We’ve been more or less full for the last couple of weeks and we’re starting to get into routines now for breakfast shopping & prep, breakfast service & clear-up, room refresh for guests staying on, room change overs as guests check-out, laundry, keeping the house clean and tidy, house/pool/garden maintenance and of course welcoming and hosting new guests. I guess that is pretty much my job description now 🙂
Our first home in France was Le Pigeonnier at Razac d’Eymet that we rented for 3 months from Sim and Josie who were lovely hosts and super helpful while I was dealing with all the administration of moving to France. Importing my car was quite a ‘biggy’ so I’ve focussed on that this week.
I had French insurance sorted before I left the U.K. but I only had a month upon arrival in France to submit my application to register my car in France i.e. with a set of French number plates on it. This would normally be done through the gouvernement website A.N.T.S but to open an account there you need a social security number or a tax number which were still months away for me, so I sought the help of a local garage , for a small fee of course. They were very helpful .
Before applying for the registration, I had to take the car through Contrôle Technique – the French equivalent of the UK MOT test. The main potential stumbling block there was that my headlamps and rear fog light are designed for driving on the left, but having had a HUGE quote from AUDI to replace them, I choose instead to find a sympathetic CT Centre who could help me with the beam deflectors to allow the car to pass legally. Again, I found them to be super helpful there.
Another tricky one was the import certificate to prove that import duty has been paid, or in my case, that I was able to import it duty free as it was part of a main residence move. After a couple of false starts at the local customs offices I was eventually directed to an office in Bordeaux that could help. After explaining my situation on the phone, I was able to do it all remotely so after scanning 12 pieces of documentation to email them, about a week later I had the certificate in the post.
Along with the CT and Import Certificate I had to pull together, scan and print out for the garage helping with the registration: car insurance, UK registration certificate, passport, driving licence, proof of address in France, EU certificate of conformity for the car, and the form applying for registration. ~4 weeks later I had French Plates on my car and could declare my car as ‘exported’ to DVLA UK.
My UK driving licence runs out later this year but that is another story.
It was lovely to have some friends and friends of friends staying last week for a few days. I was able to go for a run with one of my Woodbridge Shufflers running buddies. I’ve not been able to get out with our local running group here much since we have opened but I’ll be able to pick that up again when things quieten down again. In the meantime it is just me or me and Tom out there enjoying running through the countryside.