Certificate of Conformity (COC): role, receipt and price

The Certificate of Conformity (COC), also called the Community Type Certificate, is an important document for a new vehicle when it leaves the manufacturer's factory. Indeed, this document contains the technical details of the vehicle and certifies that it complies with various standards related to safety and the environment. In this article, we will share with you all the information you need about a vehicle's certificate of conformity!

📝 What is a Certificate of Conformity (COC)?

When a new vehicle leaves the factory of any manufacturer, the latter must issue a certificate of conformity. Thus, this document allows to confirm the car's compliance with European directives acting. This is especially useful for registration in Europe and especially in France of a car purchased abroad... In fact, the certificate of conformity will be requested from you by the prefecture authorities upon request. Gray Card unless it was automatically shipped by the manufacturer when your vehicle left the factory.

COC contains important information about your vehicle:

• Visible elements (number of doors, car color, tire size, number of windows, etc.);
• Technical details (engine power, CO2 emissions, type of fuel used, vehicle weight, etc.);
• Vehicle registration number ;
• Public reception number, also called CNIT number.

Thus, the certificate of conformity applies to all vehicles produced in the European market. Customize cars registered from 1996, COC aims at private cars less than 3.5 tons or motorcycles... Therefore, for free movement it is necessary to have this homologation document.

🔎 How to get a Certificate of Conformity (COC) for free?

If you do not have a certificate of conformity for your vehicle, you can easily request one. However, to obtain a free European certificate of conformity, you must you need to meet certain requirements which are as follows:

1. The car must be new;
2. The car must be purchased in one of the member states of the European Union;
3. The registration of the vehicle referred to in the COC request does not have to be done earlier.

As you can imagine, when buying a new car, it is important to request a certificate of conformity from the manufacturer or seller. If you lose it, there will be a charge for requesting a copy.

🛑 Certificate of Conformity (COC): Required or Not?

There is a certificate of conformity mandatory for the legal movement of your car on all European roads... Thus, if you are planning a trip outside your country of residence, you will need to make a request to automatic proxy or straight from the prefectures.

However, there are alternatives if you cannot extract the COC from the vehicle. For example, for used cars, the certificate of conformity is optional if fields D2 and K of the marketing authorization meet certain conditions... Field 2 must indicate the model and version of the vehicle, and field K must have more than two digits after the last star.

If COC cannot be recovered, you can contact Gloomy (Regional Office for the Environment, Planning and Housing) to obtain isolated document... This method is often used for cars imported from the USA or Japan.

📍 Where can I request a Certificate of Conformity (COC)?

To request a certificate of conformity for your vehicle, you can contact various market participants who:

• Prefectural homologation services available directly on the Internet;
• Car dealer who took care of buying a new car;
• Importer a car if you bought it from a service provider of this type;
• Manufacturer, if the vehicle was purchased from a car dealership.

💰 How much does a Certificate of Conformity (COC) cost?

A certificate of conformity is issued free of charge if your request meets the requirements listed above. Thereby, a free request to the manufacturer concerns only the first copy of the certificate of conformity... However, if the manufacturer has to make it again, it will be numbered and will have to be paid for by the motorist. The price of the certificate of conformity mainly depends on the make and model of the car.

For example, Audi or Volkswagen COC costs 120€ while Mercedes COC is rather around 200€.

As a rule, COCs are taken between a few days and a few weeks after the request.

The Certificate of Conformity is one of the most important documents for the legal driving of your car. Indeed, it guarantees the homologation of your vehicle at the European level so that you can drive on the roads of the European Union.