If you have had a serious accident, the insurance company that must compensate you will appoint an expert to assess the cost of repairs.

If the expert notewhen examining your vehicle, that it has at least one serious disability that prevents it from traveling in normal safety conditions., he must inform the Ministry of the Interior.

Deficiencies which may allow the expert to conclude that the vehicle is no longer in a condition to circulate in normal safety conditions are:

• Bodywork: significant deformation
• Failure of the elements between the anchoring zones of the connecting elements to the ground (side members, floor, wheel arches, chassis, cross members)
• Direction: large distortion
• Defect of the following elements: column, rack or housing, links and wheelhouse
• Ground connections: significant deformation
• Defect in cradle, suspension, axles and rims
• Personal safety: malfunction (including improper fixation)
• Defect in belts, airbags, pre-tensioners, control boxes

The expert must submit an electronic report to the Minister of the Interior for theinform that the vehicle is dangerous to traffic.

It must specify the serious deficiencies which he found on the vehicle.

The expert shall also indicate in his declaration whether the vehicle is technically repairable or not.

The expert must send you a copy of the declaration by post.

The expert report triggers the procedure damaged vehicle (VE), which consists in removing a dangerous vehicle from circulation.

Prohibition of circulation and sale

After receiving the expert's statement, the Ministry of the Interior will loose by registered letter that your vehicle is no longer allowed to circulate on the public road.

The Ministry of the Interior registers a opposition to transfer the certificate of registration and, therefore, you can no longer sell the vehicle or give it to another person.

Drafting of the first expert report

After the declaration of danger of the vehicle, the expert shall draw up a first report without removing the vehicle.

At the end of this first report he shall indicate whether the vehicle is technically repairable.

If the expert concludes that the vehicle is technically repairable, he shall add as an annex to his report the list and cost of repairs to be carried out, indicating those affecting the safety of the vehicle.

If it finds that the repair amount is greater than market value of vehicle, he must state that in the report.

If the expert concludes that the vehicle is technically irreparable, it must specify the criteria of technical irreparability which it has identified.

Shall be considered as technically irreparable vehicles which at least one of the 6 defects following:

• Vehicles completely burned; i.e. vehicles whose engine compartment and passenger compartment are destroyed
• Vehicles submerged above the dashboard
• Vehicles with a safety component which is neither repairable nor replaceable
• Vehicles in which all or part of the structural and safety components are affected by irreversible and non-replaceable technical defects (aging of metals, initiation of multiple breaks, excessive perforating corrosion, etc.)
• Vehicles whose repair requires the exchange of the engine-box and hull or chassis assembly which results in the loss of their original identity
• Vehicles which are definitively non-identifiable, after exhaustion of the means of research and of the steps enabling them to be identified

The expert must send you the report by mail.

It must also transmit it electronically to the Ministry of the Interior.

The remainder of the procedure depends on the conclusions of this first report.

If the first report concludes that the vehicle is technically repairable, the remainder of the procedure depends on whether the expert has indicated that the repair costs are higher than the market value of the car or not.

Repair costs shall not exceed the market value of the car

If the repair costs do not exceed the market value of the car, you can repair the vehicle and ask to put it back into service.

But you have to entrust the reparation to one professional garage owner and mandate a EV expert to track repair work.

The EV expert must prepare a report at the end of the work.

This is the second report.

You can choose a different expert from the one who performed the first test.

The expert you have commissioned must read the first report expertise and ensure that repairs are carried out according to recommendations it contains.

If the expert considers that the repairs have been carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the first report and that the vehicle is in a condition for operation under normal safety conditions, his report shall contain the following elements:

• Technical characteristics of vehicle
• Name and address of the owner who commissioned it
• Name and approval number of the expert on the national list
• References of 1^er report (date, name and address of the firm, name and approval number of the expert who prepared it)
• Different phases of follow-up of the repair check and quality of persons present

• Confirmation that the safety repairs provided for in 1^er reports have been completed successfully
• Confirmation that the vehicle is safe to drive
• Carte grise Confirmation that the vehicle has not undergone any significant transformation or that the elements contained in the

The expert who prepared the second report must send it to you at the same time as to the Minister of the Interior.

Based on this second report, you can ask the Ministry of the Interior for the lifting of the driving ban and the opposition to transfer the certificate of registration.

You can also request the surrender or reissue of the registration certificate.

You must attach a identity document, one proof of domicile and the notice of withdrawal of the certificate of registration.

You can drive the vehicle again and sell or give it away, if the Ministry of Interior agrees to lift the bans and return the registration certificate.

Repair costs are higher than the market value of the car

If the expert has indicated in the first report that the repair costs are greater than market value the vehicle, the insurer must refuse to repair the vehicle.

In this case, it must trigger the procedure " economically irreparable vehicle ”.

This is a procedure that allows the insurer to buy back the damaged vehicle from you instead of paying for repairs.

This procedure can be deployed by the insurer who must compensate you following a serious accident.

If the value of your vehicle is at least €152.45, the insurer must propose one redemption offer of the vehicle in the 15 days after the expert report has been submitted.

You must give your answer within 30 days following receipt of the insurer's offer to buy back.

If the expert finds that it is impossible to repair the vehicle by allowing it to travel with all its safety characteristics, he must declare it technically irreparable.

If the expert concludes that the vehicle is technically repairable, he shall state this in the report and specify the criteria of irreparability which he has identified.

Shall be considered as technically irreparable vehicles which at least one of the 6 defects following:

• Vehicles completely burned; i.e. vehicles whose engine compartment and passenger compartment are destroyed
• Vehicles submerged above the dashboard
• Vehicles with a safety component which is neither repairable nor replaceable
• Vehicles in which all or part of the structural and safety components are affected by irreversible and non-replaceable technical defects (aging of metals, initiation of multiple breaks, excessive perforating corrosion, etc.)
• Vehicles whose repair requires the exchange of the engine-box and hull or chassis assembly which results in the loss of their original identity
• Vehicles which are definitively non-identifiable, after exhaustion of the means of research and of the steps enabling them to be identified

If the value of your vehicle is at least €152.45, the insurer responsible for your compensation must propose one redemption offer of the vehicle in the 15 days after the expert report has been submitted.

You must give your answer within 30 days following receipt of the insurer's offer to buy back.

If you accept this offer, the insurer will take care of the formalities of the destruction of the vehicle.

If you refuse the insurance proposal, the insurer must warn by electronic means the Ministry of the Interior.

The Ministry of the Interior take a decision opposing the transfer of the registration certificate carte grise (ex-person) on behalf of another person (sale or donation of the car to a third party).

The Ministry of the Interior must inform you by registered mail with notice of receipt that your vehicle is no longer allowed to circulate.

The mail must also indicate that you can no longer sell the vehicle, or give it away, unless it is to a demoliser who buys it for destruction.