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The costs of registering a new car are set to rise substantially in many regions of France from 1st January 2012.

By 17th December, 15 of France’s regions had fixed their Carte Grise tariff for 2012 – the registration fee which owners of newly acquired vehicles are required to pay to their local Prefecture in order to register ownership of a vehicle.

Registration costs are based on the power rating of a vehicle with concessions for ‘green’, hybrid and electrically powered cars. Hence, this tax is sometimes known as le cheval fiscal – the horsepower tax.

In Pays de la Loire, the cheval fiscal will go up from €35 to €39, an inflation-busting increase of 11.4%. The new figure of €39 is applied to each horsepower of a vehicle’s power output so the new increase will add a substantial cost even if registering a newly acquired mid-range family saloon.

This latest tax increase for new car owners in Loire Region means that the costs of registering a new car have gone up by a whopping 33% over the past 3 years.

It’s not all bad news. A number of French regions have held their cheval fiscal at existing levels.

A summary of the increases applicable from 1st January 2012 on a region by region basis can be found on the Carte-Grise.Org website.

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