Registering a car at your second home in France: when you need to do this and how
France is a signatory to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic
Motorists are advised that an up-to-date carte grise is invaluable
HJBC / Shutterstock
The question of whether UK or other foreign cars brought into France by people with second homes may be registered at these homes is raised from time to time by readers.
The answer is yes, they can – and indeed should be, if kept there permanently.
This is because France is a signatory to the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, which lays down rules on this.
It states that vehicles that are used in France but which are registered abroad and owned by people living abroad may be considered in ‘international circulation’ (not requiring registration in France) for no more than one year continuously. After this they must be re-registered in France.
Registration in France requires documents including proof of having an address in France: a justificatif de domicile.
Some people have, in the past, questioned whether this expression means you must yourself be domiciled in France, in the sense of having your main home in France and/or being a French tax resident.
However, senior Interior Ministry officials confirmed to The Connexion that this phrase does not in this context relate to 'domicile' in these senses, but just an address you have use of, at which you can register the car.
Read more: UK residents can legally register a car at their French second home
Your French address can be proved by one of the documents listed here in section two.
Utility bills are a common example of such a justificatif.
Note that the exact list of other documents required to re-register the car for a French carte grise and plates is not the same if the car is imported from inside or outside the EU.
For example, where importing from inside the EU, you need to obtain a quitus fiscal, proving VAT has been paid on the car.
This can be obtained from your local French tax office unless you live in one of four departments where an online process is being trialled: Nord, Pas-de-Calais, Moselle or Bas-Rhin).
We have heard a report of one tax office refusing to deliver this to a person importing their own EU-registered car. One reason this could be if you are in one of the four above-mentioned departments.
However we note that one unofficial website about French car registration reports tax officials sometimes refusing the 'quitus' on grounds that there is no sale or change of ownership taking place. It advised in such cases asking for this refusal to be given in writing, with an explanation, and submitting this document instead.
Vehicles from outside the EU, such as from the UK, do not require the 'quitus, but instead a certificat de dédouanement (customs clearance certificate), number 846A, which can be obtained from the Douanes customs service once you have paid any French VAT and other taxes that may be applicable.
For more on the registration process, which is done via the website of France Titres (also known as ANTS), see our previous article on this, below.
Read also: Process, costs, carte grise: how to register a car in France
