If you have the good fortune to find a nice property for sale in Provence you will need to find a car and once you have you will need to find some French car insurance.

All French car insurance companies are regulated by the Code des Assurances which is a specific set of laws governing the rights and obligations of insurance, the insured and insurers.

The policy is called a contract and must be treated as such. The onus is on the insurer to ask the right questions in order to adequately cover the risk. All insurance contracts are made on the basis of automatic renewal (tacit reconduction). This means that a policy will automatically renew itself on the annual renewal date without any agreement from the insured. All vehicles must be covered by Responsabilité Civile the French equivalent of third party liability. Valid insurance is shown by displaying the green coupon in the bottom, right corner of a windscreen (the green coupon and green card are issued by the insurer).

Police may stop a vehicle for any reason and the driver must be able to provide them with: valid driving licence, the Carte Grise (Log book if you do not live permanently in France or have been living here less than six months), valid green coupon showing on windscreen, valid green card signed by the insured, proof of valid Controle Technique (MOT) if the vehicle is older than four years. No valid insurance can mean up to six months in prison. All policies cover the following: the public liability of the driver to all third parties, including an unauthorised driver who has taken the car without the permission of the owner. In a car policy there are three main people named within: Le souscripteur (the subscriber). Le propriétaire du véhicule (the owner of the car).Le conducteur principal (the main driver).

These titles can be the same or different people. In insurance French law states that the insurance is on the car and not on the person, therefore anyone who holds a valid driving licence is covered to drive the car unless expressly forbidden in the policy. In most policies it is stated that if the person who is driving has less than three years driving experience (prêt de volant) the excesses (franchises) will be higher.

For a car policy everyone is third party who is not the driver, even friends and family as passengers, which is not the case for other public or private liability contracts. The driver is covered for any material or bodily claims resulting from an accident. You are also covered for, in the event of a claim, défense et recours, which means that should it go to court the insurer will represent your interests and pay any costs if necessary.