Carte Gris for Trailer

My sister in law has a horse trailer for sale in the UK and I was wondering how hard it would be to have it registered here in France. I have heard there are problems with the jockey door, front unload being on the wrong side for Europe. Can any one give advice or more information on the subject. Thanks in advance.

Like most things in france, it would seem it depends on who you speak to on the day If it's an IW I think they are easier than most. Ours was registered when we bought it (thankfully) somebody on here may be able to help, failing that, maybe put a posting on Anglo info. Good Luck.
pen [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

as said by Azaria it all depends.

some makes of trailer are no longer in production as such getting the paperwork may be impossible, even those still making trailers....some have been bought out and older models discontinued so may still be difficult to get the waffle sorted.

when we lived in Vendee, i had an ifor williams 505 (a few years ago), which we bought from Ebay Uk, IW said no problem cost 100 quid for the papers, the insurance in france gave it insurance while in progress using the chassis or id number & we kept the UK plates on it.

but i had to sell it, the french person who bought it - oddly enough from normandy- contacted IW who said the price had gone up to 300+ quid now,
so my advice is, check with the drire (?) if it is a make that can be registered or ask the manufacturer if it can (if they know) & how much are they going to stiff you for before you decide to go ahead.

bye [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks for that. I had heard that you are better off with a IW or a Rice. What about an English horse trailer towed by an English registered car? Is that legal?

I've been told it's near impossible with a Rice after all the problems I've heard some people have, I think if I had a british car I'd keep the trailer on british plates, I guess as long as you are honest with your ins. co and you do go back and forth to uk so can keep the car MOT'd it's legal.
pen

if your English reg car is on UK insurance then it is ok-ish as under UK insurance anything towed by the car becomes an extension of the car & is covered BUT only while attached to it, so if you un hitch anywhere the trailer is not insured at all,

however if your English reg car is on french insurance then the trailer is not coverd in the same way as English cover & if you got pulled you could be 'done'. i did use our UK reg but french insured van to pull an IW 505 still not french reg but used the IW with its own french insurance, it cost me about 100euro to insure the IW 505.

also be aware, in france you need a section on your licence to use a larger trailer such as a horse trailer, the normal french licence does not allow it, they need additional passes, i don't know what the newer UK licences are like, mine allows me to drive up to a 7.5 ton & any trailer, with or without a dinosaur & always has done, best take a look just in case.

mind you technically if your UK reg vehicle or trailer has been here a while then the gendarmes can get snotty about it not being re reg french, mostly they don't care but if they are having a bad day you may get grief.

who thinks all this is another way to persude us to buy a french & not Uk trailer?
bye [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Thanks again ladies. We do have a fully French, ie originated in France car, LHD, French insurance etc, so perfectly legal. We would not use this to tow however,this is our everyday car, but maybe buy an English reg 4x4 and an English trailer, keep them both legal regards MOT, tax, English insurance and then occaisonally use them to tow horses. I do mean occasionally also, just the odd trip out now again, so might be a bit of an overkill and an expence just sitting around most of the time. Does this sound feasible and most importantly would I be on the right side of the law here? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

yes & no.

a lot of brits do just that, but if you keep a car in france then you are supposed to re reg & french insure it, if you have a UK residence or someone who is willing to let you use their address it is better, but if the gendarmes feel they want to they can i am sure say you are illegal.

some claim to get away with it becuse they take their car 'home' so it does not stay in france longer than a few months at a time, but the law says if it spends more than xxx part of a 12 month period in france it should be re reg.
might work out cheaper in the long run even with re reg costs to do the whole monty properly, the trailer will be easier to sell on should you want to & french insurance i find is cheaper than Uk anyway.

if you do stay UK reg etc - best bet is .....be carefull, look all nice & legal, don't get pulled & don't make a claim.

bye [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

We have just been through this and it was MUCH easier than everyone had led us to believe, thank goodness!

We bought an IW in the UK because we knew that it would be easier to register here. It was 100 euros for the certificate d'immitriculation from
IW in Wales. We then went in person to the DRIRE, taking all of the required documents, they booked us in for an appointment at the assessment centre there and then for the next day. We went for the assessment, cost 90 euros. If there had been a problem we would have been told there and then and what needed rectifying to get it through. All done by a lovely, friendly man, luckily we had no problems. All the documents arrived in the post with 7 days and then it was just a question of going to the prefecture for the carte gris and got the plates done the same day on the temporary form. Carte gris arrived in a week.

So, all in all, it cost us approximately 400 euros and that includes the £60 extra to bring it over on the ferry.

well done lottie, I think it does depend who you deal with on the day, but good to have a positive outcome.

pen

So zait-bet are you now the proud owner of a horse trailer?

pen

Unfortunately not yet, still debating whether to just bite the bullet and buy French, but they are so expensive here or go to the UK for an IW and then register here