Your household goods to France: no customs, one day's drive, and the car as the only thing with a clock

Yes, your household goods simply come with you to France, and nobody wants to see any of it: whoever moves from an EU member state has, according to French customs, "no special customs formality" and, according to Service-Public, "nothing to pay". Dutch Customs says the same from its side. What it costs is therefore entirely your choice, and the cost indication for France works with a band of roughly € 1,100 for a part load to € 6,200 for a large home fully handled — lower than for any other destination, because it is the shortest drive. The trap rides along on its own wheels: the car has to be on French plates within a month, and unlike in Spain and Portugal the CO2 malus has no relocation exemption.

Does anything have to go to customs?

No. All three sources agree, and the difference from a move from outside the EU makes clear what you save. Whoever comes from a third country gets exemption from import duties and VAT only if they lived there for at least twelve months, owned the goods for at least six months, bring them over within twelve months, do not sell or let them for a year, and prove all that with a dated, signed inventory in duplicate plus form 10070. For you that whole list falls away: no inventory, no form, no deadline.

What does remain are the ordinary rules on what you may transport at all — pets, weapons, protected species — and the fact that no authority registers your arrival. So keep the consignment note and the quote yourself: for the quitus fiscal for the car and later at the tax office, the moving date is one of the few papers you have.

Which route fits one day's drive?

Route	What it is	Where it ends up
Sell everything	sell in the Netherlands, furnish anew in France	the cheapest route; you start with an empty house you furnish yourself
Part load (groupage)	your belongings share a lorry	the route is driven often, so the margin in dates is smaller than to Spain or Portugal
Your own lorry	loaded once, unloaded once, your date	the most expensive route; insurance, stairs and a parking permit from the mairie come on top
Driving yourself	a hired van, one day	in two trips if need be: the distance forgives it
Two stages	first with suitcases, the household goods later	storage in the Netherlands, but no full load to the wrong village

That last option remains the best tip here too. You are not buying a house in your first year anyway, and the village of your dreams may turn out to be boarded up in November. Half a year of storage costs a fraction of what you lose if you send a full load to the wrong house — and with France the second trip is so short that the extra stage costs hardly anything.

Ask for three quotes, at the same time, for the same inventory, and ask explicitly what is not in the price: insurance, packing and unpacking, storage on delay, and the parking permit for the lorry in a French town street.

What makes the car different from the rest?

The car also crosses the border without customs, but as soon as it is in France a clock of one month runs for the French plates. The road there starts at the tax office: the quitus fiscal, a free certificate that the car is in order for VAT. Service-Public is precise about what "in order" means. A car counts as new if on the day of import it is less than six months old or has driven less than 6,000 kilometres; then you pay 20% VAT in France. If it is older and has more kilometres, it is second-hand and you pay no more VAT in France — exactly the situation of almost every mover.

Item	What applies	Source
Quitus fiscal	free; with the purchase invoice or the sale certificate, the foreign registration certificate and your identity document	Service-Public F179
VAT	20% only if the car is "new": younger than 6 months or under 6,000 km	Service-Public F2991
Inspection	for cars older than 4 years an inspection of less than 6 months; an inspection from another EU country is recognised	Service-Public F2991
Insurance	compulsory from the day the car is in France	Service-Public F2991
Environmental levy	"certain vehicles" may face a CO2 levy — the malus, without a relocation exemption	Service-Public F2991

Work out the malus before the lorry moves, not after. For a car first registered before 2015 it is nil; for a young, thirsty car it can be thousands of euros. That sum is worked through in the article on the carte grise — and it decides whether the car comes along or is sold in the Netherlands.

And the pet?

It travels along on the back seat, with a chip, a valid rabies vaccination and an EU pet passport — and must be registered with I-CAD, the French national database, within seven days of arrival. What that involves is in the article on the dog or cat to France. For the household goods themselves, what the roadmap for France already says applies: the moving phase may run alongside closing the Netherlands, and the only real deadline in it is the car's.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 3 of 5 of the journey, step 3.1: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to France or go straight to step 3.1 in the open plan.