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Right papers to carry in the Car when driving in France?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Know this might have been covered before, but just in case...

Few years back a girl we knew working out here (Serre Chevalier) was pretty distraught as her boyfriend had just been pulled over by the Gendarmes and she'd come back to get some money out of the cash machine as he was being fined for not carrying all the correct paper work in the car. She also explained that the Gendarmes also check to make sure you have a high viz jacket that you can access as a driver without needing to get out of the car.

So today just outside Bourg Oisans I was pulled over. First document I gave them was my registration document, then my license (a very old paper one that had him initially a wee bit mystified) along with my passport and finally my insurance certificate. He didn't ask me about the high viz jacket as by then he'd sussed that I knew what to carry etc!

So be warned, I'm not so sure about the registration document, but I was told that you had to carry that as well and the Gendarme did read it and compare the detail on that with my license / insurance certificate etc

See the daily blog at http://www.anotherharddayattheoffice.co.uk/weekone.html
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Weathercam, thanks for the reminder. It's been years since I carried all that when driving in France - will add that to the list for our Easter trip.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
We were waved over as we entered a service station on the autoroute last year, just a quick document check, 2 gendarmes checking, with one sat on a bike in case you felt like a chase!
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I thought this thread was going to be about which papers were best for beating the boredom on the 10hr or so drive through France.... Laughing

I prefer the Telegraph normally but the broadsheet format could prove impractical in the confines of the car which would lean me towards the Independent.

If travelling on a Sunday you could pick up a copy of the Rugby Paper which is small and informative (about rugby anyway) but prpbably not enough on its own to fill the whole journey.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I always take the registration document but never been asked for it. Came back through Dover and got pulled by the customs. Asked me how long I had had the car for, which you could work out from the number plate, but they didnt ask for any documents and let me go. Dont know the logic but guess some sort of stolen car racket.
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Quote:

Asked me how long I had had the car for, which you could work out from the number plate

Puzzled

I normally carry reg certicate, insurance cert and licenses. Have been required to show all of them twice - once late at night driving through Megeve when they were pulling over 100% of vehicles.

The other time was having been speeding through a deserted hamlet with no speed limit signs at 39 mph Embarassed Expensive - and no doubt more so if I'd not have those documents.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Ski Tyke, We usually have the Telegraph in the car, but my wife has the annoying habit of blocking the nearside (which becomes the offside) mirror with it! Never carried any official paperwork other than my passport and driving licence.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Registration document is a requirement.
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I thought they didn't need speed limit signs and it was automatically 50kph between the [hamlet] and [/hamlet] signs.
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Advice on papers from the AA
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/general_advice.html

Specific French advice.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_tips/france-monaco.pdf


Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads on Wed 9-03-11 12:05; edited 1 time in total
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Most continental countries require you to carry id at all times, normally a passport. I just got used to it when I was living in Switzerland and even skied with it (+ insurance details). It seemed dangerous to me to keep your registration document in the car, but I didn't want to carry it (+ driving licence, insurance & breakdown cover) out every time so kept them there.
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Quote:

Never carried any official paperwork other than my passport and driving licence.

a stroppy gendarme could fine you for not having the registration certificate.

We leave our passports in the car in France, since the day I took friends into Gva airport and forgot it. Have never been asked for a passport at Bardonnex, but I was on tenterhooks that day. If we'd been stopped they'd have missed their flight.
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So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
welshskier, I think French law merely requires you to have proof of identity - and a photocard driver's licence would be OK (and more convenient to carry).
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
achilles, yes, that's why I said id and not passport, but I know many people use a passport. I think it applies elsewhere as well (Belgium, Switzerland, Germany), but am not certain.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Just a tip, when we were driving back from Calais in February there was a small pull in that was according to my Sat Nav about 53 miles till Calais, i was doing 80mph in the outside lane and saw a car coming up behind me fast, i pulled over to let a British plated BMW go roaring past me, in the layby was a French Police Car.

They pulled out and chased after the British BMW and indicated for him to follow them off at the next junction, with blue lights and a sign in the rear window.

So 53 miles from Calais on the way home watch it, because we phoned our friends who were a couple of hours behind us to warn them, and sure enough they were back waiting.

Only 6 days to go to the next one woooohoooo
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Timbobaggins, 53 miles is a bit far back from their usual location which is on the hill near the 36km marker,just a few km before the péage. Not usually about on a Sunday when we go home though.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
altis wrote:
I thought they didn't need speed limit signs and it was automatically 50kph between the [hamlet] and [/hamlet] signs.


That is correct. The sign like this one (first hit on Google images for "French Town Name") means 50kph. None of the "take your car abroad" type booklets tell you that sort of thing, helpfully.

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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Hells Bells wrote:
Timbobaggins, 53 miles is a bit far back from their usual location which is on the hill near the 36km marker,just a few km before the péage. Not usually about on a Sunday when we go home though.

Yep, the one at 36.5 hasn't been there for our last few trips, I vaguely recall an MP accusing the French of persecuting the Brits over this speed trap, some diplomacy followed and the radar hasnt been there since.....so far.
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James the Last, I only worked it out myself by:

1) reasoning that there must be a speed limit
2) one day following the only Frenchman that obeys them and that was clearly what he was doing
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Quote:

i pulled over to let a British plated BMW go roaring past me, in the layby was a French Police Car.

They pulled out and chased after the British BMW and indicated for him to follow them off at the next junction, with blue lights and a sign in the rear window.

how exceptionally satisfying. Evil or Very Mad

Yes, everywhere with a name is 30 mph. I know now. wink

The irony is that we were driving off the péage to save the tolls. rolling eyes

The other irony is that I am a famously slow driver. rolling eyes

It's worth carrying enough euros to pay a fine - we had to drive back to the nearest cashpoint. Monsieur le Flic knew where that was.

That was my first fine/offence/getting caught in 46 years of driving.
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pam w,

It was sort of satisfying, mainly because it was a BMW with a private plate on Toofy Grin

It had just started to drizzle as wel,l so as i saw the Police Car i had the old brown adrenalin rush thinking, ooops should have been doing 68mph, but i work on the principle of as long as there is one car going faster than you, then things should be okay,

As a matter of interest, what do they class as rain so that you have to do 110kmh, because this was a light misty drizzle at the time with wipers on slow intermittent!!!!!
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:

what do they class as rain

I'm not sure - but "if the road is wet" so I suppose that means the lower limit stays in place until the road is dry, which could be a while after the rain has stopped if it's been heavy.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
A few more pointers that may be helpful.

A "heads up" for the "voie rapide" between Albertville and Moutiers. There are frequently unmarked cars sitting in the laybys with the radar mounted in the back of a white estate car (they don't bother chasing people down). Remember it's 90 kph about level with Feissons and not the normal 110 kph.

The radar in the tunnel coming from Moutiers to Albertville - about half way along at the sign for the emergency pedestrian exit (70 kph). You'll see all the "73" plated vehicles slowing down! About the only time when they are not busy inspecting your boot.
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marksavoie,
Quote:

The radar in the tunnel coming from Moutiers to Albertville

Yep, I know 2 locals who have been caught by that camera, one of them got a ticket for 74kph, there is no % tolerance as in the UK. Skullie
Also don't forget the camera opposite BUT as you pass through Albertville towards Moutiers.
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Don't forget that if your's is a company car you need to obtain the VE103B which is the replacement for the registration documents. Don't you also need to carry a Green Card.
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Talking of speeding tickets, I've just remembered that I managed to get flashed just outside Ouistreham last August. Never heard anything more about it though - I thought there was some kind of reciprocal arrangement with the UK now so presumably I should have got a ticket?
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 And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
Schuss in Boots, I don't think they send tickets from fixed cameras to foreign car owners. I don't think there is a reciprocal arrangement in place yet. If you were in a hire car though, that would be a different matter, as hire company would tell them who was driving. BIL got a Swiss speeding fine (approx 400€) a couple of weeks ago for an offence apparently commited in late August 2009, he wasn't even in Switzerland then, they flew out of Geneva in early August, having stayed at my apartment for two weeks.
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Quote:

on't you also need to carry a Green Card.

mostly not, these days, but depends on your insurance, I think. Ours includes Europe automatically.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
pam w, Might just be because mine is covered by company car insurance then. They always send me a VE103B and a Green Card when I take it abroad.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Ours (OH company car) we carry the original reg docs (small company) together with letter giving us permission to take the car and insurance details/letter, as well as our driving licenses. I read something about spare eyewear for glasses/contact lense wearers being required as well as bulb kit, however pointless they are on a French built car where you have to dismantle half the car to change a lightbulb...
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Randomsabreur, Spare glasses are not a legal requiremet in France I don't believe but are in Spain and probably others. Spare bulbset is necessary in France.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
pam w wrote:
Quote:

what do they class as rain

I'm not sure - but "if the road is wet" so I suppose that means the lower limit stays in place until the road is dry, which could be a while after the rain has stopped if it's been heavy.


Non. Only in the event of "rain or other precipitation". The signs quite clearly have precipitation on them, and the French law says:

From the Legifrance website, Code de la Route.

En vigueur depuis le 01 juin 2001

LIVRE IV : L'USAGE DES VOIES.
TITRE Ier : DISPOSITIONS GÉNÉRALES.

Chapitre III : Vitesse.

Section 1 : Vitesses maximales autorisées.

I. - Hors agglomération, la vitesse des véhicules est limitée à :
1° 130 km/h sur les autoroutes ;
2° 110 km/h sur les routes à deux chaussées séparées par un terre-plein central ;
3° 90 km/h sur les autres routes.

II. - En cas de pluie ou d'autres précipitations, ces vitesses maximales sont abaissées à :
1° 110 km/h sur les sections d'autoroutes où la limite normale est de 130 km/h ;
2° 100 km/h sur les sections d'autoroutes où cette limite est plus basse ainsi que sur les routes à deux chaussées séparées par un terre-plein ntral ;
3° 80 km/h sur les autres routes.
----------


Codification : Décret 2001-251 2001-03-22 JORF 25 mars 2001.
Anciens textes : Code de la route R10 (al. 2 à 5 et 8 à 11).
Spécificités : Code de la route R432-1, R432-2.
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Google translate say In force since June 1, 2001

BOOK IV: THE USE OF WAYS.
PART I: GENERAL PROVISIONS.

Chapter III: Speed.

Section 1: Speed limits.

I. - Out of town, the vehicle speed is limited to:
1 130 km / h on motorways;
2 110 km / h on dual carriageways separated by a median strip;
3 ° 90 km / h on other roads.

II. - In case of rain or other precipitation, these speeds are reduced to:
1 110 km / h on sections of highways where the limit is 130 km / h;
2 100 km / h on sections of highways where the limit is lower and on dual carriageways separated by a median ntral;
3 ° 80 km / h on other roads.
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pam w wrote:
Quote:

Never carried any official paperwork other than my passport and driving licence.

a stroppy gendarme could fine you for not having the registration certificate.


Interesting that the aa website for france doesn't mention anything about carrying the registration certificate, some googling seems to suggest I need the log book, can you clarify exactly what the french law says?
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Quote:

can you clarify exactly what the french law says?

no, I can't, but I can confirm that I was asked for it twice - random vehicle check in Megeve, and when I was stopped for speeding.
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it's the only way to prove that you own the vehicle, isn't it?
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ah, good old AA, they have a section per country then a generic compulsory section!!

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_tips/compulsory_equipment.pdf
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Boredsurfing wrote:
Advice on papers from the AA
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/overseas/general_advice.html

Specific French advice.
http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/touring_tips/france-monaco.pdf
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