TECM – The English Car Mechanics

What TECM – The English Car Mechanics offers English speakers in Valbonne

TECM is run by the Stevens family and works in English by design rather than as an accommodation. The specialism is British and classic cars: Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Triumph, MGB, Austin Healey. Owners describe parts being sourced from England when nothing suitable exists locally, and in one case a coil spring being chased down after it went missing somewhere inside the French postal system.

The genuinely useful part for a new arrival is the paperwork. One customer brought a right-hand-drive English car over when they first moved, had TECM handle registering it in France, and has had them keep putting it through the contrôle technique (the compulsory roadworthiness inspection, due every two years once a car is four years old) ever since. That is the stage where an imported car most often comes unstuck. They now work mobile, going to the client rather than the other way round, and also sell cars. The record runs long, with customers of fifteen and twenty years, but it is not spotless: recent reviews include a disputed gearbox rebuild and an older complaint about wheel nuts left loose. Agree what is guaranteed, and for how long, before any major job.