St. Pierre.....North American or European Signs?

[ghYHZ]

The islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon are located only 25 km from the south coast of Newfoundland but they are an overseas territory of France. Do they follow a North American or European sign standard?

I've seen the occasional St. Pierre plated vehicle passing through here on the Trans Canada.....a rectangular European style.  The "Euro"  is the local currency there and I've heard the wine served is excellent.......A little bit of Europe so closer to Canada! 

[agentsteel53]

how does one get to St. Pierre and Miquelon?  Ferry?  Since I'm an EU citizen, I figure it should be absolutely no problem for me to get past passport controls, correct?

[Kniwt]

Looks tres French here:

http://www.travel-images.com/pht/saint-pierre-miquelon5.jpg

[english si]

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=46.77642,-56.18125&spn=0,0.077162&z=14&layer=c&cbll=46.77642,-56.18125&cbp=12,0,,0,5&photoid=po-21696630

There might be a better image (no street view), but circles - seems like it'll be full French standards.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=46.780985,-56.17621&spn=0,0.077162&z=14&layer=c&cbll=46.780985,-56.17621&cbp=12,0,,0,5&photoid=po-9119836

Yep, definitely French signage

[ghYHZ]

how does one get to St. Pierre and Miquelon?  Ferry?  Since I'm an EU citizen, I figure it should be absolutely no problem for me to get past passport controls, correct?

Via ferry from Fortune, Newfoundland of fly on Air St. Pierre

http://www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.com/english/comment.php

[mgk920]

I believe that they use the Euro there, too.

Mike

[mightyace]

http://www.st-pierre-et-miquelon.com/english/questions.php

Currency and Banking - The official currency in Saint-Pierre & Miquelon is the Euro (€). Banking establishments will provide currency exchange services, however Canadian (CDN) and American dollars (USD) are accepted by most merchants involved in the tourism trade. Major credit cards and traveller cheques are commonly accepted.

[corco]

It looks like most of the cars there are North American spec- I wonder if they're subject to the same import tariffs or whatever it takes to bring a car from the US or Canada into mainland France. I don't see a car dealer on the island, which makes me wonder where those cars come from!

[Truvelo]

It looks like most of the cars there are North American spec

The rear licence plates are yellow which is what was used in France until a year or two ago.

[english si]

As an overseas collective, it's not part of the EU, though it's citizens are EU citizens and get to vote in EU elections (absurd! British Oversea Territories, other than Gibraltar don't get ballot boxes for EU elections, but they are British, and thus EU citizens). It is not part of the customs union, so Brussels don't set the tariffs for importing goods from the USA or Canada to there - they do of course set tariffs for importing cars from the EU.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_member_state_territories_and_their_relations_with_the_EU#Summary

[agentsteel53]

I wonder if a rental car company in Boston will allow me to take the car to St. Pierre. 

[corco]

The rear licence plates are yellow which is what was used in France until a year or two ago.

Yeah, it looks like they use regular French vehicle registration, but the cars themselves are North American- good luck finding a Chevrolet Tracker in Europe! I wonder how that all works- certainly they can't be subject to the same import restrictions that it would take to get a Chevrolet Tracker to mainland France.

[mightyace]

I'm guessing that there are regulations to prevent these islands for being a "gray market" portal of North American vehicles to Europe or vice-versa.

[oscar]

I wonder if a rental car company in Boston will allow me to take the car to St. Pierre. 

The ferry over to St. Pierre is, AFAIK, passenger-only.  So you'd have to leave your car in Canada, on Newfoundland island.

Real questions are, will the rental car company let you take its car into Canada, or if so, whether as far as to Newfoundland.  Or whether the ferry company taking you to Newfoundland will let you take a rental vehicle.  (I'm not sure why not.)

[corco]

Real questions are, will the rental car company let you take its car into Canada, or if so, whether as far as to Newfoundland.  Or whether the ferry company taking you to Newfoundland will let you take a rental vehicle.  (I'm not sure why not.)

On a family road trip some years ago we took an American rental car on a BC ferry to Vancouver Island, and I've had them on Washington State Ferries before, so I think that's a non-problem. It might be forbidden in the fine print of the rental agreement, but it's way too much work to check every vehicle getting on the ferry's registration.

[english si]

Yeah, it looks like they use regular French vehicle registration, but the cars themselves are North American- good luck finding a Chevrolet Tracker in Europe! I wonder how that all works- certainly they can't be subject to the same import restrictions that it would take to get a Chevrolet Tracker to mainland France.

As I said, it's not part of the EU, so it's not within the Customs Union

I'm guessing that there are regulations to prevent these islands for being a "gray market" portal of North American vehicles to Europe or vice-versa.

There'll be all the typical EU closed market stuff (good ol' protectionism making it much harder for the UK to trade with ex-colonies to the extent it used to) when cross the Atlantic.

The EU has free trade with Mexico, which is part of NAFTA, so you might be able to do some wrangling and take North American cars to Europe that way.

[agentsteel53]

Real questions are, will the rental car company let you take its car into Canada, or if so, whether as far as to Newfoundland.  Or whether the ferry company taking you to Newfoundland will let you take a rental vehicle.  (I'm not sure why not.)

I have never had a problem.  Have rented from the airport only, though - the local places may be a bit more iffy.

[Truvelo]

The main rental companies will normally let you take the car across the Canada-US border if you tell them although it's forbidden for Canadians to drive US rental cars into their country.

[corco]

As I said, it's not part of the EU, so it's not within the Customs Union

Oh, ok. I didn't realize that's what that meant. Makes sense.