Importing a motorbike

[Brian]

I've just started the process of importing my motorbike.

The first step is to obtain a Quitus Fiscal, to prove that tax has been paid. I duly presented myself at the Trésor Publique in Monmtmorillon, where I was sent upstairs to Room 101.

I took this as a bad omen. A very, very bad omen...

However, the lady in there was very friendly. She looked at my passport, proof of residence (recent electricity bill), V5C and kept the photocopies I had provided. She returned the originals to me.
She then filled in some paperwork in quintuplicate, did something on her PC then tore off one of the forms: "C'est tout - finis." she said.

The whole process took less than 10 not-at-all stressful minutes.

However, I now have to perform the rest of the immatriculation online with the new ANTS system. Even the lady at the Trésor wished me good luck with that!

Still - a very promising start  

Brian

[Admiral]

Cripes!

Brave man.  If someone had told me to report to Room 101 I would have turned tail and legged it out of there.

By the by....I thought the Quitus Fiscal was near the end of the process?  Only asking because I'm about to embark on registering a UK car here.

So what paperwork do I need and in what order?

By the way what is the ANTS system? I only hope it has nothing to do with wrestling French government forms on-line. New one on me....

[Brian]

what is the ANTS system? I only hope it has nothing to do with wrestling French government forms on-line.

I'm afraid you've got it in one. It's now not possible to import vehicles via the sous préfecture. It has to be done online using ANTS.

You have to submit all the paperwork as PDFs or JPGs. They then sit on it for 2-3 weeks before changing the status of your case to 'awaiting paperwork'. I'm still trying to find my pet hamster's birth certificate...

[Brian]

TL : DR - A French bureaucratic surprise.

An update on my motorbike import status.

Having obtained the Quittus Fical very easily, I then had to find a way of dealing with the ANTS website.
The first obstacle was that although I successfully registered an account, I couldn't actually do anything on the site until my account was linked to my tax number. As I spend less than 6 months of the year in France at the moment, I don't actually have a tax number. Stalemate...

However, you can create an appropriate account if you link your account at La Poste with France Connect.
That turned out to be surprisingly easy at La Poste. Enter your name and passport details then you have to arrange to be inspected by your local facteur - or facteuse in our case.

You can choose the day on which you should be verified. I optimistically chose the next day,,,

The next day at 10, Sandrine turned up at my door. She declined a coffee, had a look at my passport, laughed at my age and tapped passport no. etc into her smartphone and with that she was off.

Fifteen minutes later, I received an email from La Poste to say my account was now fully active.

I went back to ANTS and logged in with the France Connect account and had access to the bits of the site I needed.

I uploaded my QUittus Fiscal, V5C, proof of address and the original purchase invoice. One word of warning, there seems to be a limit on file size but the site doesn't warn you, it just sits there sulking. Trial and error suggests that documents of less than 1MB are fine.

I pressed submit and was rewarded with a case number. I then forgot about it as it can, apparently, take months.

However, within 2 hours I received not 1, not 2, not 3 but  7 emails from ANTS to say that my case was being "analysed by the instructor service" (???) and an 8th confirming that I had supplied all necessary documentation.

After I got up, I quickly found the brandy as was in need of medicinal alcohol so am now unable to reportt furrtherzzz.

Hic.

[Admiral]

Wow some going Brian...

Only just back in France after a few weeks back in Blighty (like you we have no French tax account number) AND I've managed to create an account with La Poste.  Cripes.

Trouble is - being computer illiterate - where the hell do I go now?

I logged out of La Poste and went to the French connect thingy but got lost.

Send help.

[Brian]

Ah. Now you're asking! I don't have access to a pc at the moment but will post a detailed response when I'm back at my desk on Monday.

[Brian]

Admiral - sorry for the late reply.
You need to use your account at La Poste to create an account with France Connect.
Go to the ANTS logon page, then click the button "s'identifier avec FranceConnect". Next,click the LaPoste icon, then at the next screen,enter your La Poste user name (usually email address) and password and click 'valider'
The next screen should have a blue rectangle asking if you wish to "Continuer sur les sites de l'Agence Nationale des Titres Sécurisés" (so that's what ANTS stands for...)
You should then have full access to the ANTS site.

Good lick.
Brian