Voiture en fourrière en France — what to do (2026)
A car taken to the fourrière in France runs up daily costs and faces an administrative clock. This English guide for expats and cross-border owners explains how to locate the vehicle, the documents needed, the 2026 fee schedule, and when scrapping the car is cheaper than retrieving it.
Find the vehicle
Call 17 (police) with the registration. They route you to the right municipal or prefectural fourrière. Major cities operate online portals (Paris, Lyon, Marseille).
Documents needed
- Carte grise (V5 equivalent)
- Valid driving licence
- Proof of insurance (attestation)
- Proof of identity
- Payment by card
2026 fee schedule (Paris reference)
- Enlèvement (towing): ~€150
- Garde journalière (daily storage): ~€10–€31/day
- Expertise (mandatory after 10 days): ~€60
The 10-day clock
After 10 days, the prefect can declare the vehicle abandoned. From that point either the owner pays for an expertise and continues storage, or the vehicle is sold at auction (Domaines) or scrapped.
Retrieve, sell or scrap?
A simple test: if the fourrière fees plus repairs exceed the vehicle's market value, the rational move is to authorise scrappage. InterCar handles this through an épaviste agréé: we collect the vehicle directly from the fourrière, settle the storage fees on your instruction, issue the certificat de destruction and file the ANTS declaration. You walk away with the file closed and the file closed.
When the car is worth recovering
If the car is recent and running, an InterCar France car recovery can collect it from the fourrière and deliver it to your garage or a buyer. We pay the fourrière on collection and you avoid further daily charges.
