Buying a car in France

Buying a car in France

BMW Touring body style, 5 door.

Today we bought a used car at the BMW dealer. We had gone to him because he was referred to us by the realtor, Laure, that had been so helpful. He was very nice and very professional. He spoke broken English, which was a plus also.

I was not sure about the procedures involved with an American buying a car in France, without a French driver’s license or insurance. We had cancelled our policy in the U.S. when we sold our car.

We looked at the vehicles he had on the lot and none of them met our needs. We wanted a newer car with automatic transmission, since Alice does not drive a stick. We did not want to pay more than 15,000. The salesman, Toni, told us that finding a car with automatic transmission would be difficult. We tried out the little 118 Touring BMW and I did not think it would do for long drives. We need a 3 series.

Toni was great, he found a car within two days and called us.

“Hello, this is Toni. How are you?”

“Hello, Toni. I am good, and you?”

“Yes, good. I have found a car for you. It is automatique. It is very good car. It is 320 diesel. I think you will like it. It is 320 Touring like the one at the dealership, but with a bigger engine.”

“Sounds good, Toni. What else can you tell me about the car?”

“It is very good. It is fifty thousand nine ninety. It is two thousand, uh zero nine, sorry, zero eight model. It is light blue. I can have it here in four maybe five days. What do you think?”

“The cost is fifteen thousand?”

“Yes, sorry fifteen thousand nine and nine.”

“When can we see the car?”

“Good, I will book the car and I will call you when it is here.”

“Thank you, Toni. I look forward to hearing from you.” I hung up the phone a little uncertain. In my mind the car Toni had just described was an ugly baby blue, station wagon, diesel, BMW that was overpriced by at least two thousand euros.

“Honey, that was Toni and I either just bought a 2008 BMW or he has one coming in for us to look at.”

Thursday Toni called to confirm that the car was in and ready for us to look at it. We made an appointment to see it on Friday at 15:00.

Well, the car was beautiful. It looked like new. BMW medium grey with black interior. It was built in December 2008 so it had the 2009 body style and headlights. It was the coupe not the “station wagon” Touring model. We loved it. We took it out for a spin and then went back to Toni’s office where we met the dealership owner. The conversation quickly turned to my cowboy boots, they loved them, and my science fiction novels. Francois, the owner spoke very good English and enjoyed sci-fi, so I promised to send him a copy of my first novel.

The price was 16,435.50 euros. The car would be ready to pick up on Monday. They were going to put new tires and brake pads on it. I offered to write a check for it that day, but Toni said, “No, you write a check when you get the car.”

It was a simple transaction on Monday.  The insurance agent had called Toni for the car details. I signed two papers to finalize the transaction, got a temporary grey card to allow me to drive the car in France. Toni handed me the keys, showed me the car’s features and I drove off the lot with a big smile. 

Final Note: We have what is considered a large garage over here. It is a car and a half wide, plenty of room for a motorcycle and a work bench. But our BMW sticks out about  18 inches. I can’t close the garage door with the car parked inside! C'est la vie

Almost