Keeping it short...

On final days of April, we bought a Troll 530GT 2007, manufactured in France, first purchased in Holland, bought by UK dealer and taken to UK, bought by me in UK.

Caravans in France have to have the equivalent of a road fund licence/tax disk, called a Carte Grise, and their own number-plate.

To get the CG, one has to provide a document called a Certificate of Conformity.

• The French Eriba factory closed some time ago. No CofC available there, so approached Hymer in Germany. They told me that a small subsidiary Hymer Loisirs in France (HL) are responsible for issuing the CofC.
• I rang HL and they said "No problem, send us 260€ (about £215)"
• Four weeks after sending them 260€, the CofC arrived.
• The licence authorities made me get the caravan inspected for safety (gas and electricity) which cost 360€.
• I had to find a weighbridge to get the weight certified.

• DREAL, on 2/7 kindly sent an official email to Hymer Loisirs pointing out that the CofC was incorrect, and did not correspond with other documents.
  (No reponse from HL)
• DREAL sent a follow-up, on 11/7, to try to get some action.
• HL sent an email apologizing for ignoring the 2/7 email and promising action in 7 days.
• DREAL sent a follow-up, on 31/7, pointing out that nothing had happened.
• On 11/8... by now, I was pretty cross and felt cross enough to send a tough email outlining the saga and saying that if they didn't sent the right documentation within a week, I would start expensive legal procedings. I had three names, and email addresses, so sent it to them all.
• Same day, bounced replies saying that one and all were out of their office for the Summer Holidays and would not be back until 8 September.

I am afraid that I cannot bring good news on the carte grise saga. My friend living in france had the same saga with a hymer motorhome when he moved. In the end he had to return it to England to sell at a great loss and then buy another in france.

Hello again...

@Randa: Once the caravan is 'immatriculated' (generally referred to as carte grise), it requires no further inspection or any payments. It is not subject to the bi-annual MOT-test as are our cars.
@OldAndGrumpy: I have sympathy with your friend. In my case it helps that I can get by in French (not fluent, but survivable).

Now, the end is in sight. Whilst we were away for a week's holiday (taken in a gite, cos we couldn't go by caravan!!), the company Hymer Loisirs have finally sent an email to DREAL: admitting their mistake in sending the wrong paper, blaming it on an incorrect plate originally fitted to the caravan. They have asked for the wrong paper to be sent back to enable the sending of the right one (doh???). They are also sending a new manufacturer's plate to replace the one on the van currently. Once DREAL receive this, I should get the carte grise.

The interesting thing is that the plate they are blaming for their error is the same as fitted generally to 530's of this ilk. At the same time I sent the photo of that plate, I sent them copies of the original carte grise issued in Holland which id'd it perfectly correctly. Lazy bug gers is my opinion, and couldn't be bothered to do anything about it for the whole of July and August !!

Once I have the carte grise, I am going to see if there is anything I can do in the small claims court (French equivalent) to get compensation for the extra costs and loss of use of the caravan for so long. But better to not count my chickens at this point.

wow, am I glad that I bought a French registered Eriba, just ad to change the owners details and get a new carte gris,150 euros. I did have a nightmare when registering a Vivaro van as it had a crew cab and the Co Conformity did not identify the rear seats?????

We have lived in France since January 2010 and for the first few months lived in our Bailey Senator Virginia. At that time we thought we would keep the Bailey indefinitely and so decided to re-register it. Caravans here need their own 'Carte Grise' as they are classified as vehicles separate from whatever car might be towing it. This means that the reg. nos. of car and caravan are different. One acquires the separate number plate at the end of a long, sometimes tortuous (and if you have had a couple of glasses of red) funny process.

We went to the local Prefecture to register both the car and the caravan. Getting the car done was none too difficult procedurally, tho hard on the wallet as we had to convert the head-lights ( a rip-off price was exacted). I have since discovered that there are cheaper ways to replace head-lights, so, do shop around.

Registering the caravan turned out to be much more complicated - and frankly, ludicrous. The Prefecture re-directed us to a body called DRIRE (now re-named). When we eventually found them we were subjected to an interrogation as to why we wanted to re-register and we did not really expect them to do it on the spot, did we etc. I had a European Certificate of Conformity from Bailey (free) but that from AlKo cost me £80 - money wasted, as no one in France was the slightest bit interested in anything not issued by the French themselves. I eventually persuaded the bureaucrats to write out a list of what was required for the re-registration. This included weighing the (empty) caravan and then having the gas/electricity/ventilation/lighting inspected by a body called Bureau Veritas. I pointed out to the DRIRE people that all the info they were seeking was already in the officially-accredited documents which I had brought along, and that all the weights etc were already marked on the metal plate beside the caravan door, in accordance with EU regulations. They were not interested. I then asked where I could find a weigh-bridge, only to be met by the gallic shrug.

Back at the camp-site, I discovered the whereabouts of the nearest weigh-bridge - some 10 miles or so distant. Off I went to inspect - it was a bit difficult to get at but find it I did. I entered the booth hoping to see someone or something that would explain the method of operation, but found only a machine with a flashing red-light which said 'Inserez votre badge'. No 'badges' being in evidence, my further inspection revealed a telephone number - which I called. A gentleman 500 miles away in Southern France answered and we had an interesting discussion as to whether or not I wanted to buy one of his company's weigh-bridges. Eventually we got round to the matter in hand, but he did not know the weigh-bridge I was on, or who owned it, nor did he know about 'badges'. He suggested I try the local mairie' (town-hall). So, off I went to the mairie and found my way to the relevant office where things went completely Monty Python. I told the lady and gent that I wanted to weigh my caravan on their weigh-bridge and could they help? No, they could not. Why would i want to do such a thing? And anyway, weigh-bridges could not be used just like that. So I asked about the badges - could I get one? 'Non'. So, I tried another tack and asked the lady if she was in my position, what would she do? By this time she had been joined by her boss to whom she relayed my points ( I do speak good French). He then muttered to her and she then repeated it to me. All farcical. Time for a desperate last throw - so I asked ' Do you have any badges?' Oh yes! she replied and getting her key out, went to a large filing cabinet where, on the top shelf were piles of 'badges' (plastic tokens). Could I please have one?, I said, tears streaming down my face. 'Ah non!', she said triumphantly. Suicide was beckoning by this time - but I was saved! He said suddenly - You could make an appointment and we will come to the weigh-bridge and do the weighing for you! So, we fixed an appointment for the Tuesday, with me hoping that the weather would be warm and dry as the caravan would have to be emptied for the great event. Further conversation ensued about when each member of staff had their day off and well, someone would probably turn up on Tuesday, but if not, I could always book another appointment......

On the Tuesday, I turned up at the appointed hour and phoned the mairie to say I was in position. No-one there knew what I was talking about, but after many minutes, I was told that someone would come and put the badge in the slot for me. 30 mins later she appeared and told me to park the van on the w/bridge, uncouple and advance the car. Said badge was duly inserted and the bridge moved, and a certificate was printed out. This advised that the weight of my empty caravan (around 1210 kilos I think according to Bailey) was nearly 1600kg. I said that the machine must be wrong. It had to be re-weighed. To do this, the car had to be reversed, the caravan hitched-up and removed via the one-way system to go round about and back on from the slip-road - a total distance of maybe 2km. Back on to w/b, same result. Try again - round the system and back on to the w/b. As she was about to insert the badge, a large lorry appeared behind me. He, she said, had priority and I would need to hitch-up and go around the circuit again....which I did. Our last weighing attempt came out at 1490 kg - fine I said, that will do and we returned to the camp-site to re-pack and mull over the pleasures of life.

Next up was the Bureau Veritas inspection (280 euros, payable in advance). After a wait of about 6 weeks a young chap turned up in his van, complete with company logo. After a cursory glance around the van he told me that the ventilation 'was inadequate' and would have to be 'improved' (nothing specific, you understand). We had, he said, an 'incorrect' gas bottle and hose (I explained I had just bought them down the road here in France. Suddenly the problem was no longer a problem, and that was that). Nor was he too sure about the electrics - or anything else. All that not withstanding, he suddenly said 'C'est bon!, gave me a receipt to say everything was fine, and disappeared.

Armed with all this official French bumpf, we went back to the Prefecture to get our carte grise and our number plate. It was explained to us that the caravan now needed a FINAL inspection, again by DRIRE and so we had to make an appointment, which we kept. There we were met by a lady engineer who told me that we needed a metal plate attached to the caravan showing the maker's name, caravan model, serial number and weights/dimensions. Triumphantly, I pointed to the manufacturer's plate affixed next the door, giving all the info she had specified. No no, she said, such a plate must be attached to the bulk-head in the gas locker, and I would need to get one made and then send a photo showing the plate in the specified position before the caravan could be passed. She then asked me to hold one end of her inch-tape while she measured the distance from the wheel centre to some point at the rear and front of the caravan. She wrote these figures down. She then got under the caravan and was there for a while, doing who knows what. She then said we needed additional 'lighting' on the external walls of the caravan so that it would be visible to traffic coming from the side. This turned out to mean additional reflectors, also the rear brake-light had to be reversed to the correct side. When all that was done, she said, she would be in a position to grant the certificate.

Back home (this now 6 months since we started the process) we found a local lad who got a bit of flat lead plate and a punch and banged out the specified data. Not wanting to drill holes in the bulk-head, we attached the plate with blu-tak and what resembled rivet heads in each corner. A photo was duly taken. I immediately pulled the plate off and kept it for a while as a souvenir. We did likewise with 2 orange reflectors and changed the rear wiring to do the brake lights. Photos taken and all sent off to our dear lady engineer. To our amazement, we received our final document which had to be taken to the Prefecture where we would have the privilege of paying for our Carte Grise. Oh joy of joys.

At the Prefecture, we handed over our certificate in return for our Carte Grise. Job done! So you, see, so much for Euro Certificates of Conformity and all that jazz. No one here was remotely interested or regarded them as having any meaning. Things had to be done the French way, which, unfortunately was time-consuming, expensive, inefficient and for the most part, completely unnecessary. So far as I can make out, the dossier (report) that exits on my Bailey is full of completely inaccurate information and literally not worth the paper it is written on. Other people have reported similar experiences to mine, while others have been virtually nodded through - it seems to depend on where you live and the attitude of the authorities there. So - if you live in the UK and want to bring a Brit caravan here, be aware. You might have many expensive and pointless hoops to jump through if you want to re-register it as a 'French' vehicle. However, things are much easier if you live and buy here. We bought our 2nd-hand Eriba locally, filled in the change of ownership details etc. I think we paid for the new Carte Grise (which is a one-off purchase) but cannot remember the exact amount. We did all the paper-work by post but did have to visit the Prefecture to collect the Carte Grise.


I subsequently posted a bit of this story on-line. A French civil servant replied to me apologising (as it were) for all the bureaucratic nonsense we had endured. However, c'est la vie - you just have to appreciate that they Do do things differently here.

OMG !! I'd suffer a nervous breakdown after that ! I get wound up when things don't get sorted right away. I'd better stay put. Ian.

The final touch to this story was that we subsequently discovered that Bailey would not send any spare parts to France - with our luck, we could see ourselves having a damaged panel or something with no way of getting it repaired without a Channel crossing - but what if, in the worst case scenario the caravan could not be moved?. I did make enquiries of French caravan work-shops etc - "Bailey? Never heard of it. Sorry" was the invariable response. So - we put it on e-bay and a chap came out from England, complete with a Tesco bag stuffed full of fivers/tenners etc and the deal was done. Ah! - the happiness at the relief from it all!

I was obviously Lucky. I registered our New Eriba 310 within 20 mins with a visit to our local, (Carcassonne), Prefecture. Toital Cost was +/- 85 euros. I had filled in the correct form and supplied the C O Conformity (in German from Eriba) which they accepted without a problem.

I also took the correct paperwork to Angouleme and after 1 hour left with the receipt and carte grise arrived 3 days later? perhaps the moral here is buy a French caravan in France, whilst the French are notorious for bureaucracy It is still a wonderful place to live with a fabulous health service and slow pace of life

BTW. Mine was a uk import.

10 out of 10 for persistence! By comparison, back in 2007, we bought our VW T4 camper an in Germany. We had to have id de-registered as a German vehicle and had to purchase new, export number plates from the plate making company - always located next to the car tax office. They issued us with new export plates which included 1 months insurance. Once the plates were made, the tax office changed the plates for me, checking the identity of our new vehicle as well. ( They even gave us the old plates as we asked for them as a souvenir). I can recall the coast but it was around 40 euros. The whole process, including having the new plates made, took nearly two hours!