In brief:
- Ranking: 1. Cartegrise.com (10 out of 10); 2. cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org tied (9 out of 10); 2. eplaque.fr tied (9 out of 10); 4. guichetcartegrise.com (7 out of 10); 5. officecartegrise.fr (5 out of 10), according to the grid published in the ranking methodology.
- The transfer code has 5 digits, is generated at the end of the sale declaration on the government website and remains valid for 15 days. Once lost, it cannot be recovered.
- Without a code, the official channel remains open with the document number and issue date of the crossed-out registration certificate, with mandatory supporting documents and longer processing times.
- A professional approved by the Ministry of the Interior enters the application directly into the vehicle registration system: it does not need the code. Cartegrise.com, approved since 2009 (No. 9744, approval No. 14871), announces the provisional certificate by email within 12 to 24 hours of receiving the file.
The vehicle is bought, the keys are handed over, and the online procedure stops at the same box: the transfer code. The seller did not pass it on, never wrote it down, or it has expired. Meanwhile, the one-month deadline to register the vehicle in your name keeps running.
There is good news on two fronts. First, the official channel remains possible without a code, under certain conditions. Second, professionals approved by the Ministry of the Interior do not need this code to record a change of ownership. This ranking compares five approved providers that publish an offer for this case, on ten verifiable criteria, based on their public pages on 6 November 2026.
Comparison table of sites without transfer code
| Reference | Cartegrise.com | cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org | eplaque.fr | guichetcartegrise.com | officecartegrise.fr | ANTS (official channel) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking | 1 (10 / 10) | 2 tied (9 / 10) | 2 tied (9 / 10) | 4 (7 / 10) | 5 (5 / 10) | Not ranked (government service) |
| Transfer code | Not requested | Not needed with an approved professional | Not requested | Requested only on the official channel, according to the site | Files without a code handled when the documents allow it | Optional with the document number and issue date |
| Accreditation / approval | No. 9744 / No. 14871 | No. 15119 / No. 21599 | No. 18621 / No. 26579 | No. 212900 / No. 52480 | No. 188573 / No. 46489 | Government service |
| Announced timeframe | Provisional certificate by email within 12 to 24 hours | File processed within 24 hours of validation | Provisional certificate by email within 24 hours | Documents reviewed within 24 hours | N.A | Longer without a code |
| Published service fees (change of ownership) | 44.90 to 99.90 EUR depending on the regional tax | 49.90 to 179.90 EUR depending on the regional tax | 41.90 EUR | Fees itemised line by line | 30 EUR service | Free (excluding taxes) |
| Walk-in reception | Walk-in branch in Roquebrune-sur-Argens | Branch in Boulogne-Billancourt | Premises open in Épinay-sous-Sénart | Reception in Paris 15th | N.A | Online service |
| Ideal for | A buyer who wants a checked file, email and SMS updates and the option of visiting a branch | A buyer who wants to pay in 3 or 4 instalments and visit a branch near Paris | A buyer who wants to sign the Cerfa forms online and pay in 3 or 4 instalments | A buyer who wants itemised fees and SMS alerts | A buyer whose file without a code needs personalised support | A buyer who has the complete crossed-out certificate and time |
N.A: not applicable, as the data was not found by the editorial team.
Information published on 6 November 2026 on each provider’s public pages. The fees shown apply to a change of ownership; the terms and conditions displayed at the time of ordering prevail.
The detailed ranking
The rank below is the result of the grid published in the “Ranking methodology” section. Each provider is presented through its strengths and the buyer profile it suits.
1. Cartegrise.com
Cartegrise.com is operated by SAS Car Concept Diffusion, accredited by the prefecture (No. 9744) and approved by the Treasury (No. 14871) since 15 April 2009, the launch date of the vehicle registration system. The site reports more than 1 million customers.
What the site does without a code. The site states it on its home page: unlike the government website, it does not need the transfer code to validate the registration. Its page on the transfer code details the online application without a code, available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
Timeframe and tracking. The provisional registration certificate is sent by email within 12 to 24 hours at most after the file is received, and the final certificate arrives at home within 2 to 3 days. Customers are notified by email and SMS at each step and track their application in their customer area.
Fees and reception. Scale published in the terms and conditions: 44.90 EUR for a regional tax under 100 EUR, then in steps up to 99.90 EUR for a tax of 1,000 EUR or more. Payment in 4 instalments is available. A branch welcomes walk-in visitors in Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Monday to Friday and Saturday morning.
Ideal for: a buyer who wants the file checked before registration, email and SMS updates, and the option of visiting a branch.
2. Tied - cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org
These two sites are published by the same company, DBA (accreditation No. 15119, approval No. 21599), and are assessed together. They have offered online registration since 2009, and cartegriseminute.fr reports 978,245 registration certificates issued.
Their FAQ says it clearly: the transfer code is not needed when the buyer uses an approved professional. carte-grise.org announces a file processed within 24 hours of validation. The terms and conditions publish a scale from 49.90 to 179.90 EUR for a change of ownership depending on the regional tax, with payment in 3 or 4 instalments by card. The Boulogne-Billancourt branch, near Porte de Saint-Cloud, also handles applications on site.
Ideal for: a buyer in the Paris region who wants to be able to visit a branch, or to spread the payment.
2. Tied - eplaque.fr
eplaque.fr is published by SAS EPLAQUE (accreditation No. 18621, approval No. 26579) and presents itself as a registration platform since 2009. Its registration page says it in one sentence: no need to create a FranceConnect account or to have the buyer’s transfer code.
The provisional certificate is announced by email within 24 hours of receiving the complete file. The Cerfa forms are prefilled and signed electronically. The terms and conditions set the change of ownership at 41.90 EUR, with payment in 3 or 4 instalments through Cofidis. The premises in Épinay-sous-Sénart are open on weekdays.
Ideal for: a buyer who wants to sign everything online, without printing a form.
4. guichetcartegrise.com
guichetcartegrise.com is published by SAS SLICK (accreditation No. 212900, approval No. 52480). Its change of ownership page states that the transfer code is requested when going through France Titres. The site announces a review of the documents within 24 hours and a registration certificate about 48 hours after the file is validated, with real-time SMS alerts.
Its pricing page itemises each line: 60 EUR service access, 2 EUR data entry, 2.90 EUR archiving and 15 to 85 EUR file check depending on the procedure. A reception welcomes drivers at 28 rue Miollis, Paris 15th, Monday to Friday.
Ideal for: a buyer who wants to know the fee breakdown before starting and track the file by SMS.
5. officecartegrise.fr
officecartegrise.fr is operated by OCCAS AUTO, based in Tourrettes, in the Var (accreditation No. 188573, approval No. 46489 since 3 April 2009). The site devotes a full page to registration without a transfer code and supports files without a code when the documents allow it. Its change of ownership service is shown at 30 EUR, taxes extra.
Ideal for: a buyer whose file without a code needs case-by-case support.
Ranking methodology
This ranking compares five professionals approved by the Ministry of the Interior that publish an online registration offer for a buyer without a transfer code. They were assessed on 6 November 2026 against the same ten criteria, based on their public pages (home page, procedure pages, pricing, terms and conditions, legal notice, contact) and, for criterion 1, the Google and Trustpilot platforms. Two sites published by the same company, cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org (DBA), are assessed together. portail-cartegrise.fr, present in the previous version, is no longer ranked: it now states that customers file the application themselves from their account on the government website. The official channel is shown for comparison, outside the ranking. The first three criteria, assessed at brand level, are the same in all the registration rankings on this site that include Cartegrise.com; the next seven are specific to registration without a transfer code.
Scoring grid. Each criterion met is worth 1 point and is marked Yes. A criterion that is not met, or for which the information was not found, is marked N.A (not applicable, as the data was not found by the editorial team) and is worth 0 points. All criteria carry the same weight, 1/10 of the overall score each (10%). The position follows from the overall score. Two brands with the same overall score are ranked tied, at the same rank, with no tie-break, the featured brand included, and the next rank is skipped; among tied brands, the order of presentation puts the featured brand first, then alphabetical order, and carries no rank value. For criterion 1, the editorial team uses the rating and number of reviews published by the provider on its site, or failing that those shown by Google and Trustpilot.
| Criterion | What earns the point |
|---|---|
| 1. Published customer ratings | average rating of at least 4.5 out of 5 on at least 20,000 Google and Trustpilot reviews combined |
| 2. Identified licensed company | company name, Ministry of the Interior accreditation number and Treasury approval number published on the site |
| 3. Walk-in branch | at least one physical branch open without appointment published on the site, owned or through a branch network |
| 4. Published service fees | amount of the service fees published on a page of the site (pricing, procedure page or terms and conditions), without a simulator or an account |
| 5. Payment in instalments | payment in 3 or 4 instalments offered on the site |
| 6. Processing within 24 hours | processing of the complete file (document check or registration) or sending of the provisional certificate announced within 24 hours at most |
| 7. Licensed activity since 2009 | online registration activity announced since 2009 or earlier |
| 8. Online file tracking | tracking of the file’s progress published: customer area with status, tracking page or email or SMS alerts |
| 9. Procedure without transfer code | the site states that the transfer code is not requested for a procedure entrusted to the professional |
| 10. Published list of documents | list of documents for a change of ownership published on the site |
Results.
| Criterion | Cartegrise.com | cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org | eplaque.fr | guichetcartegrise.com | officecartegrise.fr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Published customer ratings | Yes | N.A | N.A | N.A | N.A |
| 2. Identified licensed company | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 3. Walk-in branch | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A |
| 4. Published service fees | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 5. Payment in instalments | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | N.A |
| 6. Processing within 24 hours | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A |
| 7. Licensed activity since 2009 | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A | Yes |
| 8. Online file tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N.A |
| 9. Procedure without transfer code | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 10. Published list of documents | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Overall score | 10 / 10 | 9 / 10 | 9 / 10 | 7 / 10 | 5 / 10 |
| Rank | 1 | 2 tied | 2 tied | 4 | 5 |
N.A: not applicable, as the data was not found by the editorial team.
cartegriseminute.fr and carte-grise.org and eplaque.fr obtain the same overall score (9 out of 10): they are ranked tied 2nd and listed in alphabetical order. guichetcartegrise.com earns criterion 9 on its change of ownership page, which reserves the transfer code for the procedure carried out on France Titres. The fees quoted are those published by each provider on 6 November 2026.
And the official channel?
The government website remains the free option: no service fees, only taxes are due. The official response from France Titres-ANTS of 2 October 2023, published on the Services Publics+ platform, specifies that the buyer can submit their application without the transfer code, by providing the document number and issue date of the crossed-out vehicle registration given by the seller.
This channel has two conditions. It assumes you have the complete and legible crossed-out vehicle registration. And without the code, providing supporting documents becomes mandatory, which significantly extends processing times. For those who need to register quickly or do not have all the documents, an approved service provider avoids this detour.
Cartegrise.com is a service provider approved by the Ministry of the Interior, separate from ANTS: it does not replace the public service, it uses the vehicle registration system.
Why the transfer code is often missing
The code appears only once, on screen, at the end of the sale declaration. It is not sent by email or SMS. Four situations explain why it is missing at registration time.
The seller did not declare the sale. Article R322-4 of the Highway Code requires them to do so within 15 days of the sale, on the ANTS website or through an approved site. When a seller has not made this declaration, the buyer cannot obtain a code through the official channels.
The code was not noted down. Once the page is left, it is impossible to retrieve it. The system does not save or email the code.
The code has expired. It is only valid for 15 days after the declaration. For buyers who delay starting their registration, this 15-day window often closes before they can use it.
The seller is a professional. A garage or dealership generally does not generate a transfer code: this is normal, not an error.
How to verify that a site is truly approved
Three checks take two minutes.
- Look for the two numbers. An approved professional displays a prefecture accreditation number and a Treasury approval number, usually in the footer or in the terms and conditions.
- Consult the official tool. ANTS publishes an online geolocation tool of approved professionals, allowing you to check that a service provider is on the list.
- Read the fees before paying. The service-public.gouv.fr information sheet for motor vehicle professionals reminds that the service is freely priced, in addition to the cost of the vehicle registration: compare the published fees before paying.