Hello Rosie welcome back.
I would say buy a French registered car from a garage if you can afford it, as you will get some sort of guarantee and it will be easy. Cars are expensive in France but you have to remember you won't pay any road tax.
Buying private is ok but there is a lot of expensive rubbish out there, if you do buy private
make sure the seller has the following if not it could cause you a lot of hassle.
#1 Certificat de situation administrative.
#2 Certificat de cession.
#3 Contrôle technique (no older than 6 months).
We didn't know this when we sold our French one, and the buyer wouldn't buy it till we had the right forms, luckily they wanted it and helped us. You also have to write something across the Cart Grise, sorry cant remember what it is but it has to be right.
You will then have to apply for a Carte Grise & number plates there is a charge see here:
https://vosdroits.service-public.fr/part...9211.xhtml
If you buy from a garage they will do it all for you.
You can register a UK car here and sometimes it's easy and sometimes not, just be careful if buying a UK registered car in France you Will have to register it eventually as they are clamping down on people using UK registered cars in France.
We registered ours about 9 years ago and still have it, but I'm not sure if the registration process is still the same (long and boring)
We did buy one from Freddy Bouquet at Saint Savin and was very pleased with it, it was more expensive than buying private but he had given it a full check over and replaced the belts, breaks, etc, and even gave it a new spray job.
Hope that helps a bit, maybe others will have advice too.
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