Charged extra for our car by french authorities?

WE BOUGHT A NEW LAND ROVER DISCOVERY TDV6 3.0L AND HAD AGREED ON THE PRICE BUT, WHEN GIVEN THE BILL, WE DISCOVERED THE PRICE INCLUDED €8,000 MARKED AS MALUS ECO PASTILLE. IN ADDITION, WE NOW

RECEIVE A DEMAND EACH YEAR FOR €189. CAN YOU CLARIFY IF THESE CHARGES ARE CORRECT AND WHY? T.B. It is hard to be precise without the full details of the purchase and looking at your _carte

grise_. France does levy large surcharges on powerful cars deemed to contribute to air poll-ution. Such “malus” charges have existed for a number of years but the rules and amounts have

varied. They used to be called _eco-pastille,_ which is probably what the bill says. First, we note that although you say the car was bought new, the amount of €8,000 corresponds to the

maximum of a _malus_ tax on secondhand powerful cars, which since 2018 is worked out based on the power of the car, as opposed to its CO² emissions, as previously. This level starts when

cars have a _puissance fiscale_ of more than 36CV, which probably applies to your Land Rover (check on the _carte grise_). It may be that the “new” car had been registered previously to the

dealer, in which case the secondhand tax might have been applied. If the Discovery was treated as new, it would have been subject to a _malus_ on new cars producing a lot of CO². According

to Land Rover’s French website, the lowest emission for a new Discovery V6 diesel is 201g/km. Last year the maximum _malus_ rose to €12,500 for new cars putting out more than 172g/CO²/km. As

painful as that is, it is still less than the €20,000_ supermalus _which applies to new Discovery cars in 2020. It should be noted that, as well as penalties on high-emission cars, France

offers a _bonus_ of up to €6,000 for purchases of electric cars. Finally, there is an annual tax for driving a powerful conventional car, fixed at €160 a year from the year after purchase.

Perhaps the higher level you mention paying relates to an increased _majoration_ rate for having paid it after the original deadline? You could query this with your tax office. Land Rover’s

French site, before allowing you to look at engine choices, has a pop-up box stating that costs related to obtaining a _carte grise_ for a new vehicle (which includes the _malus_) are not

included in quoted prices. It advises you talk to the dealer to establish them. Like other foreign manufacturers, Land Rover’s offer in France is heavily skewed towards powerful, and so more

polluting, vehicles. French cars now mainly have engines which skim underneath the heaviest _malus_ penalties. SEND YOUR QUERIES ABOUT LIFE IN FRANCE BY EMAIL TO [email protected]