Re: Registering a Swiss car in France
Post 2
Hi Neil,
Let me tell you the process I went through for registering my car from Suisse to France. I originally had diplomatic plates so I had to return them. Then to get temporary French plates I needed to do the following paperwork through the Ferney-Voltaire customs:
1) I filled out a customs declaration form from the Swiss customs (EUR.1 form - Certificat de Circulation des Marchandises) with all the car details (chassis number, model, etc) and they will stamp it (bring your passport, grey card)
2) I paid 3079 Euros to the ‘Direction General des Douanes et Droits et Taxes’ section of the French customs (for the VAT). It was a 2009 car which I imported to France in 2011 – the VAT is dependent upon the age of your car and its depreciation rate (the customs actually have a book listing all cars, models, year, etc to determine how much tax you need to pay). They will give an official receipt to prove that you paid the taxes, which will need to be presented to the French Perfecture later on
3) It was compulsory to obtain the EC-Certificate of Conformity from my car dealer (I paid CHF200 just for this certificate and it took 2 weeks)
4) I gave a copy of a proof of domicile (a gas bill)
5) I was asked to drive behind the customs building through a gate which they will open so the customs will ‘officially see’ your car imported from Suisse to France
Then I asked for a provisional Certificat d’immatriculation d’un vehicle (equivalent to a grey card) from the Perfecture, bringing all the receipts, stamped declarations, ID, etc. Once you get this certificate, then you can order your temporary plates for around 40 euros or so for a set.
After a one month provisional period, I could then change the temp French plates and get the proper Certificat d’immatriculation to get the permanent plates (I went again to the prefecture for this).
We tried to find another way around the tax issue, but there was no way. I considered changing diplomatic plates to GE plates but 1) I will have to pay extra for the GE plates, and 2) I will need to pay taxes on the car in Suisse because I had a diplomatic discount on the car and after calculation, it was cheaper to pay French taxes than paying the difference in taxes in Suisse (I would've needed to pay between 6-9k swiss francs if I chose to do this). Hence I went for the temp French plates immediately.
For more info go to: http://www.douane.gouv.fr/page.asp?id=30
You might want to check with the customs in Ferney first with the second hand car details you have in mind and ask them of the requirements. I would ask questions like how much VAT you would need to pay, whether you need to show proof of domicile in advance since you haven’t moved yet, and whether you need an Attestation from the cantonal authorities to prove that you are leaving Geneva to move to France (I can’t remember if they asked me this).
My case is different because it was a new car with diplomatic plates. So... it SHOULD be relatively easier for you but to avoid any nasty surprises I would go out of my way to ask as many questions as possible before deciding on buying that car.
And I agree with the reply made by swisskiss, the real challenge is going through the French bureaucracy! :-)
Perhaps it would be worth considering buying a similar car on the French side since registration would be easier and faster.. maybe!
Good luck!!