing them of the change before coming back to the UK in the vehicle, to avoid any confusion. Information on how to do so is available here.
If you were to import a vehicle to the UK from France, you need to declare it to the UK tax authorities, HMRC, potentially paying customs fees and VAT.
Check insurance policy
As both France and the UK belong to the Green Card vehicle insurance system, your French policy should cover you at the minimum legal level when using your car on UK roads.
However, depending on how long you are visiting for– and the exact cover offered by your policy – you may wish to buy additional cover.
Check with your insurer what exactly you are covered for, including length of time driving outside of France (this can be capped at a total or per-journey level).
You may be able to alter your current policy to better suit your needs, particularly if you often drive back to the UK.
Alternatively, you can look at a specialist insurance broker – some specialise in offering cover across multiple countries, aimed at drivers who frequently find themselves in two countries such as second-home owners or multi-country families.
