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Hello from France

kevinandkate

kevinandkate

Sadly no longer an owner
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Hi I am Kevin Weatherby and along with Kate my wife, one eyed dog called Nelson (he came with the name from a rescure centre) and 4 chickens, we live on 5 acres of land in a wooden bungalow in the northern Dordogne with a much better built garage/workshop.

At the time of posting this we are Renault fourless however depending on my French language capabilities we may shortly become owners of what appears in the photos, to be a very nice white one of 83 vintage which qualifies it for voiture de collection status here with very cheap insurance and a leniant Control Technic (MOT). Will post again when and if it arrives. Very useful bits on the site about where the severe corrosion occurs which will help no end when we go and have a look. Big problem here is the distance involved in going to look at likely examples then coming home to arrange insurance then driving an unknown quantity 100s of kilometres to get it back here. This one is just 20 kilometres away. If that fails we will have 2 round trips of 700 kilometres to look at one near Bordeaux. They are both on ebay.fr and are both white and both 1200 euros which seems a reasonable price. Have to be honest, in my youth in the UK I wouldn't have touched one with a bargepole, they seemed to fall apart at the drop of a hat. Here in rural France they do not salt the roads so corrosion is not instantaneous although there are a few examples with a broken/completely corroded through chassis about awaiting a decent chassis from somewhere.
 
Renault 4s in France often do tend to avoid the rust problems we see in the UK. I picked up a nice one from near Avignon with no rust at all, but I suppose it's down to how well they were looked after. Ian's fruit picking car (Vendee) has rust in the rear suspension inner mountings and front corners, but otherwise is great.

Standards of mechanicing in France would be a different matter though. I had assumed the voiture de collection exempted cars from testing altogether. Mine needs a lot to get it past a UK MOT.
 
Malcolm, I heard that there was a new rule which said that now voitures de collection were liable for a CT every five years. It was in some information that stated that every time you got a CT the Carte Grise was stamped. When you ran out of room on the Carte Grise you had to apply for a new Carte at the Prefecture and that involved getting a new registration number. From June this year new registrations will be issued that don't show the departmental number, as they do now.

So voitures de collection will not need a new numberplate as soon as newer cars.

It's a shame as it is interesting to see where the other cars on the road are from. We try to be French and swear at the limos and 4WDs with 75 which come from Paris.
 
That is a shame. I liked to reverse into central Parisians. Now I could be reversing into anyone. :D

Might push a few of the older R4s off the road. Fair bit of thinking time required to find the bits for them these days, and some might now be rusty. The French mechanic that's been at my car couldn't even be bothered to find the bits that could be found.. I've still not figured out my anti-roll bar bushes. I think they might end up being polyurethane from a kit car supplier.
 
Kevin and Kate. Good luck with the search. We bought our 1990 R4 from Bordeaux then drove it back to our place in the Gers ( dept 32). We arranged insurance over the phone on the day we bought it . Let us know if you want the broker details ( they do speak some English which helps if your French is not brilliant ! ). You might want to try Leboncoin.fr as there are usually several on there for sale.
 
Thanks

Thanks for the replies, will let you know how we go on when we look at it tomorrow, may be little surepticious prodding in certain places with a concealed screwdriver.
 
The rules relating to 'voitures de collection' are due to change this year, it may be that they already have! It will only apply to vehicles over 30 years old, the CT will be simpler and only every five years, but the restrictions on use only within the department and neighbouring departments will be lifted.
Classic car insurance may be a different thing, several advertise on www.lva.fr (or in La Vie de L'Auto / weekly on Thursdays).
The number plates are being phased in when you get a new CT, as you say there is no way of telling the Parisians so that you can add a bit more on the bill. (Another tip - hire cars often seem to carry 60 plates).
 
Apparently the registration numbers will start in April for each new Carte Grise. It was originally going to be January but the financial crisis put it back.

Although the departmental number will not be part of the registration there will be a little space on the RHS of the number plate for the department number of the owner, or the one of his choice. I wonder what department will turn out to be the favourite? So unless the Parisien owner wants the world to know where he is from, he can choose any number he wants. Most people though are very attached to their departmental number.

The reason the hire cars show 60 is because that department, the Oise, is the cheapest place to register cars.
 
Renault 4less

Hi all

Well we went, we saw, we laughed, we very nearly got as cross as the vendor and are still 4 less. The car hadnt turned a wheel since its last MOT (control technique)18 months previously, everything was seized up, they had lost the keys so subtly pulled the top of the drivers door frame down to retrieve a spare key from under the seat then bent it back up and tipexed the crack in the door frame. Unless Im very much mistaken here its illegal to sell a car with less than 18 months MOT or so we were told when we sold a Twingo, however the vendor said this was incorrect and 6 months was all that was needed. Government web site disagrees but the vendor probably knew better. Im not cross it wasnt too far away. Oh well will have to keep looking before my wife badgers me into a Renault 5 or another twingo god forbid.
 
Its not 'illegal' to sell it, you just cannot re register it without getting a new CT. We always tend to buy cheap cars - don't think we have spent more than £500 on one this century :)- and then get a CT on them. The last C*****n BX cost less than £150 in the UK, (for a LHD one) and it flew through the CT.
Try www.leboncoin.fr if you have not already discovered it.
 
Bought one

Well today we bought a white(ish) Quatrelle from a garage recommended by Misty Bleu in 2006 where he bought his. They have around 20 for sale of various vintages and all have been standing quite a while. They are ex government vehicles either Police, Army, Education authority and like ours, an ex mayoral vehicle. It belonged since new to the Mayor of Chartres, well his office anyway, is of 1988 vintage and has 75000 kilometres recorded which is believed to be correct. The bodywork and chassis are excellent, the paintwork if Im optomistic may come back with some paint renovator (quick spit on my hanky and a rub looked promising in any case). Interior is cloth and in excellent nick apart from a speaker hole in each trim panel. It will arrive here soon on a trailer for some tlc and vast quantities of WD40 and elbow grease, maybe some new brake discs and pads plus all the other things that crop up when you start. Will post some before pics when it arrives and is named.
 
Well done. She should polish up well with T-cut or similar followed by a good wax, and I should imagine a mayoral vehicle would have been maintained to a reasonable standard.

Do post photos when she arrives.
 
Bluebell. Could I pick your brains as to the situation with regards to cars that have been off the road for a while and have no carte grise ( I purchased it over 12 months ago and have some other papers to prove ownership ). The car ( a 1959 Austin A40 Farina )has a registration number but is a little ( lot ) way off a CT . I would dearly love to keep the existing registration number but it is of a different dept number than where our house is in France.Would you ( or anyone else who knows the rules in France ) have any thoughts on this please. Many thanks Ed
 
Well I've plenty of thoughts but I will post the question on a French forum and see what they say.

As I understand it every car has to have a Carte Grise and I don't think you can keep the number plate from a different dept if it is not your address. If you haven't got the old CG you have to fill out a loss report form.
http://www2.equipement.gouv.fr/formulaires/fic_pdf/12096.pdf
at the Prefecture and then you can get the Demande de Certificat d'Immaculation
http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/sectio.../attachedFile/10672.pdf?nocache=1138096996.08
In the CG application if you say the car if off the road you can get a 'Contrôle technique non roulant'. Because without the CT and the CG you can't get it insured as you are supposed to do in France whether the car runs or not. I'll report back if I hear anything else useful about this.

Also don't forget to register it as a 'voiture de collection' then when the car is running you need a CT only every five years.
 
Apparently there's no way you could keep the registration number. Even if you were able to apply for a Carte Grise in that department you would get a new number with a new CG. Only the department number would remain the same.

As you are not likely to be able to do all this before April you'll get one of the new numbers without the dept anyway.

BTW seeing the car has been off the road for a while why bother doing anything until it is CT-able?
 
Registration number

Hi yes I can also confirm the situation with the number, it will be issued with the new european number although you can tag the department number on if you like. Not sure what will happen with mine as it has a carte gris and a dept 28 number which in theory I could keep if the car had a valid Controlle technique which it hasnt so who knows?
 
Seeing you live in Dept 24 surely you have to reregister it anyway? You can't keep the number if you've bought the car in a different dept from your own.
 
Registration

Well you would think so but the change in rules that starts on 1st April would mean we could keep the number thats on it now as there will be no need to change to a 24 plate, it all depends on whether the powers that be will allow the number to remain on the car with it being off the road for a good while and a CT non roule not having been issued. Mind you all the forgoing could be rubbish because as soon as I think I understand some beurocracy it bites me on the bum.
 
Well, I'm not too sure. The old style Carte Grise has details about the owner as well as the car. I still think you will have to get a new Carte Grise. I think it is only when you have the new SIV plates that you don't need to get a new CG. It's like what you do in the UK when you send off change of ownership details. You must still declare you have acquired a car but you get a sticker to put in the CG instead of having to get a new one.

Let us know if you manage to keep it!
 
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