Hi there,

I am a bit confused over the whole Green card insurance. I have probably left this far too late, but I totally forgot about this. I am from New Zealand but hold a British passport, I am in London heading to Paris today/tomorrow to pick up a motorcycle I bought at a KTM dealership in Paris. I intend to register my bike in France using my friends address for proof of residency with an attestation d'hébergement. However it has just crossed my mind that I may not be able to ride out of the dealership without a Green card.

I don't want annual insurance as I will be heading to Africa on the bike in 1 month. As far as I know, I may need proof of insurance (green card) to register the bike in my name also. Does anyone have any idea the best way to go about this? Is there any cost effective temporary insurance? Is there any instant insurance I can get? Do I even need the Green card before riding away at the dealership?

I'm not entirely sure how this registering of the bike works, I'm not sure if I do it by myself at a department of transport or if the dealer will do it for me. He seems like a nice guy but the language barrier makes it really hard to understand exactly what I have to do. He e-mailed me about what I want to do with the carte-gris etc. But for now any info on insurance or any info on registering in France would be helpful, I can only go off what I have read online on expat forums etc.

Thanks!

O.K. First thing is you will need to register the bike in your name. As it's a new bike the dealer should do it for you so that the carte grise (registration document) will be sent to the address you have given as your residential address, or he may get it sent to him at the dealership if you have already given him details. If the dealer hasn't done this then you have to register it through the Prefecture de Police, the dealer will show / tell you where it is.

You must register the vehicle and have the carte grise before you take out insurance, because the insurance company will check it's registered to you at the address you have given, although the dealer might give you a temporary ''attestation'' to enable you to get insurance as it's a new bike. Insurance is OBLIGATORY in Europe, minimum ''responsibilité civile'' or third party. As you will be leaving the country it's not worth insuring ''Tous risques'' or comprehensive. You should use a French Insurer ( AXA is probably one of the best), so finding an AXA agent in Paris near where you are staying would be good to contact in advance. You can get short term policies, but they are usually minimum for 6 months. As you have no Insurance history in France you will pay top dollar anyway as you have no 'no claims' discount built up

The dealer might not let you take the bike from the showroom until you have your insurance arranged and can show him the ''vignette'' to stick on the bike.

It's not complicated, it's just time consuming.

Good luck, and well done re the temp imports.

Additional info:-

Unlike many countries, in France you have to pay for the Carte Grise. The dealer may have already included this in the price you have paid, but normally they don't. It's expensive because it includes road taxation, I guess for a new KTM you will be paying around €200/250 euros.

To make life easier for you, ask the dealer to get the carte grise for you, and if you can send him a copy of your attestation d'hebergement and any other documents he asks for, copies are usually O.K. A copy of your passport main page will also be needed. He may charge you for this work, but believe me it's worth it to save all the running about and dealing with red tape in a language you aren't comfortable with.

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