Documents | Passports Visas | Vehicle Registration Certificate | Car Insurance | Driving Licence | Children | Customs Allowances | Breakdown on a Motorway | Drinking & Driving | Drugs | Fines | Mobile Phones | First Aid Kit | Fuel | GB stickers | Lights | Motorway Tolls | Priority | Radar | Seat Belts | Speed Limits | Warning Triangle

Documents
The following documents are compulsory for entry into France by car: 
* A passport for each passenger except children entered on a parent's passport.
* The vehicle registration certificate.
* A current certificate of motor insurance.
* A valid driving licence.
See more details under specific entries.

Passports, Visas
A standard 10-year UK passport is required to enter France. If you are accompanied by, for example, an au pair from another European Community country, they do not require a Visa. However, citizens of most other countries do require a visa which must be obtained from a French embassy or consulate in the UK before travelling.

Vehicle Registration Certificate
You must carry with you your vehicle registration certificate (V5) or, if the vehicle is not registered in your name, a letter from the registered owner giving you permission to take the vehicle into France.

Car Insurance
Minimum third party cover for a motor vehicle used in France is automatically provided by UK insurance and a ‘green card’ is no longer required. However, most UK insurers require prior notification of a visit to France for them to provide fire, theft and comprehensive cover. Most will still supply on request a ‘green card’ indicating that a higher level of insurance is in place.

Driving Licence
The minimum age for driving in France is 18 on a full UK licence. You may not drive a temporarily imported vehicle in France on a provisional licence. Visiting motorists who have held a full driving licence for fewer than two years (exluding the period when they were under 18) are subject to speed restrictions. Police or car rental companies may ask to see the paper counterpart if you hold a UK photographic licence. An International Driving Licence is not required.

Children
Children under ten years may not travel in the front seat, except a baby aged less than nine months, weighing less than 9kg, strapped into a rear-facing approved baby seat. Never fit a rear-facing child restraint in a seat with a front airbag. Children in the rear seats weighing 9-15kg must sit in a child seat and over 15kg on a booster cushion in conjunction with a standard seat belt.

Customs Allowances
There is no limit on the importation of tax-paid goods purchased in France provided the goods are intended for the importer's personal use, which includes gifts for family and friends. However, the UK Customs authorities will ask importers to justify the intended use of their goods if they bring back per individual more than 3,200 cigarettes, 110 litres of beer, 90 litres of wine and 10 litres of spirits on any one trip or make the same trip regularly and import similar quantities.

Breakdown on a Motorway
1) Emergency telephones are located every mile and a half on the motorway.
2) Each phone is linked to the local police station which can automatically locate you and send out an approved repair service.
3) The repair service rates are regulated and vary between 70 € and 90 €.
4) Beware: between 18.00 and 08.00, as well as on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, the service rates go up an additional 25%.

Drinking and driving
The maximum permitted level of alcohol permitted is 0.05 per cent, lower than the UK limit. The penalties for exceeding the limit reflect the severity of the infringement and range from an on-the-spot fine, confiscation of driving licence, confiscation of vehicle and a term of imprisonment. Random tests are permissible in France.

Drugs
Saliva drug tests have been introduced in France, with similar penalties to those for drivers shown to be under the influence of alcohol.

Fines
French police are authorised to levy fines on the spot for a variety of motoring offences and will give a receipt. Credit cards are not accepted. Drivers with insufficient means to pay may have their licences confiscated until they do.

Mobile Phones
The use of hand-held mobile phones while driving is prohibited in France.

First Aid Kit
A vehicle first aid kit, although a wise precaution, is not compulsory in France.

Fuel
Unleaded petrol, 95 and 98 octane, LPG and diesel (known as ‘Gazole’) are available in France. Leaded petrol is no longer available but some garages offer lead replacement petrol known as ‘Super ARS’ or sell a lead substitute additive that can be added to the tank. Credit cards are accepted at most filling stations.

GB Sticker
UK registration plates displaying the GB Euro-symbol (a circle of 12 stars above the national identifier on blue background) do not require a GB sticker or magnetic plate.

Lights
Dipped headlights must be used in poor daytime visibility. Outside built-up areas, 4+4 vehicles are expected to use dipped headlights day and night irrespective of visibility. Headlight conversion kits or other measures must be used to divert the beam away from oncoming drivers. Some vehicles with high-density discharge or halogen lights cannot easily be adapted by applying an external mask and may require adjustment by a dealer.  Spare bulb kits are not compulsory but the lack of one may make the police more likely to recommend prosecution for having a failed light on the car.

Motorway Tolls
Most stretches of motorways are subject to tolls. Euro coins are useful for some toll booths with automated exit gates. Tolls accept Euros and credit cards.

Priority
All roads of any significance have right of way known as ‘passage protégé’. In built-up areas, however, for roads of equal importance, France still operates a system of priority for traffic coming from the right, 'priorité à driote'. At the entrances to roundabouts carrying the sign ‘Vous n’avez pas la priorité’, or ‘Cédez le passage’, traffic already on the roundabout has priority. If a French driver flashes his headlights, he is not allowing you to go first but letting you know he has right of way.

Radar
Radar detection devices are illegal in France and their use may result in a heavy fine. Even devices that are not in use may be confiscated by police and the driver fined.

Seat Belts
Seat belts are compulsory for front seat passengers and, if fitted, for those in the rear seats.

Speed limits
The standard legal limits for experienced drivers are 50 km/h (31 mph) in built-up areas, 90 km/h (56 mph) outside built-up areas, 110 km/h (68 mph) on dual carriageways and 130 km/h (80 mph) on motorways, where the minimum speed is 80 km/h (49 mph). For drivers who have held a licence for fewer than two years, and for all drivers in wet weather, the legal limits are 80 km/h (49 mph) outside built-up areas, 100 km/h (62 mph) on dual carriageways and 110 km/h (68 mph) on motorways. Increasingly large fines are now levied on speeding motorists and holders of EU driving licences found to have exceeded the speed limit by more than 40 km/h (25 mph) invariably have their licences confiscated by the police. Speed cameras hidden in police cars are becoming increasingly common and the police may use entry and exit times shown on motorway tickets to establish speed infringements.

Warning Triangle
A red warning triangle is not compulsory but you may find yourself in circumstances in which it becomes obligatory. If you have an accident or breakdown, hazard warning lights may become inoperative or may be invisible on a sharp bend or just beyond the brow of a hill. In such circumstances, you may be fined for not possessing a warning triangle and displaying it 100 metres behind your vehicle.