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30/03/2007, 14:42 Jacqui Too Joined on 23/08/2004 Shropshire / Dordogne 24 Posts 710 Re: caravan registration  Logan wrote: No the number on the back must be registered to them in UK at their UK address and have separate caravan insurance with that number on the green card and the other documents I mentioned. I believe you then comply with the law in France until it's tested in a court. Of course if you become a resident in France then the rules of registering vehicles to French matriculation still apply. Right, you will have to perservere with me a little longer So if my friends had had an address in the UK along with another UK reg. car plus seperate insurance they appear to be legal when towing it with their French registered car, I can understand that. But that was not the case in this instance, so they /we concluded that it would be ilegal to tow it with their car! were we right or wrong? Chipie Jackie    Report

30/03/2007, 15:46 Logan Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 773 Re: caravan registration In this instance you and your friends were/are correct. SD. My assurance agent has replied. You were correct, he was wrong although no apology was forthcoming. Thanks. Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. (Horace).    Report

30/03/2007, 17:15 Sunday Driver Joined on 07/10/2005 Deux Sevres (79) Posts 3,172 Re: caravan registration Blimey, I go away for a couple of hours and look what happens? In the UK, caravans do not require to be registered (they may be towed under the UK towcar's registration number) so they don't have a V5C registration document and a number plate of their own. In France, with a couple of exceptions, all caravans have a PTAC in excess of 500kg so they need their own carte grise and their own registration number. A visitor to France driving a UK registered car may tow their UK caravan under their car's plate because they comply with their "home" (ie,UK) regulations. A French resident (who may only drive a French registered car here) must comply with French regulations regarding registration of trailers.  That means they may not tow an unregistered UK caravan which has no carte grise/V5C of its own. Relying on the V5C and registration number of someone's UK tow car makes no difference because that registration has nothing to do with the caravan - which is a road vehicle in its own right. A CRIS registration is also irrelevant because it has no legal validity at all.   SD. My assurance agent has replied. You were correct, he was wrong   Waddya mean it's only Saturday......    Report

30/03/2007, 18:19 Logan Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 773 Re: caravan registration SD wrote. Relying on the V5C and registration number of someone's UK tow car makes no difference because that registration has nothing to do with the caravan - which is a road vehicle in its own right. A CRIS registration is also irrelevant because it has no legal validity at all. Struth!! I have only suggested this as a compromise to the real difficulties of registering a UK caravan in France. I realise it aint perfect but it goes as far as possible to make it legal. I have not suggested you use "someone’s UK tow car number". I have made it clear, I hope that the number must be registered to the caravan owner; he must have a UK address and proof of such and insurance to match. I can only repeat that this system is in common usage among EU haulage contractors. Tractor units registered in one EU country, towing trailers registered somewhere else. Sometimes in the real world practical elastic is used to interpret the law. It's too easy to say here is the letter of the law and you cannot do anything else. That's why Law has been open to interpretation through the ages. I doubt your average French Gendarme has a clue to the exactness of this particular law. Produce papers and they are happy enough.   Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. (Horace).    Report

30/03/2007, 19:13 Sunday Driver Joined on 07/10/2005 Deux Sevres (79) Posts 3,172 Re: caravan registration Sorry, Logan, but in the real world, the law is the law and there is no elasticity.  Never has been. Your compromise was offered in good spirit, but it doesn't make it legal, so by definition, it's illegal.  The system that you describe is not in common usage with EU haulage contractors - as you go on to say, they use properly registered trailers. I understand where you're coming from in terms of the potential difficulty of importing a UK caravan, but if the legal requirements can't be met, then the van can't be brought over here.  That's the real world, I'm afraid. Finally, if any French gendarme (average or otherwise) stops a French vehicle towing a caravan, he will ask to see the carte grise of the van.  If it's an unregistered UK van, and you produce a V5C for a Ford Mondeo...... That's their job - and they're not stupid.   Waddya mean it's only Saturday......    Report

30/03/2007, 20:02 aj_dr Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 135 Re: caravan registration Sunday Driver, I noticed that you said that any trailer with a gross weight of over 500kg has to be registered. Our trailer has a max. laden weight of 750kg.....does it have to have its own Carte Gris?? aj    Report

31/03/2007, 8:04 Sunday Driver Joined on 07/10/2005 Deux Sevres (79) Posts 3,172 Re: caravan registration If your trailer has a PTAC of 750kg, then it is over 500kg and therefore needs its own carte grise. PTAC (poids totale authorisee en charge) is the weight of the trailer itself plus its allowed payload - in other words, gross weight/maximum laden weight.   Waddya mean it's only Saturday......    Report

31/03/2007, 9:04 Logan Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 773 Re: caravan registration Actually SD the trailers used by EU hauliers are just that, trailers with the registration number of the tractor unit. This applies particulary to UK and Dutch articulated vehicles. Often the trailer units are left in other EU countries and collected by a different tractor unit. It is common practice. Probably the old Nelsonian blind eye is applied by most. I accept your base definitions of legal and illegal, black and white. It's the foundation of our social and political systems. However in the real world sometimes 'needs must when the devil drives'. I still believe the DLVA form V5 in your own name goes a long way to prove registration in UK for a  caravan. Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori. (Horace).    Report

31/03/2007, 9:31 Jc Joined on 23/08/2004 Posts 752 Re: caravan registration Artic trailers(semi-trailers)come under different legislation to stand-alone trailers.     Report

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France Forum » Living » Driving » Re: caravan registration

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