Comments on: Buying a car in France

By: Pete Watson

Pete Watson — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 21:02:19 +0000

I think you will find that new car prices are considerably cheaper in the uk than in France. I am talking about the price you will actually pay in the UK, not the list price. Renaults, Citroens and Peugeots can usually be bought for at least 10% and up to 20% less than in France taking into account the current exchange rate (£1 to 1.15 euro)
and this is from a main dealer. If you use one of the many brokers in the UK then an even better deal may be possible.

By: Stuart Anderson

Stuart Anderson — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 14:38:05 +0000

New car prices are higher in France than in most other European countries, although lower than those in the UK, and many French people buy their cars in Belgium or Portugal, where most new cars are up to 20 per cent cheaper than in France. You should make sure, however, that the local French dealer of a car purchased abroad will agree to service it under the terms of the warranty. Since 1st October 2002 dealers have been allowed to operate anywhere in the EU and price differences should largely disappear within a few years. Personally importing a car from the US is usually much cheaper than buying the same car in France or elsewhere in Europe but you must ensure that it’s manufactured to French specifications or it may not be approved by the DRIRE.

Making comparisons between new car prices in those countries which have adopted the euro currency is easy, but attention should be paid to the different levels of standard equipment and warranty levels. Most dealers will offer one or two extras free of charge, giving up to a 10 per cent discount on the list price, and some offer ‘cash back’ deals; you should shop around for the best package. The French government occasionally provides a subsidy (e.g. up to €760) for owners of old bangers who buy new cars (designed to help French car manufacturers), and some dealers offer a hire purchase option ( vente à crédit).

All new cars sold in France must now be labelled with their ‘energy efficiency’ (i.e. the amount of carbon dioxide their engines emit for every kilometre travelled), with colour codes ranging from dark green for the most environmentally-friendly models (emissions of less than 100g/km) to red for the most polluting (over 250g/km) and there’s a surcharge on the cost of a registration document for high-emission cars.

By: Boris

Boris — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 20:14:34 +0000

Sounds like a great bargain Steven! That’s somewhere in Britain presumably? I’m not sure where our nearest Chevrolet garage is – don’t see many of them round here.

By: Steven

Steven — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:16:03 +0000

Just to update this further. After much deliberation we bought and collected our new car at the weekend. It’s a Chevrolet Lacetti 1.4 SE. The list price is just shy of £11000. We bought a pre-registered (Jan 09) one for £6400. It had 12 miles on the clock, it’s roomy, the rear leg-room is impressive, it’s reasonably economical and I think it’s a bargain. The discount we negotiated on this car made paying more for a diesel irrelevant. I’ve never considered a non-European car before, but the deal of a new car with 3 years warranty, 3 years servicing amd 3 years AA was too tempting to resist.

By: Boris

Boris — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 21:07:02 +0000

Hi Graham, thanks for all the good advice – in fact it was rear legroom problems that stopped us buying the 207SW, because we do a lift share to lycée every week with teenagers in the back and it just wasn’t big enough. Tried the Honda Insight – and couldn’t even sit up straight in the back because the roof was too low, never mind leg room. We ended up with a Honda Civic sport at quite a good price and it’s a great pleasure to drive, plenty of space etc. Whether we paid too much and could of paid less through a broker is a question I’ll avoid looking into for the moment!

By: Graham

Graham — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 18:40:10 +0000

Hi. I echo angela’s reply having used an online broker to buy a Peugeot 207SW last week and we saved a bundle; it was not an awful lot more than a year old car with its unknown history. Key car broker into your favourite search engine! BTW I spent several months checking mgz such as Top Gear and What Car reviews before deciding on the 207SW. The 207?? well the petrol engine (used in the Mini), is silky smooth, the looks are cool, the load bay is flat, boot has plenty of suitcase space. The only caveat I would say is that the 207 is a ‘small’ car meaning that if you are big, you will need to push the driver’s seat back and not leave much leg space for people in the back. I certainly recommend you checkout the magz above; there are so many cars that they will help.

By: angela

angela — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:55:04 +0000

Hi all, When i purchased my new car in UK I used an online broker and saved several thousand compared to the dealers price. Do any of you know of any websites using brokers in France?

By: Boris

Boris — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:59:45 +0000

Thanks for keeping us informed Steven,although Peugeot did manage to offer us 1500 euros (just under 10%) off the list price.
We didn’t try Citroen but your story seems pretty consistent with ours (part of which was in a later blogpost, the value of things.”.
We’re holding off deciding until we see the new Honda Insight later this week (18000 euros after eco-bonus, very efficient hybrid car, with good reviews so far).

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:20:59 +0000

OK, our visits to the dealers. Basically Citroen are keener to sell a C4 than Peugeot are to sell a 307. The discount offered on a C4 makes buying a 2008 model pointless. We could have had £1500 off the list price and a good price for our trade in. Peugeot wouldn’t offer anything close.

By: Steven

Steven — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:42:14 +0000

Boris, I’ve checked and I can confirm that I’m not you pretending to be you. I’ll report back after our visit to the dealers on Saturday morning.