Anyone bought a car in Italy?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I have got a mega horn for this, its for sale at a dealer's in Northern Italy:

 

http://www.subito.it/vi/33516558.htm

 

Looks like any old 33, but it is the MEGASHITE 3-cyl turbodiesel version, which is unsurprisingly ridiculously rare. WANT!

 

I emailed the seller, with a few questions, to which he replied with the single word 'OK' by email. F***ing cheers for that. Then I got one of wor lass's friends, who is Italian, to email him. No reply at all. Meanwhile, I looked into the admin of buying a car in italy and it seems there is officially no way a non-italian resident can buy a used car, you need a residency permit to complete the transfer of ownership. I dont doubt there are ways round that, if the car is going out of the country and will never be seen again, but I guess it will need a bit of willingness on the part of the seller to bend some rule or other. Basically i'm sure he's actually got to want to do it.

 

I really want to just ring him up and say 'look will you sell this to me or what' and if he says yes then discuss the details like hanging on to it, paying a deposit etc. If he says no then fair enough and i'll forget it. Has anyone been thorough this rigmarole before?

[Vin]

Member of this parish 'MrSteve' got his Panda 30 air cooled from Italy...Also Mr Nicholson, who I understand you've spoken to before got his 132 injection from Italy as well...

[pompei]

I looked into doing this with a 500 a few years back. I recall that it could be messy and time consuming depending upon the temperament of the various bureaucrats involved. I didn't bother in the end as it was all too troublesome. On the other hand, I know a bloke who bought a car over there ( he is Italian but long since domiciled over here) stuck on a set of British plates and a matching British tax disc (helps if you already have a similar GB registered car) and simply drove it home.

[gearoil]

Can't help with the original question Mr B, but whats the story with the 3 pot lump..?

 

Without resorting to google, did Alfa produce this or was it swiped from elsewhere..?

[Albert Ross]

It's a 1779cc VM unit.

[Lacquer Peel]

3 headed monster.

Get it bought!

[pompei]

According to this forum there does semm to be a way round it ...

 

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/italy-expat-forum-expats-living-italy/56486-advice-needed-buying-car-italy-taking-back-uk.html

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I'm fairly certain it will be almost 100% dependent on the general willingness/helpfulness of the seller. Unf I can't rouse this guy by email, I need to find a shite-loving italian speaker who will ring him up and find out what the bobby moore is. I am gonna see if I can round up a suitable victim at work tomorrow. I want this car!

[garethj]

Sounds like 5 minutes taking the plates off one of your other cars, book a flight to Italy, do the thing where he takes the plates off and you're good to drive to England. Don't get caught speeding and you'll be fine.

 

You might need a Shipley quote or A frame friend to get it home from Dover, but compared to the whole journey it's a doddle.

[Albert Ross]

What about an Italian coming to the UK to study, might need a car to bring all his stuff............. He insures it, fuels it up, and drives over... any way to find out?

[hairnet]

Sounds like 5 minutes taking the plates off one of your other cars, book a flight to Italy, do the thing where he takes the plates off and you're good to drive to England. Don't get caught speeding and you'll be fine.

 

You might need a Shipley quote or A frame friend to get it home from Dover, but compared to the whole journey it's a doddle.

 

 

and then have french plates and book the ferry on them at calais

[garethj]

Good plan, or maybe any plates from a country you're not visiting, and do the whole journey.

 

This may not be absolutely the finest legal advice you've ever received btw

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I have a friend who lives in Milan. If you can't find a simpler solution, I'm sure she could be persuaded to have the car temporarily registered to her name in exchange for a few bottiglie di vino!

[Micrashed]

This may not be absolutely the finest legal advice you've ever received btw

 

You would have thought with Euroharmony it would be a simple matter wouldnt you.

[messerschmitt owner]

I once sold a German-registered/titled Goggomobil TS250 to an Italian chap - asked why he just didn't buy one in germany, he said he hated the Germans and wouldn't buy a car from them. That's Euroharmony!!

 

I towed it to near Abingdon to go to the shipper, and it was loaded on a truck - it was the last I saw of it.

[Volksy]

I think it's pretty difficult to purchase a car in Italy if you're not a resident. This includes one for export. It seems to stem from the seller needing to de-register the car when he sells it, and it needs to then be re-registered at the time to another resident. Not sure how they go on with scrapping vehicles, I assume that they have a similar COD system to ours.

From the bit of research I've done, if the vehicle is not re-registered to someone within 30days, the liability for taxation and fines then defaults back to the previous owner, even if they have de-registered it. At the time of de-registration the plates are surrendered, as in Switzerland, so it would be difficult to sneak one too and over the border. I looked into this a few years ago when I lived out there, and ended up borrowing my mates spare car rather than buying one myself, as even though I had a 'carta di soggiorno ' it was far too much hassle. I think as said before, the easiest way is to find an Italian mate to register it in their name, then mail them the plates back once you get the car back on UK soil so then can de-register it. I think also if you officially 'export' the vehicle 'sans plates' anything with a perceived value of over €600 is taxable by Italian customs, and needs to go through commercial border checks which can be costly.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

I’m fairly certain there are no taxes to pay, due to Italy being in the EU! Stuff is supposed to be able to move around freely within the eurozone. There is no customs checkpoint between France and Italy.

 

Its just Italian bureaucratic bo11ox which I am sure can be negotiated by someone who’s in the right frame of mind.

 

I don’t want to register it to someone in Italy as then i will have to fork out a bumload of other monies for insurance, registration fees etc which serve no purpose at all.... and also that would strike me as a net increase in bureaucracy rather than a decrease.

[Volksy]

Here's some more info, at least showing the forms you need!

 

http://www.maserati-indy.co.uk/alfieri05.htm

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Hey cheers for that, thats pretty handy.

 

I am 99% certain that if I could get it away from the seller with the reg document in my hand i’d be home and dry. He’s only 45 mins from the French border.

[Volksy]

Yeh probably so, but I think the seller needs to retain it to then get it out of his name - along with the plates. Given it's Italy, a few euros slipped in his direction may give you possetion of the docs/plates for long enough to get it out of the country and mail them back to him...

[messerschmitt owner]

do they not do export plates in Italy (like the Germans do)?

 

If not, insure it on the chassis number and just drive it back home.

[Volksy]

According to the link above, they kind of do, but only valid for 48 hours, which will be enough time certainly.

[Jon]

How about taking a car and A-frame, dropping off at the French border, buying the Alfa then driving the car (either with/without the dealer), taking off the plates and then dropping them (and the dealer) back where you bought it from. Would mean leaving an unregistered car somewhere randomly on the French border for a short while but then when it was connected on the back of your A-frame, would it not just be an extension of your tow car, so just require a duplicate number plate from that?

 

Sounds simple but would probably be a ball-ache. It'd make a great thread though!

 

Edit: or you could just a-frame it from the dealers and save all the above shenanigans (especially as I couldn't figure how you'd get to the Alfa from the border in the first place).

[Mr_Bo11ox]

The seller has been back in touch saying 'ring me up' and i've got an italian guy lined up at work to help me do that tomorrow. w00t!

[panhard65]

I haven't brought one from Italy yet but would recommend trailering anyway as insurance is the major problem. I know they can't sell the car with number plates so you wouldn't want to fly out there then find there are no plates on the car and try and drive it back. A friend of mine is doing a couple of runs delivering cars to hungary at the moment with a 2 car transporter. I think he has a load back this time but can do very good rates if you are interested

[MrSteve]

I had to fork out about 170 euronotes to sort out the legal/admin on the Panda to get the car registered as 'destroyed' for export and get insurance to drive back. I had to send a copy of my passport photo page and give my home addess details.

 

I was then able to drive the car back on the assurance that I would send back the number plates to him so he wouldn't get hounded for future car taxes. It all worked out fine, thought I suspect that having an understanding vendor helped.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Rang this dude up last night. He was reasonably helpful to be fair. He says the 33 has been sat in a garage for 10 years and though it starts and drives OK he strongly recommends NOT trying to drive it 800 miles back to England straight off. He will deregister it as scrapped/exported for 100 euros, but if that happens he does not want it driven away from his garage which sounds reasonable I suppose.

 

So i have stuck it on ‘Shitly’ and ‘Ushit’ and we’ll see what happens, though looking through shitly I can’t see many successful repatriations of cars from Italy and the ones i can see were costing four-figure sums. I don’t really fancy trying to A-frame it all the way home behind the Rover though i might be persuaded if i had a slightly bigger/heavier diesel load lugger of some sort. We’ll see.

[Micrashed]

Just a thought - would it make life any easier if you drove it back to the Bollcave in France and "rested" it there for a little while?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Not really, thats about a 400 mile drive, if I made it back there i'd just carry on and come home!

[Rocket88]

European breakdown cover? Drive it 'til it expires, then get it relayed back?