Driving in France can be quite a challenge at times, particularly if you’ve only just arrived! The French do have a reputation for being maniacs on the road, and they have a different relationship with their vehicles. You’ve probably seen many well-used older cars on the road, dusty and dented, rattling or missing parts. Many French car owners only wash their car before they plan to sell it. Used cars in France generally hold their price for years, so here we’ve added a few notes and useful phrases if you are looking to buy something second-hand.
Buying a second-hand car in France
Car culture in France, with the possible exception of the major cities, is all about making it last. It’s one of the reasons most used cars have several thousand kilometers on the clock. There are breakers yards aplenty and it’s not uncommon in rural areas to see people driving their daily runabout which in other countries would be treasured or assigned to the scrapyard! For example, in my village, at least 3 vignerons that I know of drive a Renault 4L, possibly from the 1960s!
Distance makes a difference
It is generally known that some types of vehicles are more expensive in certain areas. If you are prepared to travel across the country, you may find your ideal car at a fraction of the price advertised locally.
What is a ‘Carte Grise’?
The ‘Carte Grise’ (the official name is Certificat d’Immatriculation) is the registration document for your French vehicle and should always be carried with the driver (keep a copy in the car, just in case). It specifies information about the owner as well as the vehicle, including:
- the vehicle registration number
- the owner’s name and address
- details of the vehicle (make, model, year of manufacture, horsepower, engine and chassis numbers)
- its compliance with European pollution standards
When a car is bought or sold, the new ownership must be registered within one month of the transfer so that a new Carte Grise can be issued. All Carte Grise requests, as well as other procedures such as requesting a new driving licence, have recently (November 2017) moved to an on-line system at https://ants.gouv.fr/ (ANTS). You will need to create an account here and also, as a dual-identification system, create an online account with France Connect (https://franceconnect.gouv.fr/). You can only create an account with France Connect if you have a French tax number, an Améli online account or are available at your French address to be certified as present in France by your local postman. The system is rather complicated to set up and, from what we have seen so far, it is also tricky to get the hang of the stages of processing your request ‘behind the scenes’. We at Renestance are learning the ropes now, but if you are doing this as a one-off, you may find it all rather frustrating.
Alternatively, some car dealers are authorized to handle the registration of the car and can supply you with the official Carte Grise certificate.
Common faults and what to ask for
Basic servicing, like an oil change (vidange), is often done by the owner of the car, primarily to save money, but also because the French love their DIY. What could be simpler than changing a filter and refilling with oil? The same can apply to brake pads (plaquettes), so the first things to look for on a second hand car are uneven wear on the brakes, and oil leaks.
If you have someone with you with a modicum of knowledge, they will be able to spot things that might have been bodged, or done with the wrong tools (leaving marks where there should be none, for instance).
Even the registration number of a car can be useful. Since the registration system changed, a car with the old style number plate will have had the same owner since before 2009, potentially a very good thing if they have looked after it. If however the registration is recent, questions may be raised about why they are selling it so soon.
Lastly on the common things to look at, tires. French law specifies that the tires must match on the axle. This means matched pairs front and rear. If they don’t, the car won’t pass the CT until they do, and that can get expensive. Most tire outlets in France only sell in pairs for this reason.
A few useful terms when looking for a car :
- Voiture d’occasion – second-hand car
- Contrôle technique (CT) – obligatory vehicle inspection (MOT)
- Vidange et remplacement des filtres – oil and filter change
- Quand est-ce que la courroie de distribution a été changée? When was the timing belt changed?
- Et la pompe d’eau? – And the water pump?
- Plaquettes – brake pads
- Parallélisme – tire balancing
What is the process of buying in France, and what are the pitfalls?
In France, if you go to a dealership, you can expect to pay a premium for a used car. On more expensive cars however, you can get a warranty of up to a year. Smaller independent dealers will be happier to negotiate, but don’t expect miracles. The usual offer is to keep the price the same but give the car a decent service, sometimes even including the timing belt. A curious quirk of many small dealers, (perhaps due to staffing levels which are consistently low) is that they leave the cars dirty on the forecourt until someone shows interest. For your second visit, the car will be clean…!
Buying privately can be a minefield. It’s legally binding to have a CT (Contrôle Technique – a government safety test) done within the last 6 months, for cars over 4 years old. Sellers are able to sell without a CT, but it must be stated on the paperwork (triplicate of course), and the car is not roadworthy, nor can you register it until it passes a new CT. We know one lady who was about to buy a car for a good price, and the CT was just over 6 months old. On our strong recommendation she asked for a new CT, and something came up on the test that cost several hundred euros to fix – Caveat emptor!
Whether buying privately or from a professional, make sure to ask for the ‘carnet d’entretien,’ which shows the repairs and maintenance done on the car. Another thing to be aware of is insurance. Take out your own policy to drive the car away, as the seller’s insurance expires at midnight on the day of the sale.
Importing a vehicle
At the beginning of this post, right hand drive vehicles were mentioned. If you’re happy with the steering wheel on the right (wrong) side, buying a car from the UK is still a possibility. Private sales, auctions, dealerships; the choice is endless, and prices generally a lot lower.
You will incur a few expenses getting your car re-registered in France. A foreign registered car imported to France will need to go through a series of checks, and have certain French-language documents, which can also be costly, before being eligible for registration and a Carte Grise. Although the procedure can be quite long winded, as with most French bureaucracy it’s a process that has to be followed, and we know it inside out.
Ultimately your choice of vehicle will be dictated by your circumstances and daily needs (autoroute or just the boulangerie?) and the amount of time you may have available to shop around.
It all may sound a bit baffling but we, at Renestance, have been through the car buying and registration process many times, both personally and professionally. If you need some advice before purchasing a car, give us a call! We’ll help you with get motoring with a minimum of surprises 😉
Nicole is a bilingual Brit from Cambridge who has been living in the Languedoc since 2002 and is one of the first Renestance's Consultants. She knows how to get things done and can find the key contacts, having worked in real estate, managed two businesses of her own, and started a large social group for English-speakers in the area.
All articles by: Nicole Hammond
Jer Deroo
on 2018-05-09 at 21:01The facts may be correct for a Brit, but as a Canadian wanting to do long vacations we are running into roadblocks: 1) can’t use ants, 2) may not be able to insure without getting a drivers license from France
Hi Jer, your nationality doesn’t impact the paperwork that much – it’s more a question of your residency. Only French residents can use ANTS, but there are Carte Grise shops that can process them for you for about €25. And you can insure your car without a French drivers license, as long as your license is valid for driving in France. Kind regards, Dennelle
Danny
on 2018-08-05 at 11:12I was looking for some advice. I’m thinking of importing a car from Switzerland to France but one of the key pieces of information I need is the CV fiscal of the vehicle. I’m getting conflicting explanations of what this figure actually is, some say it’s the direct translation of horsepower, and others say it’s calculate based on power output (in Kw H) and CO2 emissions (in g/km) can someone clarify for me please?! The difference it makes in the registration cost is about 10,000 euro!
Nicole Hammond
on 2018-08-10 at 18:00Hi Danny – we are in touch by email and making progress with your query! Best, Nicole
Clare
on 2018-10-06 at 11:46We have a holiday home in France so not permanent residents, can we set up an ANTs account?
Nicole Hammond
on 2018-10-16 at 12:15Hi Clare – you should be able to create an account as long as you have a proof of address in your name, such as an EDF attestation (under 3 months old). If you need to register a vehicle with the old number plate system, and therefore need to create a FranceConnect account, this may be trickier. One way you could do this is to have your identity verified by the postman, so you’ll have to be in the country (another way is to supply a French income tax statement, which you won’t have as non-residents). Or you can ask Renestance to do this job for you through our ANTS account! 🙂
Nikos
on 2018-10-10 at 16:56Hello,
So I am thinking of bringing my motorbike from Greece here. Do you know if I can sell it afterwords here, after I re-register it, and if so, how fast after the registration? Also, do you know how much it will cost to re-register here? Is it a lot more than the cost of the carte-grise?
Thanks in advance
Hi Nikos
The cost of the registration will include such overheads as getting a Certificate de Conformité from the French head office of the bike’s manufacturer (assuming one can be secured). It’s always worth starting with that enquiry to see whether it’s worth doing, as if the bike has eg been modified or is no loger being manufactured, it’s a lot harder to secure this. Also, depending on your local tax office, you may need certified translations of your bill of sale (to you), travel documents etc. The cost of the carte grise itself can be simulated here https://www.service-public.fr/simulateur/calcul/cout-certificat-immatriculation
If you need a hand with the import process, please email me at nicole@renestance.comn and we’ll guide you through this.
Best, Nicole
Raptor
on 2018-10-27 at 11:06Hi,
I sold my used car of 11 yrs which I had used for one year.it had driven 110k kms with a valid CT done 20 days before. After 10 days of sale the buyer is saying that engine has vibrations and is unhappy. He us threatening to go legal.he test drove it before the sale. I am not sure what to do
Hi Raptor, thanks for your comment and sorry about your predicament. Normally the buyer needs to prove that the fault existed when he bought it, and that you hid it (which is a legal infraction). This article is pretty good at explaining the situation – you should be able to right-click to get the English translation https://www.dossierfamilial.com/vie-pratique/vehicules/occasion/voiture-doccasion-quel-recours-en-cas-de-litige-347673 Best of luck.
Juliette
on 2018-11-17 at 22:57Raptor we have has a very similar problem – we sold our 11 year old car in August – it was in very good condition had 11 years yearly full service history and a CT done a couple of weeks before hand – carefully had all the correct French paper work etc etc. The 18 year old guy came to see it -with his mechanic brother and purchased it for a very good price – Two and a half months and 3000km later he writes to us – recorded delivery – and asks us to collect the car and return the money – as the gear box has a problem- we had no problems with it when we sold it to him . I think it is an 11 year old car and has an 11 year old gear box – there was no cover up on out part – I feel really annoyed that he has used it for that time and clocked up 3000 km and is now accusing us of a cover up -I would be interested to know how your case I’d going – I have lost faith the system…
Juliette
on 2019-04-29 at 20:00So here is an up date to my plight with selling a car in France – we took some legal advice a wrote a registered letter to the buyer of our 11 year old car and said thAt he had to prove a fault when he purchased it – we heard nothing until another 4 months later – we received another letter from a Mercedes garage offering us the opportunity to come along to an inspection of the vehicle ( Friday 2 pm 2 hours drive from our address) so that they could prove a hidden defeat ! ) After the car being driver by this 18 year old guy for nearly 3 months and nearly 4000 km ) we were handed a bill of 500 euros to repair it – Nb it does not have to have been a defeat hidden by you but even if the car is found to have a fault nearly eight months later ( an Eleven year old car…. ) you are apparently liable – I think it stinks – we will never ever trust the legal system here and feel we were stitched up – Seller beware :/
Erin
on 2018-12-19 at 04:35What are the consumer protection laws in France relating to a private sale of a used vehicle?
I bought a 15 year old car from a private seller and while I did not expect it to be perfect, I have found that it requires more repairs than I anticipated.
Am I able to demand a refund from the seller? If yes, is there a time limit in which I must do this? And what proof, if any, do I need to make the request?
If they do not agree, what can I do?
Hi Erin – Here is an excerpt from our Vehicle Purchase Information pack: INFORMATION ANY SELLER IS LEGALLY OBLIGED TO DISCLOSE
• If any part of the vehicle is not functional, eg airbags
• If any part of the vehicle needs to be replaced, eg headlights
• If the vehicle has, to the seller’s knowledge, ever been involved in an accident
• If you discover a problem with the vehicle after your have purchased it, that was not disclosed before the purchase, you have legal recourse called ‘Garantie légale des vices cachés’ – see this link – https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F11007
• Here is the form to complete and send off by registered post (LRAR – address on the form) – https://www.inc-conso.fr/content/vous-decouvrez-que-le-vehicule-que-vous-avez-achete-ete-accidente-vous-invoquez-un-vice
We hope this helps. Best, Nicole
Clare
on 2019-08-03 at 16:30I’ve bought a second hand vehicle and have completed the information on-line to attain a new carte grise. I am at the final stage to pay and it is suggesting that I need to pay €216.76 – Is this normal just to change the ownership on the carte grise or have i done something wrong? Thank-you for any advice.
Hi Clare – yes, this is completely normal. The cost of the carte grise depends on the size of the engine, age of the car, level of carbon emissions and other factors. It can be quite a hefty sum, I’m afraid. Your price is actually at the lower end! Here is a handy link to find out approximately what your ‘immatriculation’ (registration of a vehicle in your name) will cost. https://www.service-public.fr/simulateur/calcul/cout-certificat-immatriculation; Best, Nicole
Jeffrey Brown
on 2019-11-02 at 22:34I would like to purchase a car in France that is at least 25 years old so I can import to the United States after driving it around France/Germany for a while. Purchasing isn’t the hard part but I think obtaining insurance will be and having the legal right to drive the car will be. If the carte grise is valid for one month after the purchase could I drive it around for 3 weeks and be legal? Thanks –
Hi Jeffrey – you are correct – you have a month after purchasing a vehicle in France to register it under your own name. However, note that if you intend to export the vehicle it may be easier to do this if the registration docs are already in your name. It is a simple operation to order the Carte Grise in your name, as long as you have a residence in France. When you complete the purchase paperwork, the seller will give you a code to use when registering the vehicle online in your name. Your CG should arrive chez vous in about three days’ time, once you’ve completed your request. If you need a hand doing any of this, please do contact me at nicole@renestance.com. Best, Nicole
Terry Christopherson
on 2020-01-05 at 18:44We want to buy a car within a week or so of moving to France, will we have problems with insurance since residency will be so short at that time?
Hi Terry – absolutely not – you should be able to download a utility attestation within a week or so of moving into your property, assuming you have at least one utility registered in your name. This document will be your ‘admin golden key’ to many processes here! It’s dated with the day’s date every time you print it off, and will be valid for three or six months, depending on which admin process you are using it for. Good luck with the move and car purchase, and do feel free to get in touch if you need us for anything. Best, Nicole