|
How [not] to buy or
sell a car.
Firstly, I would like to thank those of you, who wrote some very nice things
about my first posting last month. You are obviously all as mad as me, but
seriously, it makes a lot of the stuff I get involved in worthwhile. I can
be very angry and passionate about certain things in this world, but I also
try to see the funny side of a lot of it. I love the following quote:
“There is no evidence to suggest that life is in any way to be taken
seriously.”
I have it written in my diary to remind myself, when I get particularly
annoyed over some things that it is often better to try to laugh things off,
certainly for my blood pressure and sanity at least!
This month has been a little bit more laid back on the bureaucracy front,
although I did have to make my fourth visit to the Conservatória in Silves,
in relation to a friend’s car paperwork. It has been a bit of a saga, as
many things end up being here in the Algarve. Unfortunately, my friend, who
I shall call Bob, arrived in the Algarve over a year ago and made the
acquaintance of a young, seemingly charming (aren’t they always), Portuguese
man, who immediately took him under his wing. “You want to buy an old house
to renovate? No problem, I’ll arrange it.” “You want to rent somewhere,
while you are looking? No problem, I’ll arrange it.” “You want an old car to
run around in, when you are here? No problem, I’ll arrange it.” “You need an
architect, builder, materials etc? No problem, I’ll arrange it.” And so,
Bob, an elderly, somewhat frail gentleman, naively let this charming, young
man arrange everything.
The saga relating to the house purchase and building work is still ongoing,
so I won’t go into that just now, but I’ll tell you about the car purchase
and subsequent registration process, as an appetiser.
The charming, young Portuguese man told Bob that he had found him an old,
but reliable car to buy and so Bob went along to view it with him at a place
close to Silves. The owner turned out to be a British man, who I shall call
Fred, and after giving the car the once over, Bob agreed to buy it. He was
given a form (Modelo Nº2) completed and signed by Fred, and Bob was told to
complete the buyer’s part and to take it to his local Conservatória, in
order to transfer the car into his name. So, Bob took the car and the form.
Several weeks later I met Bob by chance in a café in Silves and got chatting
to him. I was horrified by the story he told me regarding his ongoing house
purchase and I immediately offered to help him out. Sometimes I am a glutton
for punishment, but I couldn’t have slept at night, if I had walked away
form such a naive, old man, who I could see was going to get completely and
utterly stitched up. He also told me about the car and that he was unsure as
to where he had to take the form and what he had to do. “Oh, that is quite
easy” I said “I’ll help you do that”…famous last words!!!!
So, we met the following week outside the Conservatória in Silves and after
waiting an hour or so, we were seen. We handed over the form (Modelo Nº2)
and the car documents, but were told that because the form had tippex on it
and Fred had not filled out the correct boxes, nor presented a copy of his
passport/ID, it could not be accepted. We were given a new form to complete.
Bob asked the charming, young Portuguese man to assist in handing over the
new form, as he didn’t know where Fred lived, but after several weeks
nothing had happened. The Portuguese guy had no doubt got some commission
for selling the car and now wasn’t really interested in helping anymore.
Meanwhile, I had heard via my local Portuguese friends, some not so nice
things about this charming, young man and so I spoke to Bob. He agreed to
let me try to make contact with Fred direct and deal with the papers on his
behalf. Unfortunately, it turned out that Fred had moved from the address on
the car documents, he had supplied. Whilst Bob had viewed the car near
Silves, Fred’s address on the documents was in the East of the Algarve.
Luckily, I managed to track him down via the Internet and discovered that he
was still working in the Algarve but now in the far West. I sent him an
e-mail to his work address and eventually after a couple of reminders, I got
a reply and he agreed to complete another form and to post it to Bob.
True to his word, the new, completed form eventually arrived and so Bob and
I went back to the Conservatória. However, Fred’s address on the form was
now different from the one on the car documents and that wasn’t acceptable
either. We were handed yet another form (Modelo Nº 2) and a change of
address form (Modelo Nº7) for Fred to complete. These 2 forms were posted
off to Fred and after a few more weeks they came back.
Eureka, we thought. Surely nothing more can stand in our way now.
Unfortunately, it could. Bob had made an error in filling out his part of
the form Modelo Nº2 before posting it off to Fred. I had managed to download
another one from the DGRN web site on the Internet, to save us the hassle of
going back yet again to the Conservatória. However, I hadn’t read the small
print, which said that the two page form had to be printed on only ONE piece
of paper and I had printed it on two!!!! The woman in the Conservatória,
seeing how exasperated we were, agreed to send it off to Lisboa to see what
they would say, as she agreed that Fred’s signature was clearly visible on
the other form (Modelo Nº7) as a double check. Bob paid around €90 by
cheque, gave copies of his passport and fiscal card/number and was given a
piece of paper/receipt giving him permission to drive the car for up to 120
days, while waiting for his new documents.
About 3 months later, Bob received a card in his post box asking him to
attend the Conservatória and so off we trotted. After a two hour wait and a
couple of coffees, we were finally attended to. No, Lisboa would not accept
the form Modelo Nº2 on two pages and so it would have to be filled in
AGAIN!! Aaaaarrrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!! They had, however, over-looked the fact
that unlike Bob, Fred hadn’t supplied a copy of his passport/ID. So, we took
yet another form and sent it to Fred. I was half-expecting Fred to have
moved again but luckily he was still at the same job and sent the form back
within a couple of weeks.
Finally, last week I went back with Bob to the Conservatória and they
accepted everything, renewed his permission to drive, as the 120 days was
nearly up and asked him for another €15. I didn’t get to the bottom of what
the extra money was for, probably a fine, or the cost had gone up in the
time we had been trying to register the car. Who knows? We just wanted to
get out of the place with the forms accepted and €15 seemed a small price to
pay after months of hassle. Now all we have to do is wait and hope that the
new documents turn up before the next 120 days expire.
So folks, if you buy (or sell) a car here, remember the following:
1). When you buy a car, make sure that the car
documents are in the current owner’s name and that it is listed at the
correct address.
2). Get the owner to complete the seller’s part (vendedor)
of form Modelo Nº2 and to supply you with a copy of his or her passport or
ID card. Make sure that they have completed all the boxes correctly and
signed in the right place.
3). Complete the
buyer’s part (comprador), once again making sure that you have completed all
the boxes correctly and signed in the right place. Supply a copy of your
passport and/or residency card and fiscal card (both sides).
4). Don’t use
tippex on the form and do not make any crossings out or mistakes.
5). Take your cheque book, cash or multibanco card to
your local Conservatória in order to pay the fee to register the car in your
name/change the documents.
6). Take both the blue and green car documents with
you to hand over with the form Modelo Nº2. *NB. I believe that they are
currently replacing these 2 forms with one document in 2006.
7). Make sure that you are given a receipt for this
form and the documents, which gives you permission to continue driving the
car for 120 days. If it is close to expiring and you still haven’t had
notification of your new documents, go back to the Conservatória and request
a renewal of this permission and to check whether the documents have arrived
there yet. They usually send you a notification card telling you the
documents are ready for collecting, but sometimes this doesn’t happen.
8). If you want to save time in not having to go to
your local Conservatória, to get either forms Modelo Nº 2 or Modelo Nº7, you
can download them by going to
http://www.dgrn.mj.pt/ Click on the downward
arrow alongside “Registo de Automóveis” and on Modelos Válidos nas
Reg.Autónomas. Then you have a choice of forms, click on the Modelo Nº2 for
change of ownership and Modelo Nº7 if you just need to change your address.
*NB. Make sure that you print the Modelo Nº2 on only ONE piece of paper and
NOT 2, i.e. front and back!
9). Unfortunately, whilst you can download the forms
from the web site, you cannot avoid going to the Conservatória and simply
send the forms by post. You have to attend in person to hand over the form,
documents and payment and to collect the new documents, when they are ready.
However, be reassured that this process is still 100% easier than importing
a foreign car and doing the paperwork for that. For those of you, who
haven’t read my odd forum posting on the fun I had doing the car
matriculation process, I’ll try to condense my 5 visit epic for another
newsletter.
Feliz Natal e um novo ano próspero! |
