living and driving in france/europe for 3 months

Matfinn

Hi

Im planning on going over to france to live for about 3 months, maybe settle in one place and have a kind of working holiday for about 2 months and then drive all around europe. This is a thread that should hopefully get loads of tips and advice

Basically as it stands now, I have my full licence and I own a 1l polo 1997.

Should I sell this car before I go and buy a second hand car over there for about €1000 ?
Will my full licence suffice or will I need to apply for a French licence if I'm going to buy a French car and get myself insured on it with a french company ?
Should I bother getting an international licence ? I'd like to drive all around Europe for about a month.
Can I get insurance sorted out easily enough ?
Has anyone had experiences of doing this before in the past ? Any tips/advice you want to give me ?

Thanks everyone for the advice. I would search but thats disabled here.

Eoin

A full Irish license is valid anywhere in the EU, so that shouldn't be a problem. I don't know if the international driving licenses add any benefit. WRT to the insurance; my policy limits me to 30 days on the continent. You may need extend your cover.

Is your polo a base model? From my experience, it is not a car I would like to spend a road trip in - especially without power steering and electrics, but that is just my opinion

TabulaRasa

Just got back from a driving holiday in France myself, great roads, loads of signs (just brush up on your French) and loads of roundabouts, but fuel 10 - 20c per litre more expensive and driving on other side of road in Irish car took a while to get used to.

Depending on when in the year you are going you will either need:

i) car heating and make sure car has been Winterised- continental Winters much colder than here could end up with burst rads & pipes otherwise.
ii) air conditioning necessary if you are going in Summer, it's not nice driving around in the sweltering heat.

And make sure about your insurance.

Matfinn

I wouldn't plan on getting an irish insurer to insure me on a french car. to be honest i think ill go for buying a french car over there, something big and old for about a grand. driving all around europe would be much safer in a left hand drive.

thing is, would a french company insure me if i have a full irish licence or do i need to apply for a french licence ?

Eoin

Matfinn wrote:

thing is, would a french company insure me if i have a full irish licence or do i need to apply for a french licence ?

I don't think so - it is an EU issued license, so it is valid in France.

ds20prefecture

Before letting your insurance lapse here, you might want to consider the no claims bonus situation here. I don't know if it can "hop" from one irish policy to another with a 3 month gap between. I'm fairly sure you won't be able to avail of it in France. I would check out insurance costs in France before deciding.

ambro25

You don't need a FR license.
Ring around and do your maths, to determine which is cheaper:
* Ferry + (probably) small extra on IE insurance premium on your IE car
* Ryanair + FR car + insurance by FR insurance on a FR car

You'll still be classed as a young driver
Your IE license will probably warrant an extra on the FR premium (they do factor the amount of LHD/RHD experience, or lack thereof in)
All the same, I'd expect FR premium to be quite cheap compared to IE

More importantly: be ready for a (driving culture) shock, get plenty of city driving experience done here 'with the worst of the worst' (Dublin Rush Hour and weekends, and equivalents). FR drivers don't drive so bad as over here ('generally' :rolleyes:)', but they're not slow either.

* rule #01 is never hesitate while driving. If you're not sure about a direction or a turn, don't slow down or hum-and-ah: miss the turn if you have to, and U-turn later or go around, just don't do anything sudden at all. FR drivers drive fast with a lot 'anticipation', so if you don't do what they anticipate... problems can follow

* in the same vein, rule #02 is match other drivers' speed whenever/wherever. Not too slow/not too fast kinda thing: if they're fast it'll be more dangerous for you if you're slower, if they're slow it means there's cops or a speed trap about.

* If oncoming drivers flash headlights - cops nearby (seems same over here, but just to make sure).

* Roundabouts are used anti-clockwise.

* first few days - be wary when taking a turn from a one-way T-junction, not to end up driving on the oncoming lane (classic mistake of RHDrivers).

I'll post some more as I think of them

Matfinn

Will I have to pay VRT on a car over there even if I buy it second hand ? I heard thats what had to be done but I'm not sure.

Eoin

Matfinn wrote:

Will I have to pay VRT on a car over there even if I buy it second hand ? I heard thats what had to be done but I'm not sure.

Irish VRT? Only if you want to bring it back to Ireland AFAIK

Hagar

New cars are cheaper here than in Ireland, but second hand cars hold their value. You won't get anything over here for €1000, not even a Citroen Dyane, unless the wheels are falling off it.

I'm have French insurance on a RHD Irish registered car. I wasn't loaded. Bring a letter from your current Ins Co. stating your number of years claims free driving. Insurance runs from January to January. If you try to insure at any other time of the year they give you a policy upto 31st Dec with a view to renew. You must give all insurance companies written notification of your intention not to renew at least 3 months before renewal date.

Re Insurance - How old are you, how long have you been driving on a full licence?

Your Irish licence is accepted throughout the EU.

If you bring an Irish car to the continent you will need,

Original documents, not photcopies
Headlights must be masked to dip to the right
Warning triangle and High Visibility jacket
Complete set of spare bulbs
First Aid Kit

Matfinn

I'm 23 now and I passed my test last tuesday, so I should be getting my full licence in the post within the next week hopefully. Ill be 24 when I go over there at the end of next june. I started on my own policy when I was a provisionally licenced driver at the end of last june. I drive to work on the motorway every day and I have driven all over the country without a bother.

Will French insurance companies insure me for 2 or 3 months as opposed to a whole year ?

One question, do cars over there have an NCT or equivalent ?

Hagar

Not sure if they will insure you for a short period. But maybe they will for a premium.

Yes we have a CT "controle technique" over here, but if your nct is still in force you will be ok. CT is compulsory if you want to register a foreign, Irish, car here in France. There is another test to pass, can't remember the name, something like homogulation, basically is does your country's regulations match the French regulations. In general you will, bar the lights issue.

It helps if you drive a French car like a Citroen. Remember the "Rule of 6 Ps"

"Prior Planning Prevents Píss Poor Performance"

pontovic

i'd be pretty dead set on buying a second hand car in france i think if i were you. it would be much safer for all the driving you would be doing on the right hand side of the road. I have heard it can be quite akward, ie: that new owners have to reregister the car and pay VRT ? Is this true or is it a matter of just buying the car and having the previous owners send off their ownership forms to the tax office ? ive never driven on the continent or owned a car.

LostinBlanch

Yes petrol is more expensive but the cheapest places I found to buy it were the Hypermarkets.

Hagar

The cheapest I can buy 95 octane at the moment is 1.249 / litre in the local Geant supermarket.

Don't even think about buying it on the motorways.
Around 1.46 to 1.48. They should be wearing masks.

ambro25

pontovic wrote:

I have heard it can be quite akward, ie: that new owners have to reregister the car and pay VRT ?

No more awkward than sending the V5 off to the DVLA (UK) or the Cert to Rosslare (?) in IE. Only bit more awkward is that you have to go in person to the local authority to do it (it was - it may have changed, 'tis been over 10 years since I did all this :rolleyes: )

The Cert in FR is called the "carte grise", you have to go to the Préfecture or local equivalent to re-register the car in your own name, at which point a new Cert is issued. The car may be re-reg'd to reflect the new area of registration (i.e. if you bought it in dept 75 Paris but are living/reg'ing it in dept 57 Moselle).

You may have to pay a registration fee, which is in fact a 'Timbre Fiscal' (tax stamp, pretty much for everything in FR: new ID card, new Passport, etc, etc.), but we're not talking IE VRT levels here (something like tens of €, if memory serves me right - 'tis been a long time, as I said. Maybe Hagar can update with current info/figures).

Petrol is more expensive, unless you plan on setting up near the Luxembourg border, where it still retails at about €0.87 per litre for unleaded, less for diesel (on motorways :eek: )

EDIT - oh yeah, a bit of good news for you while I'm at it: there's no road tax, either

Matfinn

lads thanks for all your help,

one last thing, do you think that about €1200 would get me an old but reliable car, something like a renault safrane 93 or something ??

i wouldnt go for a small car, id like something bigger because it would be more comfortable for longer drives and safer

Hagar

Here's an English language forum aimed at English speaking residents in France.
It's broken into a few regions so pick the one you will be in as prices will vary ie Brittany vs Riviera.

http://www.angloinfo.com/

Have a look through their buy & sell column, it might give you some idea of secondhand prices.

On the re-registration of cars from different Departments, I think there will be a change in January. I think it's being done away with and a new reg plate system is coming in, the same reg for the life of the car.

As for costs on registration, I haven't done it but the forum above will have info on it.

unkel

Hagar wrote:

New cars are cheaper here than in Ireland, but second hand cars hold their value. You won't get anything over here for €1000, not even a Citroen Dyane, unless the wheels are falling off it

You're right. For sale there a '95 Peugeot 106, 186000 kms on it. Asking €2500 :eek:

Wouldn't be worth €500 here

peasant

don't know about France ...but in other EU countries if you want to get insurance you need a home address there ...as you will be travelling this might become an issue.
Same goes for buying a car ...it will have to be registered to somewhere, so what do you do if you don't have a fixed address?

Also a brand new licence might attract punitive insurance quotes.

It would probably be the least hassle to stick with your irish car / reg and insurance ...provided you get insured for the whole duration of your travels.

Driving on the "wrong" side of the road on the "wrong" side of the car is awkward, but you get used to it ...just take it handy.

Matfinn

just found out that no irish company will insure you if you are on the continent for more than 3 weeks. so it looks like ill have to go for an fr car with fr insurance.