XP: French/UK Insurance Catch 22

Maybe. Same in CH, really.

Really? Not IME. Depends what you're talking about, of course, and as
I said I've not done the whole re-registering vehicles thing, but I
did have to dedounier the Swiss-bought gixxer thou and J's Puegeot
some years back. (As we do actually live in France as well as CH).

Anyway, I've never been asked for French ID in France, and I struggle
to imagine what I'd need it for. I think I may have needed a utilities
bill when I first took out my mobile phone contract, but even that I'm
not sure about.

Ah well. Official beaurocracy of that type I've usually managed to
avoid

In CH all the various organs of State share their information,
together with officially-required stuff like insurance. So for example
you don't need an insurance certificate - it's recorded on your car's
Carte Gris, and if you fail to renew the Insco tells the police, who
do all the DVLA stuff, and they'll start getting nasty and eventually
come round and remove your licence plates.

I can imagine.

 

When I bought my first French mobile from the Orange Booth at Geant,
Narbonne, they took a photocopy of my passport !

I have also been asked for ID at the Post Office when collecting undelivered
parcels. The old boy who worked there asked for ID on a number of
occassions whereas all the girls there only asked once, on my first visit.
At first I thought that he obviously had limited memory abilities but later
realised that it wasn't that, he was just a grumpy, racist bastard. I went
in one day to collect a parcel with my Carte de Sejour in my hand but the
parcel was addressed to the Company so he would not hand it over. I had to
return with a Kbis which is a form of Company ID issued by the local Chamber
of Commerce!! It was only the protective screen and cameras that kept me
from throttling the git.

Mike

 

You must'a looked furrin or something.

Sure. My Swiss Driving Licence works fine.

Sounds like you've got a right tit. I usually put my ID down on the
counter with the parcel notice, but I don't think anyone's ever picked
it up to look at it.

 

He is/was a right git. When he croaks I just hope that St Peter asks for an
EDF Invoice before opening the gates. That is, if he is heading up and not
down.

The ladies in La Poste where I live now are charm itself and they smell
nice, which takes your mind off the queue!!

Mike

 

I have a observed this. In the South of France, particularly on the stretch
between Narbonne and Perpignan, the 3 types you describe are in abundance.

However, having lived there all year round, I have come to the conclusion
that the crones and the retards are there all winter but in the summer, they
only seem to do late shifts so as not to frighten the tourists.

From mid-May they start to bring out the stunners and some of them are
simply heavenly. At first I used to think that they were students on summer
jobs and, whilst some of them may be, some of them start to early in the
year.

There was a dark haired girl at Narbonne Sud, early 30s, stunning figure,
very similar to Lisa Snowden. When she came out of her booth one shift
change and walked back to the office, not a car or truck moved until she had
gone past! Barriers were up, lights on green and nobody moved apart from a
slow series of head swivels that tracked her across the lanes.

My French neighbour used to use his credit card and the automatic barriers
all winter but always payed cash at a booth in the summer, just to see the
talent.

I have often wondered if there is an old aircraft hangar somewhere with rows
of dexian racking where they store these girls through the winter.

If I ever find it Bear, I'll send you the co-ordinates for your Sat-Nav !!

Mike

 

<scuttles off to check the Belgian rules>

 

**** me, French civil servants are narkey fuckers with anyone, French
or otherwise.

 

Oi!!

D.

 

Oooops ....

That was unintentional. I hadn't noticed the X-post.

D.

--
des | 'what does it matter what he posts?'
http://www.jr.co.il/terror/israel/index.html
end the 'occupation': http://minilien.fr/a0k8xe
ukrm: 'where it's "cool" to be stupid!'
myths of islam: http://minilien.fr/a0j5qo

 

I needed pretty much all of those just to get a transit visa to
ride from Switzerland to a conference in Canterbury, and back again.

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

the information in mike's article is all correct as far as i can see.
everything you need to know/do is written in the section "vehicles from the
european union".

the only difference for bikes is that they don't need the controle technique
and they won't care if you don't have a current mot certificate.

the mentioned immatriculation fee was around 75 euros when i did it, there
were no import duties.

it was all quite straightforward with my zx-7r, the main bureaucratic headache
i had was with the cbr400 as it had never been imported into france before
so there was no attestation de conformite to be had and i had to do all the
conformity tests (radio emission safety tests, things like that) myself.

the zx-7r did make slightly over 100cv, but this was not a problem, i just
had to get the dealer to restrict it (and change the headlight unit as well)
and sign a note to that effect which i sent to kawasaki to get the attestation.
depending on the model of bike (or car) you may have to do some small
modifications like this to meet different conformity requirements in
different member states.

 

Dog, thanks for the confirmation.

Mike