Registering

[hughnique]

If I want to buy a car from the UK which is LHD, and on Luxembourg plates, can you predict any problems in registering it here in France.

[niemeyjt]

To clarify - you are France resident and the car was purchased within the past 6 months from a UK vendor and it has someone's name and address on the Luxemburg registration.

can you predict any problems in registering it here in France.

Yes.

[Headers]

I am in a Facebook group for registering cars. What you describe is a frequently posted scenario ( not the Luxembourg bit)and appears to come with massive pitfalls. It may be worth you joining that group and seeking advice from their resident professional car registration wrangler

[hughnique]

To clarify - you are France resident and the car was purchased within the past 6 months from a UK vendor and it has someone's name and address on the Luxemburg registration.

can you predict any problems in registering it here in France.

Yes.

Basically correct, except I have not had sight of the registration document but the dealer say it has Lux papers and the reg is Lux, however I am getting a little suspicious as it is a 2009 vehicle and only covered 90K and has recently had a new DSG clutch fitted

[niemeyjt]

Well my Volvo - a LHD 2004 model - was also imported into the UK on Luxemburg plates - but the previous owner did the paperwork - and I suspect it was in his/her name in Luxemburg easing matters.

If you want to bring it in as a personal import (i.e. without loads of taxes) you have to own it for 6 months on UK plates and declare it in possessions when you first arrive in France.

Why not look at Luxembourg car sellers and buy from there rather than complicate matters by buying from UK? Or just buy in France. Short term higher costs but fewer longer-term hassles.

90K for a DSG - suspicious - not sure but the DSG on some < 2000cc is a load of trouble so quite possible.

[hughnique]

Not to worry as I've kicked it out, he won't send me via e mail the registration doc or the service record due to data protection? We all know service records are a doddle to fabricate, he suggests I go visit the car in the UK, yeah right, something is not adding up. I wasn't particularly attracted that it was an Lux car, more so that it seemed a good price to get it back here and sell on at a profit, but as you say spanners are being thrown in the works so just walk away.

[A.N.Other]

Date protection can't possibly apply to a cars service records and a name on a reg. document can be redacted so something smells off.

2009 and 90k km is perfectly feasible, the car I bought here in Spain last year is a 2010 but had just 99k on it and while looking for it I came across plenty of cars of similar age and older but with many less km.

A while back I grant but I don't see why anything significant would have changed in the interim, in 2007 I bought a 4 year old Belgian registered left hooker from a dealer in London and registering in France was a doddle. It did come with a COC which saved me from that trouble and potential expense.

Buying left hookers from UK to sell at a profit in France sounds very sketchy to me!

[hughnique]

Looking at the registering forum on Facebook, as suggested by headers, it seems that since Brexit it has turned in to a nightmare to bring a car over from the UK, as are most previously fairly uncomplicated procedures nowadays. I think the reluctance of the dealer to furnish the information requested, citing data protection is absolute bullshit, and as such has put me off. Regarding the "profit" scenario, I did look on a couple of French websites and the same vehicle was somewhat dearer here, but knowing my luck, of late, I retrospectively feel that perhaps, it might have been a bit of a pipe dream, and I certainly would not have paid the asking price. I am amazed to see the prices these dealers want for LHD cars in the UK, the same, if not more, than a similar RHD model, once upon a time you couldn't give them away. I don't think these dealers realise that the "goldrush" days of English moving over to France has passed away, most are going the other way, thereby creating a glut of LHD cars available in the UK, provided they took them back. Probably the old story that when you try to sell one in the UK they are worth nothing but buying is a different matter. I'll let this dealer get on with it, some mug will no doubt cross his path not realising that the headlights will need changing, as well as the clock face on the speedo, all adding a few hundred to the buying price.

[DominicBest]

A while back I grant but I don't see why anything significant would have changed in the interim,

I’m sure that Brexit occurred between 2007 and today and that’s pretty significant here.