Headlights on European Roads

Moving to France next week and don't want to spend the entire time with those european light sticker things on the disco. Can I manually adjust them or do I need to get new lights? It's a 300tdi r-reg disco by the way.

dont forget the breathalyser n stuff.

clanpowell said:

Moving to France next week and don't want to spend the entire time with those european light sticker things on the disco. Can I manually adjust them or do I need to get new lights? It's a 300tdi r-reg disco by the way.

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if your moving here you will have to register it here within a month, so new lights for ct

The Mad Hat Man said:

dont forget the breathalyser n stuff.

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Forgot that one. Cheers for reminding me!!

clanpowell said:

Moving to France next week and don't want to spend the entire time with those european light sticker things on the disco. Can I manually adjust them or do I need to get new lights? It's a 300tdi r-reg disco by the way.

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It's not a matter of adjustment it's more about beam pattern.

Paddocks will do you a pair of LHD headlamps for about £70.

If you don't have the right headlights your car won't pass the French Contrôle Technique (mot).

NB; Before you leave the UK, contact your insurance company and get a letter from them confirming the number of years of NCB, not the percentage.

Also before leaving the UK make sure you have everybodys birth certificate and a marraiage certificate, if it applies.

If you need to know more, pm me.

Dave

You have 6 months to get a French registration, more if you go back to the UK regularly.
I have a set of LHD 300 series lights going spare here in Basse Normandy as well as most of a 300tdi manual RHD Disco to go with them.
Make sure you have a bill of sale before you go to get the various forms for getting a French reg no. Don't worry if you don't have a bill of sale, just make one that agrees with the previous owner record and date on your V5C, not that anyone will cross reference it. Our local Hotel des impots (tax office) won't issue any documents for vehicle imports unless you are registered for French tax, but that's their interpretation of the rules, the vehicle registration people have other ideas about the same rule.
French Controle Technique is a joke. About 5% as strenuous as an MOT test. You'll need a certificate of conformity. Try LR in Solihull for that but I got mine from EuroCoc.eu - Certificate of Conformity as they are quick.

Ha, ha... yes, what a barrel of 'extraordinary' red tape France is..

As usual, the French are inconsistent with their paperwork, and that includes the vehicle documents. TuppyTrucker seems to have it covered, and BigLad is right about the insurance.

Essentially, the French individual behind whatever counter you are at always need to be able to 'tick' the relevant box. As long as you have all the dates etc matching up, even with a 'home made' receipt all should be fine...

Anyhoo. Final answer to the original question - you need to buy replacement headlights!!

TuppyTrucker said:

You have 6 months to get a French registration, more if you go back to the UK regularly.

I have a set of LHD 300 series lights going spare here in Basse Normandy as well as most of a 300tdi manual RHD Disco to go with them.

Make sure you have a bill of sale before you go to get the various forms for getting a French reg no. Don't worry if you don't have a bill of sale, just make one that agrees with the previous owner record and date on your V5C, not that anyone will cross reference it.

Our local Hotel des impots (tax office) won't issue any documents for vehicle imports unless you are registered for French tax, but that's their interpretation of the rules, the vehicle registration people have other ideas about the same rule.

French Controle Technique is a joke. About 5% as strenuous as an MOT test. You'll need a certificate of conformity. Try LR in Solihull for that but I got mine from EuroCoc.eu - Certificate of Conformity as they are quick.

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I don't know who told you this, but if you are permanently resident in France and without a UK base, you will not be able to continue with your UK insurance, which means that you would have to take out French insurance.

When you do this, you will be expected to get your car on French plates in the shortest possible delay and be able to evidence that you have the matter inhand.

Coc's are only required for cars 1st registered before 01.01.2003.

The best advice I can offer anyone considering living in France and that is learn the bloody language - make it a real priority.

The amount of Brits who gets themselves into various forms of trouble because they can't communicate is really significant and being unable to speak French is the single most important reason for Brits ending their 'adventure in France'.

It is primordial that you can converse in French, with you neighbours and the various authorities for you to be able establish a new life.

Otherwise you will be at the mercy of Brits hearsay.

Come to France, make a new life for yourselves and share with your new French friends.

Dave

I have registered two Discoverys, a 1991 and a 1996, in France with no trouble. All the officials I dealt with were helpful, and the total cost was less than two years UK road tax. As there is no road tax in France it is worth doing. Insurance came from my French bank, at less than I had paid in the UK. The cert of conformity has to come from the French office of Land Rover as it has to be in French. Be careful where you buy your number plates, as it seems prices vary greatly, and by law they have to be riveted on.

thebiglad said:

I don't know who told you this, but if you are permanently resident in France and without a UK base, you will not be able to continue with your UK insurance, which means that you would have to take out French insurance.
When you do this, you will be expected to get your car on French plates in the shortest possible delay and be able to evidence that you have the matter inhand.
Dave

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Nobody told me, I read it in the rules.
You can continue with your UK insurance for as long as your insurance company lets you and the car is regd in UK. I have 1 UK reg'd car, which commutes from Normandy to London on a regular basis, and 1 ex UK Disco now French regd which pretty much stays in France. The UK car has unlimited EU use stipulated in its insurance (CIS). The French ins doesn't mention any EU usage time restrictions.
The 6 month period for a vehicle remaining in France without being French regd resets every time the vehicle leaves France.

Sheffield said:

The cert of conformity has to come from the French office of Land Rover as it has to be in French. Be careful where you buy your number plates, as it seems prices vary greatly, and by law they have to be riveted on.

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As ever, every French office has ITS OWN interpretation of the rules. For the CoC in Calvados, they care not a jot about the language of the documents: all the fields are numbered. All they were interested in was the VIN matching up on all the docs.
The law in France says many things, but most are ignored. Nobody has ever noticed my screwed on plates, and I am working with the Gendarmerie a lot of the time. BUT the time may come that they have booked all the French cars with defective lights and come looking for some tiny rivets on my Disco.

TuppyTrucker said:

Nobody told me, I read it in the rules.
You can continue with your UK insurance for as long as your insurance company lets you and the car is regd in UK. I have 1 UK reg'd car, which commutes from Normandy to London on a regular basis, and 1 ex UK Disco now French regd which pretty much stays in France. The UK car has unlimited EU use stipulated in its insurance (CIS). The French ins doesn't mention any EU usage time restrictions.
The 6 month period for a vehicle remaining in France without being French regd resets every time the vehicle leaves France.

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Perhaps I wasn't clear enough so I'll have another go.

The mandate under which UK-based insurance companies operate is perfectly clear. They can only offer insurance and assurance contracts to UK residents.

Therefore if someone moves from the UK to France for example, they should be telling their insurer of this move - in which case the cover will cease immediately. This has nothing whatsoever to do with Green Cards or similar, it is a legal requirement enshrined within their Memorandum of Operations - this document governs what the insurer can and cannot do.

Now some will say that all you have to do is neglect to tell the insurer about your move, just keep paying the premiums and everything will be fine. This is ok until:
1. You have an accident - in which case you will be treated as un-insured, or
2. For any reason the Gendarmes check in a little more depth your resident status and find you are permanently resident in France, which again means un-insured status.

Incidently, if anyone wants to continue with a UK-registered car and operate it in France (as well as the UK) they need to be aware that it's UK rules or nothing. This means UK road fund license, UK mot (modified headlights) and UK insurance. This will only work work as said before if you are still resident within the UK.

For general info there is a difference between resident and domicile. For a person with property in both the UK and France, they would be treated as resident and domiciled in the UK. For someone who moves 'lock, stock and barrel' to France - with no property or job in the UK - they would be Domiciled and Resident in France. These legal definitions can be VERY important in legal proceedings.