Gotcha!

And so soon after my previous post, too! The large, twin-wheel trailer that I acquired a few weeks ago has its own registration plate. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think that the owner said that with it, it would be legally permitted to take a heavier load than it could without it, but in any case, because it has it, I have to transfer it into my name. So yesterday I grabbed the paperwork that I had to hand (plus the inevitable cheque book – bureaucracy always has a sting in its tail in France) and made the drive down to the Sous-préfecture at Sarlat.

Now that August is over, the majority of the tourists have disappeared almost overnight so the drive there and parking weren’t half as bad as they would have been just last week. After paying 1.60€ for an hour’s parking, just in case there was a queue and I was delayed, I grabbed up my paperwork and went striding across to the ‘public affairs’ office. Surprisingly, I was the only one there, so I thought that it was going to be a quick and easy job. And so it was but for totally the wrong reason.

I presented the kindly looking lady behind the glass screen with my paperwork and told her that my visit was to do with the change of ownership of a trailer. She looked at the sparse few documents that I’d given her, laughed and said, ‘Is this all?’ In that instant, my heart sank as I recalled the palaver that I’d been through to register my old Vauxhall car that I’d brought with me to France from England and the number of times I went back and forwards to that same office. Surely, the same formalities weren’t required just for a ruddy trailer, for goodness sake?

Of course they are, this is France! How else do you expect to keep the vast army of bureaucrats installed right across the country gainfully employed? Still laughing the lady handed me another form to fill in for the new registration in my name that contains exactly the same information as the one filled out by the old owner and me when I acquired it from him plus a list of other documents that were required. Here’s a shot of it with the other papers that I’d taken with me underneath it.

I noted that with the exception of a current CT (vehicle test certificate), it was exactly the same as for when I acquired my Kia car and transferred that into my name, so what a game! I thought that I’d got ahead by taking with me a stamped addressed envelope for the revised registration document to be returned to me, but not so! I also needed a copy of my passport and a recent proof of address – this all for a ruddy trailer!

But for me, the game was over for that day. The office only opens on weekdays between 08.30am and 12.30pm, so there was no time for me to return home and sort out what was needed. It’ll mean another trip back in a couple of day’s time, so I’d been beaten by the system yet again, as it would appear everyone else is too. Otherwise, why would the list of required documentation that’s as long as your arm that she gave to me be necessary?

It was obviously considered easier to make that than to modify and simplify the system and why would they want to do that, when so many jobs depend on keeping people as confused as they evidently are for as long as possible? And no concern about the cost, of course – who would think that the simple job of transferring the registration of a trailer would cost over 60€ – more than 10% of what I paid for it!