'Purchasing cars' Transportation

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Purchasing cars

Here in the US, you find someone who wants to sell a car you want. Then you give them money. Then they give you a magic piece of paper with their signature on it (the title). Then you take the magic paper to a government office where they confiscate it and mail you a new one with your name on it. While there, you get a rectangular piece of metal with numbers on it to affix to the back of your car.

Except for the part about the empty bottle on the car, I'm assuming that the process in Uruguay is similar. Is it?

Is there a similar magic piece of paper? Where is the government building? What are the extra costs not related to the prices of the car?

brian

The usual order of events when buying a used car is...

1. Find the particular vehicle you want to buy either privately or from a dealer. The Sunday edition of El Pais offers a wide selection as does mercadolibre dot com dot uy and you already know about bottles. If you are used to northern second hand car prices, be prepared to pay an apparently eye-watering sum for an old car with an improbably high kilometer reading.

2. Find yourself an escribano/a to do the paperwork.

3. You and the vendor visit the escribano, present your IDs, sign the contract for sale, the purchaser pays the money, the vendor hands over a sheaf of papers and the escribano will provide the purchaser with the appropriate paperwork for the junta local to prepare a new "libretta" (plastic coated car registration card) with your name, your physical address and the car's details.

3. Before driving the car to the junta local, the purchaser will need to insure the car as insurance is now compulsory and the junta local will want to see a certificate of insurance.

4. On arrival at the junta local, the car will be physically inspected by a funcionario to ensure that the engine and chassis numbers on the vehicle match those on the paperwork. If the car lacks a current "patente" you will be charged for however many months are due for the remainder of the calendar year. If the vendor lived in the same departmento as the purchaser, the existing plates go with the vehicle. If you are re-registering the vehicle in a different departmento, you will be issued with new plates. It used to be the case that the cost of the patente varied from departmento to departmento. I have heard that patentes are to be standardised across the ROU from 2012.

5. The escribano will start a series of searches to ensure that there are no outstanding fines nor other charges due on the car in all 19 departmentos of the ROU. This process can take several months but you can continue to drive the car in the meantime. You cannot take the car out of the ROU until this paperwork has been completed as one of the documents will be a certificate from the Ministry of Culture confirming that the former owner(s) were not Uruguayo figures of cultural importance. :-)

As far as I recall, that's it.

Can I purchase a used car from a dealer or from a person and drive it home that day or within the week at the latest?

Would a dealer have an escribano there on the lot to handle all of this? Using their escribano seems like a bad idea, but maybe it's ok.

How does one go about getting the car insurance? Who do I contact? Do they have a website?

brian

So long as you have insurance, you can drive the car home via the junta local once you have done the biz with the vendor and the escribano. Down here you could probably drive it directly home and visit the junta local later when it suited you. Having the insurance is the vital bit.

"Would a dealer have an escribano there on the lot to handle all of this? Using their escribano seems like a bad idea, but maybe it's ok."

I used the escribano who happened to live next door to the vendor when I bought an aged Nissan. There aren't the same sort of risks as when buying property. All the escribano/a has to do is prepare the sale agreement, witness the payment, give you the necessary papers for the junta local and do the various searches later.

"How does one go about getting the car insurance? Who do I contact? Do they have a website?"

The two largest insurers here are the BSE (state insurance bank) and Mapfre but there are others like the Royal. I use Mapfre via a local broker in Nueva Helvecia as they do me a good inclusive deal for car, house and farm. If you buy from a dealer, he is sure to know a local broker as are private vendors.

Unlike UK/Irish car insurance, here its the car which is insured rather than the driver(s) so anybody driving the vehicle is insured and premiums tend to be higher.

• Mapfre on line

A notary in the USA simply confirms we are who we say we are when we sign a document. They have no responsibility for the content of the document.

An escribano is much more like an attorney and goes through a university program much like an attorney. You *ALWAYS* want to use *YOUR* escribano for anything. So they will be working in your best interests. If you use the other parties escribano, they will be working in that persons best interests.

In your mind, shift the translation of escribano from notary to lawyer and it will give you a better perspective.

Expert Page: Quick Tips for Getting Settled in Uruguay

I have used four different escribano/as for different things thus far. When I had to take on the government over my unforeseen transformation into a returning Uruguayo (second class) I hired the best in MVD. To tackle the bandits at Dedicado and to buy/sell real property I used the more modestly priced but implacable Lilette Geymonat, for being sued under various employment laws I used a specialist from Rosario but for buying the aged Nissan, I used Snr Itunya who happened to live near the vendor.

In English lawyerly terms, an escribano/a equates to a solicitor and an abogado/a to a barrister.

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