Selling a van stored in France
Simple question but suspect may be a complicated answer 
. We have stored out van near Sarlat in the Dordogne but are now considering selling it. Obviously it would be easier to do so in France and not tow it back to the UK but is this practical? If so any suggestions on how to do it appreciated. All comments & contributions welcome!
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Not really a problem. We have bought a caravan in the past from a storage site in France. Your van will be UK registered, which effectively means not formally registered at all. If it is bought by a UK resident, (which limits your pool of purchasers in France), then it will be just the same as selling it in the UK. Same documentation in terms of CRIS if applicable, same pricing, same negotiations. The purchaser will simply slap his registration on it and tow it away. That is, providing (s)he has a spare plate. They will have difficulty getting one made over here if they make a spurious purchase decision. However, the bits can be found to make one at the bigger car part stores. Last resort yellow cardboard and black marker pen, Le Flic over here will not care much.
More complicated if you sell to a French resident. It will need its own plate as caravans are vehicles in their own right over here. They will need a certificate of conformity, and some sort of a registration document, the CRIS certificate will do for this. They will also want a signed receipt from you to confirm ownership. Given these, they will have to register the van, their problem, not yours. They may have to negotiate with the storage to keep it there while this is sorted out, again not your problem. Getting paid in £ not € may be an issue for you.
You should obtain a timed and dated receipt of purchase from whoever you sell to, in case they do something silly or illegal.
Tell your insurance as soon as you sell it. Dont forget to 'release' it with CRIS if applicable.
If you want to advertise in France, try Leboncoin, Ebay is not popular for such purchases over here.
Good Luck
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Phil, Do you have someone trustworthy there in France to show the caravan, arrange viewings, negotiate a price, and accept payment if it sells? Or will all that have to wait until you are next there yourself?
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We have done the reverse in that many years ago, when we moved to France, we took our UK registered caravan with us and registered it in France. The procedure outlined by RedKite is correct but it is very time consuming and complex involving 4 different departments: your local Marie, the department who checked gas and elec, the dep which did a 'MOT' type check and finally the Prefecture for the licence doc!. I recall all told it took us 4 months to complete the procedure. Yes you will need the CRIS doc as the French Prefecture needed a 'UK Registration Document' but accepted the CRIS certificate! We also needed the purchase receipt showing the VAT had been paid! When we returned to UK we bought our caravan with us and sold it. I think it would be much easier to bring it back to UK and sell it here where you are more likely to get a better price. This was pre Brexit and I have no idea if things have changed. Best of luck if you try and do the procedure not living in France!
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Good morning Lutz. as I said, we sold the caravan in UK after we returned. The procedure RedKyte and I outlined was to get the Approval Certificate. My caravan (a 1996 Fleetwood) did not have a homogenisation type approval which may have made the procedure more complex. I had to show the CRIS doc at the end of the procedure to the person who issued the final certificate as she insisted on evidence that the caravan was registered in UK. Initially she didn't accept it but I insisted on speaking to her manager; all this happened in Beziers and I had to take the caravan twice to Montpelier for the earlier checks
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Thanks for all the comments and advice. We need to think about who may show/negotiate if we do plan to sell in France (to UK resident I feel) and we'll still have to go to empty the van of our belongings so may still be most sensible to bring it back. Timing maybe an issue as well. So lots to consider!!
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