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MONEY

How much motorists in France will pay in fees in 2023

Car registration varies depending on where you live, the type of vehicle you have and how polluting it is - here's how much you can expect to pay in 2023.

Published: 12 May 2023 16:00 CEST
How much motorists in France will pay in fees in 2023
Cars on Paris's Champs-Elysee. (Photo by Thomas COEX / AFP)

Anyone who has bought a car in France will know that they have one month from the date of purchase to register the vehicle in their name via the ANTS website.

READ ALSO What you should know when buying a car in France

When you register for your vehicle’s carte grise, you will be asked for a fee. How much that costs depends on the type of car you have bought, how green it is, and where you live.

The total cost is made up of the following:

  • Regional tax;
  • Tax for the development of vocational training in transport;
  • Tax on polluting vehicles;
  • Fixed tax of €11;
  • Fee for the delivery of the registration certificate.

Each of France’s 13 regions sets their own regional tax rate every year – which this year range from €55 in Brittany (€4 higher than in 2022) to as little as €27 in Corsica. Six regions offer 100 percent regional tax discounts for ‘clean’ electric vehicles, while another two cut their fees by 50 percent. 

You can find a table of rates here

To calculate how much you have you pay, you need to know the cheval fiscal of your vehicle. No, that’s not a horse who is also a tax expert, it is “taxable horsepower” of your vehicle. You can find this on your registration certificate, where it is known as cheval vapeur or CV. 

This unit of measurement classifies cars according to their power for tax purposes. Each category of car in circulation is assigned a specific rate.

To calculate your pollution tax, multiply the rate of 1 fiscal horsepower of the region where you live by the fiscal power of the vehicle.

Alternatively, use this simulator

Your vehicle’s CV is also important for calculating the pollution tax. More powerful ICE cars are very recognised as the most polluting – and this tax is intended to motivate buyers to consider 100 percent electric, hybrid, or smaller vehicles.

The good news is that, if you are buying a car from a dealership, they should deal with all this on your behalf as part of the sale process. In theory, you can also ask any dealership to help you out – they may charge an additional fee on top.

You can estimate the total cost of your carte grise using the government’s online simulator here.

Other costs

Running a car in France involves several other costs beyond the obvious insurance and fuel costs.

Once your car is more than four years old, it needs regular vehicle safety checks known as contôle technique (roughly equivalent to an MOT in the UK)

READ ALSO How to save money on your contrôle technique

As well as toll fees if you want to drive on autoroutes, you will also need a Crit’Air sticker if you want to drive in the larger towns and cities. This sticker – which assigns a number to your vehicle based on how polluting it is – only costs around €5, but not having one can net you a larger fine.

How the Crit’Air vehicle sticker system works

And of course you will need to obey the rules of the road in order to avoid fines, points on your driving licence or both.

These are the offences that can cost you points on your driving licence in France

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For members

DRIVING

EU countries to extend range of offences foreign drivers can be fined for

The EU has agreed to extend the number of driving offences for which motorists from other member states can be fined for and to make it easier for authorities to chase up the fines and make foreign drivers pay.

Published: 13 May 2024 17:28 CEST
EU countries to extend range of offences foreign drivers can be fined for

In the last voting session of this term, in April, the European Parliament passed new rules to ensure drivers who breach local traffic rules in another EU member state are found and fined.

The cross-border enforcement (CBE) directive was first adopted in 2015 after it was found that non-resident drivers were more likely to commit speeding offences. The European Commission estimated that in 2008, foreign drivers accounted for about 5 percent of road traffic in the EU but committed around 15 percent of speeding offences.

The directive partially improved the situation, but according to the Commission 40 percent of traffic violations committed in other EU countries are still unpunished “because the offender is not identified or because the fine is not enforced”.

In March 2023, the Commission therefore proposed updating existing measures.

New rules extend the type of offences that will trigger assistance from another member state and seek to improve collaboration among national authorities to identify and fine offenders.

The European Parliament and Council agreed in March on the final text of the directive, which is now being formally approved by the two institutions.

André Sobczak, Secretary-General at Eurocities, a group representing European cities in Brussels, said: “While the final outcome of the discussions is not ideal, we are pleased that EU policymakers have at least put the issue of the enforcement of local traffic rules on foreign vehicles on the table. As we approach an election year, I believe such a practical example can demonstrate why a European approach is necessary to address local issues.”

Which traffic offences are covered?

The previous directive covered eight driving misconducts that would require member states to cooperate: speeding, not wearing seat belts, failing to stop at a red traffic light, drink-driving, driving under the effect of drugs, not wearing a helmet (motorcycles / scooters), using a forbidden lane and using a mobile phone or other communication devices while driving.

The Commission proposed to add to the list not keeping a safe distance from the vehicle in front, dangerous overtaking, dangerous parking, crossing one or more solid white lines, driving the wrong way down a one way street, not respecting the rules on “emergency corridors” (a clear lane intended for priority vehicles), and using an overloaded vehicle.

The Parliament and Council agreed to these and added more offences: not giving way to emergency service vehicles, not respecting access restrictions or rules at a rail crossings, as well as hit-and-run offences.

Despite calls from European cities, the new directive does not cover offences related to foreign drivers avoiding congestion charges or low emission zones. In such cases, information about vehicle registration can only be shared among countries with bilateral agreements.

Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General at POLIS, a network of cities and regions working on urban transport, called on the next European Commission to take other local traffic offences, such as breaches of low emission zones, “fully at heart”.

Collaboration among national authorities

For the traffic violations covered by the directive, EU countries have to help each other to find the liable driver. The new directive further clarifies how.

Member states will have to use the European vehicle and driving licence information system (Eucaris) to get the data of the offender.

National authorities will have 11 months from the date of the violation to issue the fine to a vehicle from another EU member state. However, they will not have to resort to agencies or private entities to collect the fine. This was requested by the European Parliament to avoid scams or leaks of personal data.

Authorities in the country of the offender will have to reply to requests from another EU member state within two months.

When the amount of the fine is more than €70, and all options to have it paid have been exhausted, the member state where the violation occurred can ask the country of the offender to take over the collection.

The person concerned will be able to request follow-up documents in a different official EU language.

When will the new rules will be enforced?

Now that the EU Parliament has passed the law, the EU Council has to do the same, although there is no date set for when that will happen. Once the directive is adopted, EU countries will have 30 months to prepare for implementation.

Last year the Commission also proposed a new directive on driving licenses, but negotiations on the final text of this file will only take place after the European elections.

This article has been produced in collaboration with Europe Street news.

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