[neil40]

Hi

Taking my 06 Renault Megane to France in a couple of weeks.
Confused as to whether it is compulsory or not to have beam deflectors.

I popped in to my local Ranault garage this morning and they said 'only if you stay over 3 months!'

I haven't seen that one anywhere before!

If it is, where is best to get them from? I've seen some from Halfords. Haven't a clue how you fit them, my headlights have no lines on them at all

Any advice?

Cheers

[smudger]

Hi Neil, Welcome to the site, somewhere on here in another thread, there is a complete list of what you need by Law to drive in the EU, I think the person who posted it got it from a travel site.
You need a florescent vest, triangle in case of breakdown, and a load of other stuff. It also mentions where you can buy those stick on deflectors.
In fact I found it, here ......
http://www.rac.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=676


Cheers, Smudger.

[Snowball]

Neil40, I think the garage was wrong about being exempt from needing headlight deflectors if visitng the EU for less than 3 months.
Google "beam benders", and you should find outlets to obtain them. I bought mine from Tesco Direct. With postage, it came to about £8.

How old is your car? My latest car has switching facilities in the headlight units, so I don't have to use beam benders anymore. Check your car for this before buying them.

[Watcher]

Beam benders

Just spotted this!

You MUST alter the (dip) headlamp beams for continental driving (there are records of people going for 6 hours and being fined for NOT having them - on the spot and IN CASH!!).

The problem is that most UK dip beams don't just dip, but they have asymetric beams that light up the near (left) side - this obviously dazzles anyone to the left.

Continental dip is different, it just dips.

Beam benders that stick on (if your car doesn't have a dedicated system) are a reasonable solution, and are available very cheaply from, eg, Halfords (if you foget they are always available at ferry terminals). They are made to fit every car and come with full instructions - gives you something to do while waiting for the ferry!!

[JamieGen]

Hey, thanks for raising this—good question!
If you're driving in France with dipped headlights (which you should be), it’s not legally required to fit beam deflectors on all vehicles. However, if your car has adjustable or manually-controlled headlights (i.e., you can switch between left-hand and right-hand drive formats), then it’s strongly recommended to either adjust them or fit deflectors so you don’t dazzle oncoming traffic.
Alternatively, check out this free tool. https://drivelinkgenerator.com/