French Controle Technique and Carte Grise de Collection

[AGT]

After months of indecision I have decided to attempt to re-register my 230SL in France. The alternative to keep its British registration and use it in France would seen to involve bringing the car back to the UK every year for its MoT test and ignoring the maximum overseas use restriction on my UK insurance policy.

Despite hours of research, I still have lots of questions on the French registration  process and would appreciate any advice from our French contingent. If it is easier to PM me in French please do so - I can understand French if I read it very slowly.

OK - here goes:

Step 1 - identify fantastic route to drive the car from Edinburgh to Alpes Maritimes. The only downside is that I should probably take the hardtop with me as separating the car and the hardtop by 1,250 miles is not a good idea long term.

Step 2 - prepare the car for its Controle Technique test. I have two questions that I can't find the answer to. 1. Will I need to change the speedometer from one which reads in MPH to one which reads in KPH? If I do need an instrument which reads in KPH could this be an auxiliary instrument such as a Sat Nav? 2. Is there an emissions test or, as in the UK, are older cars exempt?

Step 3 - go to the tax office and obtain a quittas fiscal to confirm that no import tax is due. This should be OK as I paid the taxes when I imported the car into the UK from the USA and there ought to be no further tax moving a secondhand car between two EU countries.

Step 4 - I then have a choice between registering the car with a Carte Grise Normale or a Carte Grise de Collection. What would you recommend? The advantages of the Carte Grise de Collection seem to be that I don't need a Certificate of Conformity from Mercedes if I get the certificate of attestation from the Federation Francaise des Vehicules d'Epoque, the Controle Technique becomes five yearly and, maybe, I can use old style black and white number plates. Are there any disadvantages in electing for a Carte Grise de Collection?  If I decide to try for a Carte Grise Normale would I be able to obtain a Certificate of Conformity from Mercedes Benz in France or is there some other way to prove that the car is lawful to drive on French roads?

Some other questions:

Are there any  French motor insurance companies which specialise in classic cars and which you would recommend?

Are there any Pagoda or old timer MB specialist garages known to any of our members within say 100 kms of Nice?

Cordialement
Andrew
1966 230SL

[JamesL]

1. Portsmouth to Santander on the boat

Meander via Carcasonne, Tarbes, Arles and the Haut Languedoc, Luberon and Verdon national parks

Highly recommended and makes such a change from heading south via Lyon. Your alternative would likely look like Alsace/Jura, Switzerland and through the Alpes OR Route Napoleon down from Grenoble

The rest of your questions: not a clue!

[GGR]

I left France a while ago and things have changed since then. But here are a few indications:

You have to start with the "service des mines". They are the ones who will say that your car is fit for driving on French roads (in the past, the service des mines in the Alpes Marritimes was said to be quite accomodating, hope it's still true).

For that, they will need the "fiche des mines constructeur" or something named close to that. There should not be any problem to get it as the 230SL was imported in France, so I guess you could get it via a MB dealer, or the Mercedes Club de France. 

They may also need the Controle Technique, unless it is the latter who will need a paper from the service des mines, I don't know in which order it is.

I don't think the 230SL will be tested for emissions, I think it's only for cars post 1970. Once you get all that you go to the Prefecture des Alpes marritimes to get your carte grise. I stronly recommend you to go for the carte grise "normale" as the "collection" one will have your car drop in value due to the restrictions in use it implies. Here things have changed and restrictions are less than before, but I don't know the details. Anyway, all my cars are with a carte grise "normale".

Yes, you can have your car insured at a better rate even with a carte grise "normale". the Assurance Collection are plenty around. You only need to have another car insured as your daily driver. This can be in another country, which is my case.

With all the MBs that sold in the area you will surely find a garage specialised in older MBs. Garage Simondi in Vance, if still in existence, will do all you need on your car. They may be others, but I'm not from there, so I don't know.

[AGT]

James and GGR

Thank you for your responses.

I started the re-registration process on my Citroen 2CV last weekend as a practice. The 2CV specialist preparing my car for the Controle Technique is also counselling against the Carte Grise de Collection registration. He thinks that the French legislature is generally very against old cars on environmental grounds and that while the driving restrictions on a Collection registration have been relaxed in the past two years there are persistent rumours that new rules may restrict the driving of Collection registered cars to the weekend.

I have written to MB in Paris asking for an Attestation d'Identification for a 230SL. Once I get that I can start on the rest of the paperchase to re-register the Pagoda with a Carte Grise Normale.

GGR, my house is near Vence and there is still a Garage Simondi but from a drive by it looks to be a Peugeot concession now.

Thanks again.

Regards
Andrew
1966 230SL

[AGT]

Well, after a few months I have received my French registration papers and my Pagoda is now sitting in the sunshine wearing its new French number plates. Thank you to all for the on and off line advice and assistance.

Through Achim I located a stick on KPH faceplate for my MPH speedometer. This was not expensive compared with a KPH speedometer and was supplied with very good fitting instructions. Although the faceplate is a little brighter than the other instruments, it looks fine to me and reads very accurately without any re-calibration.

The Mercedes-Benz France website explains how to obtain an attestation/homologation certificate and this came through within a few weeks of sending my first dossier of documents and €150 to the Paris HQ.

Despite blighting my journey to France with fuel pick up problems, the car breezed its statutory inspection (control technique). Fortunately, the test for older cars does not include a pollution/emission test!

Next stop was the tax office (Hotel des Impots) to obtain a certificate that no tax was payable on importing the car from the UK to France. Again, another dossier of documents but no problems or tax on a transfer from one European Community country to another.

Final stop was the town hall in Grasse (Prefecture). Another dossier and much stamping of documents. I was charged a fee of €330 to register the car. I think this was based on horsepower - my Citroen 2CV (which has very few horses) was a mere €50.

So apart from complying with the rules of  the paper chase, the process was logical and not particularly expensive. My wife and children are amused by my rather obssessive retention and filing of every scrap of paper relating to my cars but when you come up against a paper based beaurocracy it is good to be  confident that you can produce any document relating to your car that anyone could possibly ask for.

Most important of all the car is fantastic on the winding roads around my house. The low gearing, compact size and fantastic handling make it a real joy to drive. And it clearly loves the sun. Don't we all...

Best regards
Andrew
1966 230SL

[Cees Klumper]

Felicitations! My Pagoda is going in for the import drill in Switzerland (from The Netherlands) on Monday. I decided to pay an agent about $500 to take care of all the bureaucratic steps, that would drive me bananas ...

[Benz Dr.]

Little wonder why some coutries are having a hard time coping with the economy with the amount of paper required just to plate a car. The French love all of that though.

[philmas]

Yes, you're right: french administration loves papers of all kinds...
@AGT: did you eventually choose the normal carte grise or the collection type?In the past, you had to cope with severe driving restrictions with this one,but I have heard things are much easier now, although I've been told they wouldn't deliver a normal CG to  a newly imported oldtimer anymore.
Btw, there is a new tolerance about number plates: you can now use white numbers (format is AA-111-AA) on black background in the "old style"if your car is old enough (let's say over 30 years).
Hope you enjoy driving in france

[AGT]

Philippe

I decided on carte gris normal as the attestation certificate from Mercedes-Benz in Paris made this easy and I am concerned about future driving restrictions on cars with carte grise de collection. There seems to be a rumour that the use of carte grise de collection cars might be restricted to Saturdays and Sundays.

Have you any suggestions for a French insurance company? AXA which insures my Citroen 2CV wants €2000 a year for tout risque on the Pagoda. Retro-Assurances was a more reasonable €600 but have withdrawn the offer because I have not had French insurance for a two year period.

Best regards
Andrew
1966 230SL

[sierra31]

Hi Andrew,

forget AXA for a second they are only good on contemporary cars.
My 230SL and peugeot 204 "Break" are both insured through:  MASCOTTE Assurances - Etablissement de gestion
1050 chemin des Exquerts
CS 80027 Monteux
84207 CARPENTRAS Cedex

Tél. : 04.90.34.16.00
Fax : 04.90.34.05.27
E-mail : info@mascotte-assurances.com

87Euros all in for fully comp cover. They only do oldies and they are not too far from your neck of the woods.
You need to prove to them that you have regular insurance on a modern vehicle.

I will be in Beausoleil for a fortnight from 09th August, how about a brew in the sunshine talking pagodas?

Best regards, Alex