The Car

We have a car. Before we left for the US, way back in April in fact, we agreed to purchase a 1998 Opal Astra Wagon from the then Latin teacher and his family. After being here in Viterbo for almost three months, Amy actually owns it. The car has been passed down from teacher to teacher pretty much since the school opened ten plus years ago. Passed down might be a tad confusing. You buy the car, it isn't given away. The selling price has drifted down over the years so that now it is worth a few thousand euros, pretty much the same price as any car which runs. With it we also inherited Giorgio and Mario, Italy's answer to Click and Clack. They make sure the car runs and treat you like family when you come in to have any work done. The magnificent beast is shown below in all of its silver glory. Yup, that's bird shit on the hood, the bumpers are scraped and scratched, the CD changer doesn't work and there are dings and bruises all over it. It is a classic, city car. You might notice that it is also old enough that it doesn't have one of the new-style, euro designed license plates.

Owning a car in Italy is quite a process. Then again, dealing with all the hassle of the DMV and all of the requirements in the US isn't easy. It just seems that the Italians have elevated things to a whole new level. We have been dealing with the joys of ownership since we arrived. First things first, you can't own the car (or any property) until you have legal permission to live here. In other words, tourists and illegal aliens can't buy a car. It took almost two months just to get that. Then we had a to wait a little longer until the sellers could have a power of attorney certified by the Italian Consulate in Boston so that someone could act as their agent here and sell us the car. Notice the mismatch? They leave, we arrive, we are never in Italy at the same time and even if we were our permisso is 6-8 weeks down the road. Nevertheless, all the pieces came together last Friday and Amy took title to the car. Next up are all the permissions, inspections and assorted paperwork which need to be done. Below is a picture of our passenger side windshield with all of our official stickers.

Unlike the US, all of the various pieces transfer with the car. Thus, just because we bought the car doesn't mean it needs to be reinspected. This is a good thing since we had the Revisione (inspection) done when it was due in September. It is good for two years, so we should never have to do that again while we own the car. At the same time, we got out Bollino blu, the small blue sticker on the windshield. This is the city emmisions sticker which must be renewed every year. Fortunately, Viterbo has relatively lax emmisions standards so it is easy for even an older car like ours to pass. Next up was the Bollo. This is your annual road tax which is based on the car's weight, engine power and fuel type. Fortunately, this can be renewed at a Tabacci which we also did in September. The piece we did on Friday was the actual sale and title transfer. As part of this you pay a one time transfer tax, but no sales or value added tax. Unlike in the US, the tags transfer with the car so there is no need for new plates unless you are buying a new car from the dealer. This this government tax is collected by a private agency. They charge you the tax and for all of the stamps, etc. which go along with it and then they tack on their own fee. When we were there they told me the total. As I was getting out the money they dropped the amount so that it was an even multiple of ten. When the person we were with thanked them for the discount they misunderstood him and said, "Discount. Of course we can give you a discout" and dropped the amount by another ten euros. It helps that they are good friends of the person we were with, but connections are what it is all about. So far, to date, in addition to the purchase price of the car and dealing with a couple of small maintainance issues, the cost of owing the car is around 750 euros; just over $1000 with some of the items needing to be done on an annual basis.

Technically we still have a couple of other pieces do deal with. The car MUST be insured. Right now we are still driving on the insurance from the previous owner. We have been trying, unsuccessfully, to contact the Geico agent here in Italy to arrange for our own insurance. We must get that done before 22 November which is when the current insurance expires. The insurance card is posted in a little pocket which is also stuck to the windshield so that the police can see immediately if your car is uninsured without even stopping you and asking for proof of insurance. You might also notice the yellow and green sticker on the windshield. That is our parking permit from the City of Viterbo which allows us to park in residents' parking spaces within the city walls. We are entitled to do this since we live there. While we seldom even drive into the city walls, having the permit does allow us to park for free in what would otherwise be prime, paid parking spaces outside the city wall. That comes due in January and we will be sure to go through the hassle of renewing it.