Export 1200GS to France?

[rogerbusa]

Hi. I'm moving to France soon and don't want to take my Hayabusa with me but want to buy a 1200GS here and export it to France. Has anyone any experience of:
Getting a carte gris for a UK bike in France
Insuring a bike in France
Anything you can help me with would be great.

 

[Jeannot]

Carte grise (feminin)

JC

 

[Tank]

Hi Rogerbusa

Wow your post is like dejavu for me. I moved to France last November and prior to coming over here I sold my Hayabusa and K1200GT BMW. The main reason was because I wanted a bike I could register in France and neither of those bikes met the ridiculous 106bhp law over here.

Having test ridden lots of bikes including the 1150 adventure, that I thought I really wanted, I settled an a Triumph Tiger 955i. Prior to buying this bike I spoke to Triumph France asking what to do about registering it here. Needless to say I am having a few issues even after changing the headlights, typical of French red tape!!!! I will win in the end.

Anyway the system is as follows:

Obtain a Certificate of conformity from the manufacturer/importer (my advice would be get it from the UK). If your bike is going to be post 2003 it should have a type approval number on the V5 against the letter 'k' on the inside page of the V5 this basically means the vehicle is approved for registration in any EU Country so a CofC should be available (may cost you)

If needed, change the headlights so they are correct for driving on the right.

Go to the hotel des impots (tax office) with your purchase invoice for the bike and ask for a certificate fiscal (?) which basically says no VAT (TVA in France) is due on the bike.

Take the certificate fiscal, CofC and your V5 to the prefecture who should then issue you with your carte grise, you will have to pay for this I think it is about 35€ per CV (CV is the power rating for the bike not sure how they work this out) My Tiger is 7CV.

Go and get your plates made up and get bike insured with a French insurer. Not sure about bikes but plates on cars must be riveted in place!!!

As I am sure you will know there is no Road Tax or MOT (CT controle technique) in France on motorbikes. It will be coming soon though, typical hey!

Anyway I hope I have it right because I am off to Alencon Thursday to try my luck at registering the bike without my CofC but I don't hold my breath!!

If you PM me your home phone number (I get free calls to UK) I would like to talk to you about the above in bit more detail if you OK with that.

Also bizzare is I have house in Skipton still and used to work in Bury so went past you everyday for 6 years!!! Small world hey. It would be amazing if you are moving just down the road to us is France!!

Hope to hear from you soon.

 

[Hustler]

Roger, we moved to la belle last year and I bought 2 bikes with me from the UK.
I wouldn't do it again though as it was a lot of grief.
Unless you are seriously attached to said bikes then don't bother, simply buy them over here.
Lots and lots of information on here - http://www.totalfrance.com/index.html under the vehicle section on the forum.
Insurance is easy and plenty of choice but more expensive than the UK.
And Tank, I wouldn't waste the petrol money going to Alencon without a CofC, but stranger things have happened I suppose.
Good luck the pair of you.

 

[Tank]

Hustler

I have a tale of woe re trying to register my bike and I want to try and circumvent the red tape and give the bird to a few of the jobs worths so fingers crossed. I know I am pushing my luck but as you will know out here it all depends on who you get on the day as to wether you get the desired result!!!!

Rogerbusa, unless you have lots of money and don't mind paying way over the odds for a second hand bike I would not buy in France as they are soooooooo expensive here, like second hand cars too.

 

[Hustler]

Hustler

I have a tale of woe re trying to register my bike and I want to try and circumvent the red tape and give the bird to a few of the jobs worths so fingers crossed. I know I am pushing my luck but as you will know out here it all depends on who you get on the day as to wether you get the desired result!!!!

Rogerbusa, unless you have lots of money and don't mind paying way over the odds for a second hand bike I would not buy in France as they are soooooooo expensive here, like second hand cars too.

Tank, yes it does depend on who you get on the day but yes you are pushing your luck. More than pushing it if the truth be known.
Problem is that without a certificate of conformity jobs worth person won't find a record of your bike on the French records resulting in an automatic fail. With my BMW I had an English certificate but it doesn't show the French database number which meant I had to then get a French certificate.
I won't bore you with the problems I had with my Hornet as it will take all night.
I haven't found French secondhand bikes to be that much more expensive than the UK but there are less of them about and they can be hard to find if you want something a little specific.
Cars I reckon are double the UK price or even higher.
But I did get there in the end and I'm sure you will as well but it is tortuous.
Good luck.

 

[Tank]

Hustler

I did hear from someone who went to the prefecture without a CofC and as his V5 had the type approval number on it he said he thought a CofC was not needed so the person at the prefecture called the DRIRE gave them the number and maybe they just wanted to get the Brit out of the office but they gave him the carte grise, voila!! My bike is a 2005 with a TA number so here goes.

My latest problem with the Tiger is although I have changed the headlights at a local Triumph dealer I am now told I have to change the speedo because the distance I travel is not shown in KM's but miles, nothing to do with the speed as speedo shows both KMH and MPH, I am being told there is a change in the regs!!!!! since last time I spoke to them last October, cobblers! So the challenge is on!

The other problem with buying second hand bike in France is unless you buy from dealer with warranty I would worry about buying privately due to lack of MOT so has the bike been well maintained? I doubt it looking at the rat bikes on the roads here.

You will hear the cheers if I get a result on thursday. Kitchen unit shopping too so at least we will get something done!!

 

[Hustler]

................. My latest problem with the Tiger is although I have changed the headlights at a local Triumph dealer I am now told I have to change the speedo because the distance I travel is not shown in KM's but miles, nothing to do with the speed as speedo shows both KMH and MPH, I am being told there is a change in the regs!!!!! since last time I spoke to them last October, cobblers! So the challenge is on! ......

Yes I think that is cobblers and mine were only registered late last year and kept their UK speedos, but ask on here - http://www.totalfrance.com/index.html as they have a few knowledgeable, up to speed with law changes, people on there.

 

[Tank]

Cheers, I am also in contact with a guy on angloinfo site who is expert on regulatory conformity and has emailed me the relevant section from the French legislation and it does not show the speedo needs to show distance travelled in km's.

We are also about to register our Toyota Avensis and I spoke to Toyota GB's export manager to get a CofC for that and I mentioned my situation with the bike. He said there was no such change in the regs, can you imagine the uproar/cost if you had to change your car speedo too!!!

Just my luck to get an awkward employee at the French end of Triumph!!

 

[rogerbusa]

Thanks guys

I'm liking this site more and more, great advice (although mixed) and it looks like as in all things French you have to go through the bureaucracy mill before you get satisfaction.
I can see taking a UK bike to France being more trouble than it is worth, I would have to pay for it to be transported, with the inherant risks (with other furniture and stuff), convert to French spec and battle the town hall wallers. It hardly feels like a bed of roses and with all the other stuff to consider with a perm. move to France I think I will buy my R1200GS down there.
Looking on French BMW dealer sites the prices are not that much different for similar age, mileage, spec bikes and all I have to do is take a wad of money to my nearest dealer (Narbonne) and voila !

 

[Tank]

Hi Rogerbusa

Trying to send you a private message but seems you do not have a link for it just some skype reference. I deleted skype from my computer as found it was next to useless. If you have an email address perhaps you can send a private message to me with your email so I can contact you through that???

 

[Hustler]

Hi Rogerbusa

Trying to send you a private message but seems you do not have a link for it just some skype reference. I deleted skype from my computer as found it was next to useless. If you have an email address perhaps you can send a private message to me with your email so I can contact you through that???

I assume that's because young Rog is not a subscriber.
Can you send me a pm as well please Roger as I was going to send you some web addresses that may be of use but the rest of the UKGSer population will have no interest in them whatsoever and don't really want to clutter up the forum.
Thank you.

 

[rogerbusa]

Not sure how to send a personal message to Tank and Hustler? Help please !

 

[Hustler]

Click on underlined user id.
View public profile.
Under contact info there is a send a private message option.
I'm not sure, as a non subscriber, if you will have that option.
Give it a try and report back is all I can suggest.
Thanking you.