Hi Mick,
I only made it once, but the other way round.
I will try to assist you anyway in giving you some clues...
First thing : why do think of bringing it back on a trailer ?
Do you mean you intent to buy a non-drivable vehicle in order to restore it ?
Or Do you want to buy a car already drivable in France ? (I mean registered, insured and with a valid CT ? CT=Contrôle Technique=MoT)
For me whatever the answer, The fastest you get the car in UK, the better...
And I am not so sure you'll have your car to be re-registered in France under your name and (French) address before leaving France...
Doesn't make sense to me.
First thing first... Did you check what you need to do, once the car is in UK, in order to register it ?
https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk
The car will be considered as a "used car" imported from EU.
I've seen that you'll need to select a "Used vehicle import pack – Application to register a used imported vehicle for use in the United Kingdom"
when ordering you DVLA form here
https://forms.dft.gov.uk/order-dvla-forms/
I'm pretty sure that at some point you'll need a certificate of sale of the vehicle,
but written in english.
If so, mind to have the seller filling the French form
as well as any other UK similar form.
This, in the case you'll later need such a document, in order to prove that the seller had sold it to YOU... and that you then became the actual owner of the car.
When I bought my car in UK, it was mechanically restored and drivable, but untaxed and on SORN...
I had my French insurance company accepting to insure that British plates vehicle for a while.
I drove it from Ipswich to Dover, driving safely and keeping my fingers crossed because no TAX, no MOT and on SORN !!! But insured...
At the ferry check-in, it was mainly a matter of ticket, reg number and passport...
And at the arrival in Calais, quite early in the morning, I wasn't bothered by the police (I'm a French guy...) nor by the customs, where I apparently looked like a British tourist visiting France, and not carrying drug or booze onboard...
I minded to have my car seller, filling a French form related to the sale, the day I bought the car.
And I managed to drive the car through France straight away to home the same day without any police check.
It was in 2007...
Since, and quite recently (nov 2017), things have changed in France when selling/buying cars...
It has to do with the use of an Internet only service, instead of real human being...
When you'll meet you seller, you'll have to check some points like :
- He is the real owner, and still have
the address mentioned on the "Carte Grise" (grey card), a document officially named "Certificat d'Immatriculation" (registration certificate)
- He may provide you a recent "Certificat de situation administrative (non gage et non opposition)", a document proving that any other third party is not holding the car (bank or court...)
- You will both have to fill this form ->
https://www.formulaires.modernisation.g ... a_15776.do
- And it should be dated and signed by both parties (seems obvious, but for the last car I bought, it's only when I was home that I noticed it was unsigned buy the seller...
)
- You'll then
keep the #2 page of the form
- The seller should have had initiated an online procedure towards a online service called "ANTS", and
should provide you a "owner change code" (code de cession).
If not, it may be because he hasn't started the process... Why ?
This code should be useless for you as you do not intend to register the car in France, but I would care to get it anyway, simply to be sure the ownership transfer process is OK towards French regulations.
You'll also need to have you car - theoretically -checked by the Controle Technique prior to the transaction (by the seller), but we may discuss this later.