'What is the process for purchasing a new automobile in Uruguay' Transportation

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What is the process for purchasing a new automobile in Uruguay

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Char.

Buying a new car is MUCH simpler than buying a used one. Used car purchase requires an escribano/a but new does not.

New vehicle prices are set nationally by the motor trade mafia so there isn't the same incentive to shop around as ooop north. On the other hand its probably worth shopping around a bit in the hopes of bargaining an inducement such as a few bottles of whisky or in my case, an official receipt stating that the purchase price was 19, 988 U$S rather than the actual 21, 500 U$S as a new price under 20k U$S results in paying a lower annual patente (a local road fund tax.)

The actual process goes like this...

1. Select the vehicle you want... in my case a double cab Nissan pickup.

2. Select the dealer you'd like to buy it from.

3. Agree a deal.

4. Either get the dealer to arrange insurance for you or do it yourself.

5. Pay the dealer (usually by bank transfer) and check the sales and insurance paperwork for errors. If you feel uncertain, ask the dealer to provide you with an underling to help you through the registration process.

6. Get gas at once because there will only be fumes in the tank. :-)

7. Go to a photocopy shop and copy the documents, your cedula or passport.

8. Drive the insured but unregistered vehicle to the Junta Local of your choice (see below, ) present your documents + photocopies.

9. An inspector will physically check the engine and chassis numbers.

10. You will be issued with a libretta (registration card, ) a set of plates and be assessed for however many months of patente payments due for the remainder of the year.

11. Pay the Junta, attach the plates and drive away.

Patentes vary from departmento to departmento. At the moment, Montevideo is 4 to 6 times more expensive than Colonia. A newish law says that you should register your vehicle where you live or where you work or where you have a holiday home but the Intendentes of Colonia and San Jose are currently challenging the constitutional legality of this before the courts.

A lot of MVDians with expensive new cars register them in Colonia claiming that a friend's home is also their holiday home. When last I visited the British Embassy in MVD I noticed that 3 of the 5 cars parked within the compound bore Colonia Valdense plates... strange to say I've never met them around the village/city. :-) Colonia Valdense and surrounding campo has an estimated 450 local vehicles yet has over 6000 vehicles registered here... 1.5 vehicles for every man, woman, baby and pensioner.

This year I paid just over 6000 pesos (307 U$S) patente on my Nissan but a friend of mine in MVD with a similar pick-up one month older than mine paid 24, 900 pesos (1277 U$S.)

Considering the annual nature of such charges, it pays to consider where you are going to buy and register a new vehicle very carefully.

Adding to the procedure that Patrick indicates, I would just add:

For new cars:

a) The seller will generally recommend you a "gestora" or "tramitadora" (small firms that will do all the paperwork in the Intendencia for you to register your car and get the plates and the "libreta de propiedad"). They don't charge too much. Even being a local, I personally always use their services; even more reazonable to you if you don't speak good Spanish.

b) You can theoretically do without the "Titulo de Propiedad", legal papers that entitles you as the owner. They are made by an Escribano. You would save some hundred dollars. However, maybe it's me, but I preferr to sleep well having my paperwork by the rules, and not relying on the destiny of the seller, or the cleaness of their importing tramitts. It's not that problems are common with them, but, just in case... All those things are sorted out with the Titulo.

For used cars:

a) You can bargain here much more than with new ones.

b) Try to hire a mechanic tecnitian of your complete confidence to examine the car before you buy it.

c) ALWAYS, use an Escribano for used cars (or houses). Don't sign anything without an Escribano intervention. Second hand cars may be subject to embargos because of patente debpts, fines, or because of generic embargos that the previous owner may have. The embargos are applied to the "things" (houses, cars), so you may be buying "air". The Escribano will check the necessary records for you before completing the buy.

I'm curious to know about the Insurance for your Car, it's also a reason to do wrong in the name of saving money.

How does that work ? Insurance should be more expensive if your registered in Montevideo not Colonia.

This is Common between New York and New Jersey.

Let's also remind everibody that inspectors are now starting to control compliance (for cars of 2008 and newer, for now), and that if you live in MVD and don't register correctly when notified to do so, the car can be picked up, and you'll have to pay the equivalent of the patente as a fine to get it back, plus registering it in MVD; so the price for the "viveza" is the double. Of course, Colonia is trying to stop this, but their problem is not just with MVD but with other Departamentos as well, and it won't succeed. In fact, brand new cars are now being registered where they belong after the inspections started; and many car owners are rapidly changing their register.

Gary

I can see your points but the legality or not is a matter of constitutional law currently before the courts. IMV there is nothing sleazy or dishonest about respecting the law and defending the constitution.

I accept the point that owning/running a vehicle in MVD is more of a luxury than an essential as there are public transport options available. Here in the campo its a different story where a resident without wheels is severely disadvantaged.

Colonia uses its patente revenues to maintain its roads which seems right to me. If other departmentos decide to charge rip-off sums and use patente money for other purposes that's up to them but you can't expect us to support MVD's tax'n'spend policies without a bit of resistance :-)

It seems to me that MVD could collect much more money if it reduced its patente levels to something more reasonable and did something about its bloated bureaucracy. Nobody would waste a day a year coming down here to register or pay the patente on their vehicle if they didn't feel that they were being robbed blind in MVD. I for one am getting rather tired of being targeted by the men of the MVD intendencia demanding to see proof of where I live each time I visit your fair city. I thought that sort of thing was more in line with the practises of the unlamented military government.

BTW, I was awarded an MVD transit ticket for travelling at 91kms in a 75kms zone last Monday and will be paying it in person when next I visit MVD. If MVD was better run, it would be possible for me to pay it at once through Anitab but no... I have to go in person and queue for heaven knows how long just to pay my dues. No doubt I'll be charged for parking and interrogated once more about my place of residence before or after all the queuing.

It seems to me that what the MVD Intendencia needs is someone with more than one brain cell in its revenue planning and collections departments. Perhaps we could lend you Dr Zimmer for a year to help to straighten out your finances :-)

Regarding administrations, Montevideo may have a good or bad administration, that's just a subjective matter. I can even accept your opinion about the Montevidean administration and about Zimmer's. This is a free country. But your opinions would be much more convincing to me the day Mr. Zimmer pays the infraestructure of Colonia with Colonia's own tax payers, and not Montevideans or other sorrounding Departamentos. Come on, Patrick. You know one have to contribute with the place where one receives services from. It's common sense.

Now let me tell you that I'm really sorry that you are already "getting rather tired of being targeted by the men of the MVD intendencia demanding to see proof of where I live each time I visit your (my) fair city". The checks started just a couple of weeks ago, and in tens of thousands of Colonia registered cars running in Montevideo at any moment, just 1.500 have been checked up to now. And even if you don't come to Montevideo too offen you've been one of those poor fellows serveral times now? Man, you certainly are an unlucky guy!

I suppose I sound like a rabid Coloniense :-)

Luckily, we both have the privilege of living in a democratic society with a constitution where the rule of law is respected so whether the courts decide for MVD or Colonia and San Jose, we'll no doubt respect their judgement (even if we do grumble about it a bit.)

My last three trips to MVD have involved being stopped and interrogated about where I live and it also happened twice last year. I now carry a UTE bill which seems to satisfy the MVD inquisitors. My pick-up's libretta describes my abode as "between Colonia Valdense and La Paz" as we lack postal addresses in the campo.

I'm slightly disappointed at your view that departmentos which charge reasonable levels of patente are "thieves" just because we manage our affairs rather more sensibly than MVD but I suppose its a bit like King Canute getting annoyed with the tide when he ordered it to recede and it didn't :-)

Even the Colonia patente is nearly twice what is charged in most of Europe and to me, charging patentes well in excess of 1000 U$S per annum is akin to daylight robbery but if this is the will of the MVD-ean people so be it. I just hope that it isn't your wish to impose such heavy and unnecessary taxes on the rest of the country rather than addressing MVD's problems within MVD.

Montevideo's fees are high because many who actually live here register the care elsewhere ("lost revenue").

Colonia's fees are low because they are in effect subsidized by those who don't live here.

If everyone registered their plates there they actually live, then it could be that Montevideo's fees would go down and Colonia's go up as things balanced out.

Now let me explain the Constitutional issues to you. The only argument Zimmer has is the taxing autonomy of the Departamentos, a basic concept mentioned at the Constitution in general terms. It's a good argument; in fact, that's why the value of the patente is not fixed by the national government, but is starting to be fixed as the result of an agreement between all the Departamentos. No doubt, Colonia is entitled to be allowed to refuge in it's taxing autonomy and maintain their current values. But no doubt too that the other Departamentos are legally entitled to check any car for compliance of their place of residence. Of course, in a perfect world, nobody would be stoping cars just to ask for the UTE bill to see where the owner of the car resides. But that happens only if the fairplay is respected by everyone. Otherwise, the "vivillos" will have to pay the price of inconveniences, all within the scope of the constitutional and legal rights.

When it comes to administration comparissons, let me tell you from the bigining that I'm not going to vote for the present administration in Montevideo in the next elections. And that's not only for the cost of my taxes but for other reazons as well. However, I'm not sure about other Departamentos' administrations either. Colonia is a case in which I would like to see how well Zimmer perfoms is he had to limit his spending to the money collected from his own tax payers. To start, he has a much higher burocrat/inhabitant rate than Montevideo, as is the case of all the rest of the Departamentos, even when many of the services that are provided by the Intendencia in Montevideo, is being provides by the Central Goverment and Gov Enterprises as UTE or OSE, in the case of the Interior. So comparissons are not that easy. Anyway, again, If I get most of my money from my neighbour's wallet, I would never dare to tell him I'm a better money administrator than him!

check "sonria lo estamos filmando".

familiar faces ?

No kidding, we've all seen the video and are now expecting the end of the tale. If they are not fired, there will be problems.

"And you surely won't pay your bill in the cheapest restorant in Colonia and then claim your meal in a posh rest๓ by the port of Punta del Este. So taxes are to be paid where you belong. So simple than that. Let's give Patrick some more time to think about it. He's a clever guy. But he LOVES Colonia. He's becooming a colooniaghan! But that's fine with me. He's local compromise is one of the things I like from him! (Just between you and me, don't tell Patrick). :)"

I have a superb lunch waiting for you at the Suizo in Nueva Helvecia when ever you're ready. We may be rural blackguards but we know how to cook. :-)

We will have to wait and see what the courts make of the arguments. I suppose my little castle would be in the front line if the civil war broke out again... luckily I have a good stand of bamboo for making lances :-)

"telemundo.com.uy" Firefox is telling me that it can't find the server :-(

I'm gunless at the moment as the barrel of my horse pistol has developed a crack. I'm negotiating for my neighbour's short barrel musketoon but he's a hard bargainer.

OTOH I am equipped with a sabre, a pike and a generous supply of bamboo poles ideal for light cavalry use and my pal Horacio is currently building me a giant crossbow for the tower. For close action, my SO bakes genuine weapons-grade loaves of wholemeal bread. :-)

Perhaps we could mount the crossbow on the pick-up and wage a comedy war with the TV revenues used to help out the MVD Intendencia's finances :-)

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