new car time

Lapierre t 400

Right,I'm in the market for my 1st car.
I have set my sights temporarly on an English VW Golf Mk4 Tdi 90.
The reason I have chosen English over Frog is because 2nd Hand cars over here are stupid monies.

I have several points that need clarifying:
- Do English cars come as standard with a certificat of conformity? or do I need to contact VW

-does the V5 document have anything special about taking vehicles out the country permenantly

Arkady001

Cars bought in the UK are compliant with EU conformity laws and vice-versa (unless the car was manufactured outside the EU, such as a US-Import, then you'll need an SVA certificate - with a VW Golf you'll be fine).
The V5 has an 'exporting to another country' section.
It's very easy - I did mine when I moved to Germany.

Fully-sprung

Make a holiday out of it, come over for a week or so.

tri-sexual

how much more is a LHD french golf when compared to a RHD english one?
how long do you plan to drive in france,
are you going to bring the uk car back to the uk in the near future or is this car going to stay in france?
since this is your first car i presume you are a fairly new driver
here's my thoughts, unless you plan to use the car for a short period then bring it back to the uk then buy a french car
driving a RHD car in a european country is hassle, alterations to lights has to be made
visability is worse and simple task such as car parks and toll booths can be a real headache since all the inferstructure would be taylored for LHD cars meaning that you have to reach across the passenger seat.
my advice, buy a car suited for the country unless you plan to use it for a very short period of time. it may cost more but you will get more for it when you trade in (in france), a RHD car will be worth very little if you plan to sell it in france

unixnerd

I think that insuring a LHD car in the UK is dearer than RHD, the opposite my be true in France.

Lapierre t 400

tri-sexual wrote:

how much more is a LHD french golf when compared to a RHD english one?

your looking at around 4-5000 euros for a frog one with reasonable Kms on it.
Put It this way,I am intending to pay about 2 grand for something and for the money over here you could buy yourself a nice 1992 peugeot 205 or a 106 or a Renault 19 or an AX

The car will stay in France,will be driven into the ground and from what I've understood from the insurers its not much more expensive to insure a RHD

my apprentiship down in calais means it needs to be something recent and reliable to do 120 motorway kms a day

The Northern Monkey

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

my apprentiship down in calais means it needs to be something recent and reliable to do 120 motorway kms a day

Diesel and German then.

Briggo

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

my apprentiship down in calais means it needs to be something recent and reliable to do 120 motorway kms a day

Diesel and German then.

So anything that isn't German isn't reliable? :roll:

The Northern Monkey

Briggo wrote:

The Northern Monkey wrote:

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

my apprentiship down in calais means it needs to be something recent and reliable to do 120 motorway kms a day

Diesel and German then.

So anything that isn't German isn't reliable? :roll:

Yep... I said those EXACT words. No question. :roll:

Arkady001

unixnerd wrote:

I think that insuring a LHD car in the UK is dearer than RHD, the opposite my be true in France.

Not necessarily...I have LHD and RHD cars and the premiums are about the same given the difference in age, engine type and driving I use them for...
Insurance for all types of car is cheaper in the UK than in Germany (no idea about France) though with the rises this year and the rumoured increases of up to 30% for next year they'll be soon on a par...

Arkady001

tri-sexual wrote:

how much more is a LHD french golf when compared to a RHD english one?
how long do you plan to drive in france,
are you going to bring the uk car back to the uk in the near future or is this car going to stay in france?
since this is your first car i presume you are a fairly new driver
here's my thoughts, unless you plan to use the car for a short period then bring it back to the uk then buy a french car
driving a RHD car in a european country is hassle, alterations to lights has to be made
visability is worse and simple task such as car parks and toll booths can be a real headache since all the inferstructure would be taylored for LHD cars meaning that you have to reach across the passenger seat.
my advice, buy a car suited for the country unless you plan to use it for a very short period of time. it may cost more but you will get more for it when you trade in (in france), a RHD car will be worth very little if you plan to sell it in france

Agree with all of that: it's do-able but it's a PITA a lot of the time - I usually borrow my GFs car to go shopping in as it's so much easier getting in and out of car-parks. Either that or I have to have a passenger with me...

PXR5

Right, this is just my experience....

We brought our old UK car into france, but our UK insurance would not cover us for more than 90 days as we were considered resident in france.
Now it is possible to find some insurers who will cover you, but i was strongly advised that in the case of an accident things get complicated very quicky if it was not a french insurance company.

To insure the car you will need a "Carte Grise", this is the french version of the V5 owners document, but now it gets tricky...

To swap theV5 to Carte Grise you need to got to the local Prefecture for your new Carte Grise and your new number plates, but you need other documents before they will accept this..

You may need to go to the local technical centre (DRIRE ??) where they will accept the car is Ok to use (ie conforms to EU laws) not much hassle, just a few Euros spent

You may need to go to the local Hotel des Impots to declare that the car is yours and that no import tax needs to be paid

You will almost certainly need a local ie french Controle Technique (same as the MOT) all cars require these on their 4th birthday and every 2 years after....but you may not pass the Controle technique without swapping the front lights over so that they dip in the other direction...so more cost....

After all that hassle it can be done....

My friends and colleagues still laugh at our old english car with "the steering wheel on the wrong side"

But it took a while and a lot of stress and god knows how many trips to the prefecture just to be sent away to get more paperwork - so like many things you could get lucky and find someone who will ensure you no hassle, or there might be a lot of hoops to jump through before its finished....

Talk to car insurers in UK and France to see if any one will insure you

Go to the local prefecture and "enquire" about what paperwork is required

Good Luck / Bonne Chance

bigmat

Driving a RHD car in a LHD country or vice versa for anything more than the occasional trip is c*ck like behaviour - visibility is a real issue and you'll be a danger to yourself and other road users, including cyclists. All to save a few quid... :roll:

Keith1983

Why not just buy a Skoda Fabia, after all they're pretty much a golf anyway and for the €2000 you mention you'd get a reasonable one, the diesel ones are economical and reliable from what I hear.

Lapierre t 400

right just dropped in to the prefecture
told me I needed an english Certificat of conformity ( this replaces the drire) 85£ from vw
new lights approx 100€
quittus fiscal thing free from tresor publique apparently
carte grise + plates 42€ a fiscal horse + 30€ for plates
810€ of insurance a year for a tdi 110

those other nasty little french snotboxes are starting to look quite interresting

PXR5

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

new lights approx 100€


those other nasty little french snotboxes are starting to look quite interresting

You'll be doing well if you can get them for that, when i had to change mine scrap yards were obviously no help, so had to buy new - for my old Nissan Micra that was nearer €300

Guess the whole thing depends on how long you spend in France and how long in the UK, if you keep travelling back and forth and are not considered resident in France then maybe you can stick with UK insurers and then its just considered like bringing you car abroad on holiay, ie a slight premium to pay, but using it to and from work may be another thing entirely

Come to think of it you can buy my Nissan Micra - - 100% legal in France, though it does have a few dents in it and the door no longer shuts properly !!

Lapierre t 400

I live in France permanently with very occasionnal trips back to the uk but I've just been offered quite a good deal on a frog mk 4 golf so only the carte grise to deal with

PXR5

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

I live in France permanently with very occasionnal trips back to the uk but I've just been offered quite a good deal on a frog mk 4 golf so only the carte grise to deal with

In the long run will probably be much less hassle to get a french car then just change the carte gise over to your name, think its compulsary plate change now as well, the old plates don't stay on the car..

One other thing worth considering - though i of course would never condone any such type of behaviour, is that if you have a car on French plates, which you use for the odd trip back to blighty, and you just happen to drift into a 30 zone at 35 in the UK and get flashed then Mr Plot is most likely to take one look at the photo and think "oh stuff it" it a bloody tourist...

Not that in any way i condone speeding, except downhill VTT

Keith1983

Although make sure you check the flywheel on a Mk4 golf diesel! If it is going cheap this is most likely the reason why, and with labour you're looking at best part of £1300 to replace.

Lapierre t 400

We never usualy bother with speeding or pay and display parking fines when we take the frog car back to the uk


Keith 1983 how do you go about checking the flywheel

stubs

Lapierre t 400 wrote:

Keith 1983 how do you go about checking the flywheel

Cant say about a Golf but I had a Skoda Octavia 1.7 Tdi that had a knackered flywheel. You couldnt drive it below 30 mph the car felt like it was rocking backwards and forwards as the flywheel flapped about, at 1500 revs the engine was trying to jump out of the engine bay. As Keith has said big bucks to get fixed I just scrapped the engine wasnt worth the labour never mind the parts which if memory is right was the thick end of £800.