Multinational cars

umblecumbuz

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Interesting link.
The biggest action to smooth the path of anyone keeping a UK car abroad is to make sure it has current UK road tax and Mot (and insurance, obviously).

If you are stopped for any reason by police, they really have no way of easily confirming how long your car has been in their country, but an out-of-date road tax or Mot would be cause to book you.
Papers in order? Off you drive to live another day!
 
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Rocatin

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Thanks LK, I missed that.

Re the first paragraph, I use the France house for 10 or 12 weeks a year, so I'm not sure where that leaves me. I don't want to become a resident in France (which I would do if I used the house for > six months) because of the personal tax implications.

Although the second paragraph solves my vehicle registration problem. And would make sense.

The paragraphs seem to contradict each other :confused:
 

Ken_R

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A link to a previous exchange on this subject on AngloInfo
https://www.angloinfo.com/normandy/...g/uk-resident-driving-in-uk-on-foreign-plates

Admittedly, it is from 9 years ago but I am not aware of anything that has fundamentally changed in that period. Look, especially, at the contributions from "Danny&Liz".

Incidentally, I am always wary of the accuracy of anything that appears on a .uk.Gov type site as I find they tend to be written by Media types who think they know the Law, rather than people who actually do.

An earlier discussion on the uk.Gov site for driving away from a failed MOT springs to mind, and how misleading/incomplete that offering was/is.
 
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Rocatin

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Thanks Ken. I'm liking the comment by Robert Malin. Particularly this bit:

"Previously, UK residents were not allowed to use a foreign registered vehicles in the UK. However, there has been an increase in the number of UK residents purchasing foreign registered vehicles to use and keep permanently outside the UK. In the circumstance where an UK resident is using an EU registered vehicle in the UK on a temporary basis, on a visit from their holiday home abroad for example, they are entitled to use the vehicle when visiting the UK."

Shame that it says temporary, but it is much better than nothing.
 

Ken_R

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I was attracted to that contribution from Robert Malins. He was quoting his source as a DVLA Liaison Officer. Which means he [the liaison Officer] was getting his information from someone at Managerial level or someone who is Legally trained, as opposed to a telephone operator reading off a 'crib sheet'.

BTW, if anyone would care to take the trouble, many Police Forces have a Law Research Unit. Or did. From experience these are/were staffed be Officers seeking to advance up the promotion ladder and it was a way of getting paid to study full time.;)

Now, admittedly, whilst their function was to generally research and advise on behalf of other Officers, they might/could be approachable by the general public, particularly on the basis of a personal visit. I know the LRU for the West Midlands Police was at the Tally Ho Training Centre, Pershore Road, Edgbaston, but as to whether it has now moved.........

I think the only time I ever used them was, following a car up the M6. It had a Parrot (the sort with feathers) in a cage on the backseat. The car was on BAOR plates. (British Army On the Rhine). Did the driver/owner need a Import Licence [for the bird]?

They came back with an answer, but I can't remember what it was..........:(
 

d215yq

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You are looking at it from thew wrong angle. If you register your coupe in France then it will be fully legal to drive in the UK for a full 6 months after bringing it over providing you remain resident in France (that will be a stipulation in the insurance as well, although some companies do allow foreign residents to drive UK cars at a very high price of insurance).

You can be resident in more than one country, and this residency does not end the moment you leave it. It's not one test, but for sure if you spend over 3 months in France a year and have a house there, etc you will be classed as resident even if you spend 6 months in the UK without going back. Only intention not to return or a lot longer period would clearly make you no longer resident.

What tends to happen in Spain/France is cars get towed when they are UK registered and yet don't have tax/MOT/haven't been to the UK for years. Registering in Spain is very costly/difficult, and France possibly too so many expats chance it (I did for my first three years here). If I were you I'd buy a LHD French model W124 (will be more than UK prices but more likely to be rust free) then you have MOT every 2 years I think (maybe 1yr as it's old) and it is a lot easier to pass than the UK one. Insurance will be very cheap too and there's no road tax.

EU law works on the principle that everyone has the right to drive a EU registered car anywhere unless authorities can prove nonresidence in that car's country or, more commonly that the car is not legal in it's own country (e.g. no MOT). So if you have a French car driving in France there will be no problem and none if you bring it back to the UK either providing you don't sell up or keep it there for over 6 months. Presumably to buy a house in France you need a French tax number/ID number or some kind of paperwork which you can give to any UK police confirming your residence. I very much doubt you'll be asked for it...
 
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Ken_R

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Presumably to buy a house in France you need a French tax number/ID number or some kind of paperwork which you can give to any UK police confirming your residence. I very much doubt you'll be asked for it...

On that point, I would disagree. After 20 years of ownership I can barely remember even the French equivalent of the Post Code. We don't even have a road name or house number. But on the rest of your post, I am fully in agreement.

I variously get letters from HSBC France as to my main source of income and others concerning my Taxation status [per Country].

Daughter and husband lived in France for a number of years. Own premises, privately owned. Him working for a French building contractor. They had various vehicles including a VW type Dormabile. I don't know the full story but, when they tried to Register it in France, they couldn't. Apparently, because it had the opening sliding door on the 'wrong'
side, it was not eligible to be so Registered.

They had to bring it back each year to the UK for an MOT, and it remained on UK plates.​
 

LostKiwi

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Presumably to buy a house in France you need a French tax number/ID number or some kind of paperwork which you can give to any UK police confirming your residence.
You need no tax numbers/ID etc in France to buy a house.
We bought ours year before last (2nd home) and needed nothing at all like that.
We also have a French bank account (no French tax numbers/ID required).
As far as French taxation is concerned we don't exist.
 

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