Where are all the Elgrands in France?

[mikethecoach driver]

Where are all the Elgrands in France?
I’ve been over here since the 17th of December, travelling all around France and even into Switzerland a couple of times and I haven’t seen a single Elgrand
I am concluding that they are too tight to own one

 

[Highway Dave]

@LeStempy !!!!!!!!

 

[mikethecoach driver]

Yes I know, but I thought that he actually fixes them for a living doesn’t he?
But there aren’t any!
In the uk I might often see two or three a day, so I was expecting something similar in France

 

[LeStempy]

Well, firstly, I don't fix them for a living as I have the only one here.

Actually, there are a few here, but only a few. I have personally only seen one other French registered Elgrand and that was at the IVA test centre in Paris when I was having mine legalised. The French aren't into cars in the same way as most of the rest of the world. Most French folk drive Dacias, they are purely a method of transport, not something to be cherished. That would be far too bourgeois.

The rules here are far more strict than in the UK. You can't just import an un-homologated car and simply register it as you can there. All the boxes on the registration document have to have a value filled in. If there's no EU CoC then it has to be individually type approved at a cost of around 2000€. It's a similar situation for the other EU countries, some worse than others.

If you want to own an Elgrand in Switzerland then it hard luck as it wouldn't be allowed. So that's why you haven't seen any. Pop in if you really want to see another one.

 

[Lpgc]

I know a fella who used to be involved in importing US cars into France. It was either very difficult or impossible to import cars directly from the US into France so they used to import them to the UK first and register them in the UK then import them into France from the UK. There was something about a car already being registered in Europe that made it far easier or even possible to import it into France. Most of this was before Brexit, I don't know if it's the same today. The fella is still involved in transporting UK cars between France and the UK but I don't know if he still imports stuff from the US to the UK.

 

[LeStempy]

While I was waiting at the IVA test centre in Paris for my Elgrand to be sorted I watched car transporters arriving with Ford Mustangs and Dodge Rams, brand spanking new, so there's obviously a certain demand and companies that import them and have them homologated immediately.

 

[mikethecoach driver]

While I was waiting at the IVA test centre in Paris for my Elgrand to be sorted I watched car transporters arriving with Ford Mustangs and Dodge Rams, brand spanking new, so there's obviously a certain demand and companies that import them and have them homologated immediately.

Yes I’ve seen a dodge dealership over here, I think they like their trucks, especially in the countryside

 

[mikethecoach driver]

Well, firstly, I don't fix them for a living as I have the only one here.

Actually, there are a few here, but only a few. I have personally only seen one other French registered Elgrand and that was at the IVA test centre in Paris when I was having mine legalised. The French aren't into cars in the same way as most of the rest of the world. Most French folk drive Dacias, they are purely a method of transport, not something to be cherished. That would be far too bourgeois.

The rules here are far more strict than in the UK. You can't just import an un-homologated car and simply register it as you can there. All the boxes on the registration document have to have a value filled in. If there's no EU CoC then it has to be individually type approved at a cost of around 2000€. It's a similar situation for the other EU countries, some worse than others.

If you want to own an Elgrand in Switzerland then it hard luck as it wouldn't be allowed. So that's why you haven't seen any. Pop in if you really want to see another one.

Ahh well that explains it then
I’ll probably get home to a load of fines as I totally ignored all of the clean air zones in France and Switzerland
Aww thank you for your offer of popping in I would have done but we’re catching le shuttle in the morning, the chances are I probably wasn’t that far from you at some point as it feels like I’ve been almost everywhere, and clocked up nearly 4000kms and about £1000 in petrol ️ though I’m too scared to check my receipts

 

[LeStempy]

Sounds like a great trip. You know you can convert to E85 for 500€ if you fit yourself then fuel in France is 0.68€ per litre. Would save you cash if you did another such adventure and you can still use unleaded when back home as it's fully automatic.

 

[mikethecoach driver]

Yes it was a great trip, we took 3 days and went down one side of France and stayed in a little house in the countryside at a place called La Chapelle Sur Furlaise, so we used that as a base for a week, then we spent another three days going up the other side to the Normandy beaches etc.

That E85 sounds interesting I saw it at some of the fuel stations but didn’t know what it was
That would have saved me about a euro per litre

 

[BeardoCI]

Sounds like a great trip. You know you can convert to E85 for 500€ if you fit yourself then fuel in France is 0.68€ per litre. Would save you cash if you did another such adventure and you can still use unleaded when back home as it's fully automatic.

Whoa, this is, er, surprising! Given my proximity to France and the reasonable regularity with which I drive over there, this is probably worthwhile for me.
Whereabouts in Normandy are you, chap?

 

[LeStempy]

Whoa, this is, er, surprising! Given my proximity to France and the reasonable regularity with which I drive over there, this is probably worthwhile for me.
Whereabouts in Normandy are you, chap?

Down the bottom near Domfront.

 

[BeardoCI]

Down the bottom near Domfront.

On the way to Alençon? Nice area!

 

[LeStempy]

On the way to Alençon? Nice area!

I guess it depends from which direction you're travelling Alençon is the capital town of our department and just over an hours drive from me. I was there recently to visit the préfecture. I used to live near it's twin town of Basingstoke many years ago.

 

[BeardoCI]

I guess it depends from which direction you're travelling Alençon is the capital town of our department and just over an hours drive from me. I was there recently to visit the préfecture. I used to live near it's twin town of Basingstoke many years ago.

I always do this - forget that it's me that travels from St Malo towards Belgium/Netherlands, and not everyone...

 

[malcolmyz85]

I've seen a few elgrands , on Ferry to france and back , on drive to royan , even seen a few on same campsite as me , ive prob travelled to France in a e50 20 or more times

 

[mikethecoach driver]

I’ve eventually got round to going through my fuel ️ receipt's from my trip to France and after all my calculations I was doing an average of 24mpg which is better than I was expecting