# Winter tyres in France



## MikeH (Nov 10, 2007)

My brother has recently moved to France, he has bought two wheels and had winter tyres fitted and put them on the front. Does he also need winter tyres on the rear? He can't seem to get a definitive answer. Also how long before He has to register the vehicle in France?Thanks in advance. Mike.

Forum helper - Moved from Computer help to Wheels and Tyres


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## uncleswede (Apr 16, 2010)

Hi.

I don't recall the technicalities but, having researched winter tyres myself recently, almost everyone said that it is very dangerous to mix summer and winter tyres.

Rgds
CD


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## csmcqueen (May 12, 2010)

If you fit Winter tyres to a vehicle you have to fit them all round or you lose the benefits winter tyre give you. your front and rear end of the vehicle start almost fighting each other and can actually be worse than not having any winter tyres fitted. Legally though I'm not sure how it stands


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

I have seen several tyre websites suggesting improved braking with all 4 tyres being winter tyres.

In theory you should start the re registering process immediately but we drove a couple of UK reged vehicles for almost 10 year without problems.

Ray.


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## eurajohn (May 9, 2005)

Don't think winter tyres are compulsory for the majority of France.
As to the registration requirements as Ray says you should actually start as soon as you are resident, I'm sure the better informed will correct me but as far as I'm aware the requirement for Camping Car is 3 months max.
Depending on what the vehicle is, so long as the necessary paperwork is submitted the process is relatively easy.
Allegedly the authorities are tightening up on non conformists, most French insurance companies will no longer insure UK registered vehicles for more than 3 months now unless it can be proved you are in the re-registration process.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Winter tyres - all four wheels.... anything else is dangerous, but not compulsory as far as I know.

Reregistering - a lengthy process for some vehicles but not for others;

legally you may keep UK plates for *6 months* BUT the difficulty will be UK insurance will not cover the vehicle and French will keep asking if the _Carte Grise_ is through yet.....

Our Citroen car was fairly easy the MH slower and harder;

1. obtain certificate of euroconformity from manufacturer before leaving UK (that cost £100 for piece of paper for Citroen but was free for Swift MH),

2. obtain certificate of import from tax office (ours was in Agen for the Department), foc but needs residence proof such as services bill like telephone or water or electricity AND V5 AND original receipt for purchase,

3. arrange French insurance policy (on UK plates), cancel UK insurance, (car cheaper to insure in France, MH more expensive)

4. change headlamps to dip correctly (ours cost £250 for the car and £300 for the MH),

4. Have _Controle Technique_ done accordingly (easy for car but harder for MH as over 3.5t and had to be done at specialist place)

5. submit all paperwork and wait.... car took 30 minutes and _Carte Grise _arrived 3 days later, MH took repeated phone calls to Swift and repeated visits to Prefecture and 7 months........

6. Once new registration number arrived, get new number plates (about €35 each pair), attach to vehicle.

The Prefecture retains the V5 so keep a photocopy while they have it and send back the bottom of the V5 to DVLA.

I think that is all the steps, happy to give more details if needed.

Dave


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## MikeH (Nov 10, 2007)

Thanks to all, your explanations regarding tyres and re-registering have been very helpful.
I will pass the details on to my Brother.
Mike.


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