Import a car from Italy to France

1. Where to look, and at what prices

Three platforms cover most of the market. AutoScout24.it is the closest to what a French buyer already knows, with a translated interface. Subito.it concentrates private adverts, often cheaper but without any trade warranty. Automobile.it aggregates dealer stock.

The national marques are where the price gap really opens up: Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Abarth trade at the local market price, without the import premium they carry in France. On German premium cars, Italy is rarely competitive against Germany itself.

• AutoScout24.it, the easiest to read for a French speaking buyer
• Subito.it, private adverts, low prices and extra vigilance
• Automobile.it, dealer stock

2. The North and the South are not the same

This is the most useful Italian quirk to know about. Vehicles registered in the South (Puglia, Sicily, Campania) live in a dry climate and corrode very little. Those from the North (Lombardy, Piedmont, Trentino) endure the damp of the Po valley and, above all, the road salt of the mountain routes.

The number plate has not identified the province since 1994, but the libretto (libretto di circolazione, the Italian vehicle registration document) carries the record of successive registrations. That is where you read where the car actually spent its life, and it is worth inspecting the sills when the answer is the North.

3. The certificato di proprieta, the document that blocks everything

Italy does not work the way Germany does. Ownership of a vehicle is not established by the registration document but by a separate title, the certificato di proprieta (the Italian certificate of title), held by the PRA (Pubblico Registro Automobilistico, the national vehicle ownership register), run by the ACI (the Italian automobile club, which administers the register). Since 2015 it has usually been dematerialised, in which case it is known as a CDPD.

Without that title transferred into your name, or without the certified bill of sale that stands in for it, the French tax office will refuse the quitus fiscal (the French tax clearance certificate), and without the quitus there is no carte grise (the French vehicle registration document). It is the number one blocking point on Italian imports, and it is settled before you leave Italy, not afterwards.

• Libretto di circolazione, the registration document proper
• Certificato di proprieta (or its dematerialised version), the certificate of title
• Certified bill of sale drawn up at an ACI office or before a notary
• Purchase invoice, essential for the French quitus fiscal

4. Bringing the car back, by road or on a transporter

The shared border is Italy's main advantage. From Milan or Turin the return trip fits into a single day, which makes driving the car home realistic in a way it is not from southern Spain.

Driving the vehicle does, however, require temporary plates and suitable insurance: an Italian registration document that has not been transferred does not cover a journey made by a new owner. Our guide to transit plates covers this in detail.

From the South (Naples, Bari, Sicily) the trade off reverses and a transporter often becomes the cheaper option once you count fuel, Italian tolls and a night in a hotel.

5. The French paperwork, in the right order

Once the vehicle is in France, the route is that of any European import. The order matters: a late quitus blocks everything that follows.

• Quitus fiscal from the SIE (the local business tax office), to be requested as soon as the car arrives
• Certificate of conformity (COC) from the manufacturer, or an RTI (individual type approval) through the DREAL (the regional environment and transport authority) if none is available
• French contrôle technique (the French roadworthiness test) if the vehicle is more than 4 years old, as the Italian revisione (the Italian roadworthiness test) is not recognised
• Carte grise application on the ANTS (the French national vehicle registration agency)

6. Is it worth it? The only way to know

Comparing the price on the Italian advert with the French price means nothing. The right comparison sets the final cost of the car once registered in France against the price of an equivalent vehicle already road legal here.

That cost adds together the purchase price, any VAT, the malus CO₂ (France's CO₂ emissions tax), the malus au poids (France's vehicle weight tax), transport, the COC and the carte grise. Our calculator produces that total in one minute and returns a verdict before you set off.