leaving a holiday car at the port?

[elioti]

Hi, interested on views about leaving a car at the ferry port in France? I`ve seen many cars at the port in Roscoff that looked like they have been abandoned, wondered where French law stood? I purchased a car in France not so long ago and booked a 24hr return leaving a car in france which i managed to sell so i could bring the french one back, the cheapest way. Thinking of leaving a car at the port then doing 24hr returns on foot and jumping in the car when i get there, could even hire it out!! Anyone know how long it could stay there before getting towed and crushed?I have a friend who has left a car in trieste airport ( italy ) for 6 years and it is still there and has not been used for 6 years, they have even built a new carpark around it!

[hirondelle]

not sure from your posting if his applies to you or not, however... be aware that it is illegal for a UK resident to drive a French registered car in the UK.

no, I didn't believe it either when I was told, however my local MP confirmed it with the men from the ministry....

[crechbleiz]

You can drive a french registered car in the UK for a period of 6 months. Then the car needs to be registered and taxed after the required transformations (head lamps and rear fog light).

But a lot of UK residents of continental europe origin just ignore the law.

[hirondelle]

Sorry but... NOT IF YOU ARE UK RESIDENT!

That's the point - it's absolutely stupid, but that is the law.

Now if you are French resident, THEN you can drive a French registered car in the UK for up to 6 months.

Which means that (as I am UK resident) the French registered car I leave in Brittany cannot be driven in the UK by me. However, if I take my French neighbour with me, he can drive it anywhere he likes. This all came to light when I decided to bring the French car back to the UK so that I could do some major work on it without taking up all my holiday and was taken to task by the local DVLA office.

[Millsy]

Originally Posted by hirondelle

Sorry but... NOT IF YOU ARE UK RESIDENT!

That's the point - it's absolutely stupid, but that is the law.

It does seem stupid but I suppose you could have a situation where in the case of certain types of incident/accident you could be left with a situation where someone might have to pursue an insurance claim/law suit against a driver through two totally different jurisdictions one where the offence took place the other where the vehicle was insured. That could easily turn into a nightmare I should think.

[G4rth]

Originally Posted by hirondelle

not sure from your posting if his applies to you or not, however... be aware that it is illegal for a UK resident to drive a French registered car in the UK.

no, I didn't believe it either when I was told, however my local MP confirmed it with the men from the ministry....

It would be interesting to know when the ruling came about. I would imagine it could well be a legacy from the time when importing a vehicle from one european country to another involved payment of import duties. In the past if you went on holiday to europe and were unfortunate enough to write your car off you had to recover the vehicle to the uk or pay the import duty in the country where the wreck ended up.

[richwarwicker]

Originally Posted by crechbleiz

You can drive a french registered car in the UK for a period of 6 months. Then the car needs to be registered and taxed after the required transformations (head lamps and rear fog light).

But a lot of UK residents of continental europe origin just ignore the law.

Originally Posted by hirondelle

Sorry but... NOT IF YOU ARE UK RESIDENT!

That's the point - it's absolutely stupid, but that is the law.

Now if you are French resident, THEN you can drive a French registered car in the UK for up to 6 months.

Which means that (as I am UK resident) the French registered car I leave in Brittany cannot be driven in the UK by me. However, if I take my French neighbour with me, he can drive it anywhere he likes. This all came to light when I decided to bring the French car back to the UK so that I could do some major work on it without taking up all my holiday and was taken to task by the local DVLA office.

i was under the impression that under EU laws, you can drive any EU vehicle within another EU country for up to 6 months regardless of your nation of citizen ship,
a friend of mine has a spanish registered car, (he works in spain and England, couple of months at a time in each, and has a spanish car as worked out cheaper to buy in spain, and has checked all out, and he has written confirmation from the DVLA that can drive the spanish registered car for 6 months before it needs to be registered to the uk, or return to spain! surely uk rules would be same for French and Spanish

[elioti]

Originally Posted by hirondelle

not sure from your posting if his applies to you or not, however... be aware that it is illegal for a UK resident to drive a French registered car in the UK.

no, I didn't believe it either when I was told, however my local MP confirmed it with the men from the ministry....

Dont wish to disagree with you as i dont know the exact law, but find it very hard to believe! Always understood if it went back to country of origin every six months its fine, regardless if you are a resident. would like to see this in writing where you cannot unless you are a resident of country of origin. I Never believe MP`s. I have owned foreign cars here and am uk resident and have trade insurance, never been an issue. If this were true, guess thousands are breaking the law. An interesting debate!

[Millsy]

Well yer tiz off directgov

European Union vehicles
EU vehicles brought into the UK can be used for six months in any 12-month period. You do not need to register the vehicle in the UK as long as you can show that the vehicle complies with the registration and tax requirements of its home country. It’s the responsibility of the driver to prove how long the vehicle has been in the country. Producing ferry tickets can do this.

If the keeper of the vehicle becomes resident in the UK, the vehicle must be immediately registered and taxed in the UK.

UK residents are not allowed to use a foreign registered vehicle on UK roads. The exception is when a UK resident:

•is employed or self-employed in another EU member state
•uses a EU registered company car temporarily in the UK for business purposes
Certain vehicles will be required to display a temporary 'Q' plate. Temporary visitor status isn't appropriate to these vehicles.