michele Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 How long are we allowed out of the country for insurance purposes both health & the MH legally. I want to stay in France for a year must I come home every so often and am I breaking any laws ?. be grateful for any advice and the best way to do it . TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Hi michele As I beleive it, as a tourist , you are limited to 6 months continuous stay in spain before having to register but if you cross into gib or back to france for a day, then the 6 months startsagain. I think the same applies as a tourist in the EU countrise.. Regarding your vehicle, the max stay is limited by its tax validity, so that means one 12 month period max, and dont forget insurance validity..that might be limited to a shorter period in any 12 months. Ie possibly 9 months in 12. Check insuranse contracts. Dont forget mot tests expire in 12 months and unless you try registering you vehicle abroad with the attendant difficulty of doing so for a right hand drive one in a left hand drive country, that limits you. Vehicle must be returned to uk for retesting., and retaxing. My guess therefore, is that 12 months is likely to be the best unless you seek to emigrate more permanantely Hope this might assist. Tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevec176 Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 It will depend on your MH insurance, they all differ and check your home insurance if you will be leaving it empty. Sounds like a wonderful time ahead for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted March 11, 2017 Author Share Posted March 11, 2017 Thought maybe we may live out there . We wont have a house here only family so no house to worry about . We do intend to pop back every three months or so just to see our Son & Daughter . Just wondered if I would be better to register a mh out there rather than having to worry about popping back if anything happened that forbids us to do so . Health insurance can I buy a french one . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Contrary to what Remainers would have us think, the EU SS are not yet hunting down us Brits and deporting us back to Stalag Britain :D ......... As a example Sue has a cousin has who have lived in France off grid for for years......in a property they own ;-) ...... Your main issues will be insurance, which you'll be charged through the nose for, as you'll be classed as fulltiming 8-) ....... If you join Motorhome365 you'll get the low down on all kinda stuff us temporary gypo's are expected pay for.........where as the travelling community appears to be immune from such requirements.......prolly coz they're an ethnic minority *-) ........ Anyone ever seen a BBC detector van enter a council Gypsy site? :D ...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 michele - 2017-03-11 1:17 PM Thought maybe we may live out there . We wont have a house here only family so no house to worry about . We do intend to pop back every three months or so just to see our Son & Daughter . Just wondered if I would be better to register a mh out there rather than having to worry about popping back if anything happened that forbids us to do so . Health insurance can I buy a french one . To the second part, no you can't take out French Health Insurance if you are not a French Resident. As far as vehicle insurance is concerned, if you are there for over 3 months then you are supposed to transfer your vehicle onto French plates and French Insurance, there are a lot of people who flount this and its a case of 'you make the choice and take the chance'. Problem is that if there is a problem then the UK Insurance will come down like a ton of bricks. To register a vehicle and get Insurance in France you need a French address, this could be a rented home or a bought one. On the health side, if you are not in the French Health System you will only be entitled to emergency care. If you apply to go into their system then you will be entitled to the same as the lowest healthcare scheme unless you take a 'TopUp' Insurance out, which is what we did but that cost us, at the time, 1800 euros per year although it covered everything which in our case was invaluable. I believe that the system of claiming back from the UK any health related costs you incur whilst abroad has changed and you have to claim immediately. As far as re-registering your van, as long as you have all the correct paperwork that is needed then there shouldn't be a problem but make sure you do have ALL paper work needed. Also each Departement has its own rules of what you will need. I would advise you to think carefully before making any rash decisions about making the move permanently, although it is a wonderful dream and I wouldn't have changed our time there for the world, it is not all 'roses round the door' that a lot of people imagine. There are a lot pitfalls but a lot of good things as well. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildi Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 Registering a motorhome in France can be expensive and a paperwork nightmare. If it was me I would keep it UK registered if you will be travelling around and returning every few months but if you are resident in France with a permanent address that changes a lot of things. Hope that helps. Mark. PS. if you do register in France after the initial cost there is of course on road tax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michele Posted March 11, 2017 Author Share Posted March 11, 2017 Thansk for the above replies everyone... Whats on road tax ?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 NO road tax! Misspelling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 mildi - 2017-03-11 3:14 PM Registering a motorhome in France can be expensive and a paperwork nightmare. If it was me I would keep it UK registered if you will be travelling around and returning every few months but if you are resident in France with a permanent address that changes a lot of things. Hope that helps. Mark. PS. if you do register in France after the initial cost there is of course on road tax Although the road tax ended in 2000, if I remember right, they do charge you for re-registering. Our Discovery and Ford Focus was about £250 each, plus the cost of getting the Certificates of Conformity from the appropriate manufacturers, they were about £100 but that was back in 2001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildi Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 No road tax, should have gone to Specksavers. yes there is quite a charge for the registration, my Peugeot 4007 car cost me €420 but then no road tax each year. I didn't need a certificate of conformity as my V5 had the correct details on it but this can be hit and miss at the prefecture if they will accept it The "Ouch" with the car was when I tried to find some headlights, €1200 was the cheapest I could find, but lucky for me I had a friend in Poland who managed to find some second hand for €400. I said to her I would get UPS to pick them up and deliver to France.....they wanted €1040.00 to do that. She arranged DPD for €40. It pays to shop around. If you are importing a car to France, it's best to check out how much the lights and registration will cost Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archiesgrandad Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 I re-registered our right hand drive 1997 Pilote Galaxy when we moved to France, and it took a long time and a lot of faffing but when you know what you're doing it is relatively straightfoward. I had to change the headlights and I found a firm in the UK who shipped them to me for about £170. I had to dupolicate the high intensity rear fog lamp and reversing light, they were on the wrong side, and they cost me about £7 each and I just connected them into the back of the existing units.These were the only changes I had to make. We could not get a certificate of conformity for our van, but there is a way round that, but the one for our car cost about £100, We had to have the CT done and that cost about £45, we had to have a gas safety inspection by Bureua Veritas or similar and that cost £300. We needed a weight certificate and whilst there are lots of weighbridges that will weigh it for nothing, nobody could provide a certificate, so we produced our own on the computer and gave the bloke at the local quarry a tenner to put his stamp on it and squiggle a signature. When it was all done we went to the local Prefecture and registered it without problems, but we had to pay about £300 in tax. We pay just over £400 per year insurance and that includes full breakdown and recovery. AGD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted March 11, 2017 Share Posted March 11, 2017 michele - 2017-03-11 11:37 AM How long are we allowed out of the country for insurance purposes both health & the MH legally. Assuming by "health" you mean medication and/or NHS, it's 3 months. Anything over that and your GP will remove you from their surgery list and as a consequence, cease to be eligible for NHS treatment. Yes there will be many others who will disagree and tell you entirely different and i'm not getting into a pointless argument over it on here as 1) they are "flying under the radar" and 2) i can send you copy of a letter i have from the Dept of Health verifying the 3 month as fact. It's governed under the NHS General Medical Services Contracts Regulations 2004. You might be lucky and have a sloppy GP who is prepared to ignore the regulation (some do). I want to stay in France for a year must I come home every so often and am I breaking any laws ?. be grateful for any advice and the best way to do it . TIA Every three months if you want to ensure you remain within the NHS system. The risk is up to you. As for your MH.....that can stay in any EU country for 364 days. You'd need to return with it to UK for MOT but tax and insurance can be done online. Make the most of it while you can......because if we leave the EU then both the above will be subject to strict enforcement and Brits won't have the freedoms they've enjoyed the past 44 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulletguy Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 Archiesgrandad - 2017-03-11 10:55 PM I re-registered our right hand drive 1997 Pilote Galaxy when we moved to France, and it took a long time and a lot of faffing but when you know what you're doing it is relatively straightfoward. I had to change the headlights and I found a firm in the UK who shipped them to me for about £170.......... AGD When my son was based in Germany he took his car because he couldn't bear the thought of parting with it! Even though they are BFPO, their status is resident after three months and he had to buy a pair of LH headlamps for his car......£600 8-) Crazy!! Also had to have a different number plate. Not German....it looked more like southern Irish style! It then had to go through the TUV as our MOT is invalid. It got through ok as he's always kept it in top notch condition and serviced regularly, but told me it's much more strict than our MOT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildi Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 "Make the most of it while you can......because if we leave the EU then both the above will be subject to strict enforcement and Brits won't have the freedoms they've enjoyed the past 44 years." A truly sweeping statement that no one has the answer to at the moment but I am sure lots of things will change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted March 12, 2017 Share Posted March 12, 2017 michele - 2017-03-11 3:41 PM Thansk for the above replies everyone... Whats on road tax ?. i would suggest that you keep a Uk address (son or daughters?) as without it , you will be considered homeless. You will be deregistered from NHS, if you leave the country for 6 months Our friends who live in France in a house , keep address of offspring as their Uk address. Also bank accounts, will need an address, and pensions etc. House prices are sure to go up, while you are away, as well. I hope you fulfill your dream, as i know you where carers, for some years, so some YOU time, you deserve. Just think the whole picture through, before you take the plunge! It's good to see you still on forum Michele PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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