Bought our first car in Italy, an experience!
Discussion
We now have an Italian registered car! We had to really, as the wife had a smash in the family Tino, and it was knock for knock (single track road, Italian white van man didn’t even slow down going around the corner, so the whole front was smashed in!)
Rather than getting it fixed, taxed and MOT’d again in the UK, we decided, Sod it, why not get a new one, so we don’t have to worry about having to go back every year for the MOT.
It was quite an experience, the Italians love documents and thousands of signatures for the most mundane of things.
We went to the Nissan dealer in Asti, seeing if they’d part ex our Tino, but no joy – they would have given us 600Euros off the price of a new car. I knew that 0km cars could be had with as much as 20% off (IVA), so I asked about what deals they had (The salesman was quite good at speaking English, but just wanted to talk to us about carp fishing in the UK!)
He came back with some figures for a 0km car, and said “This is much cheaper than an unregistered car”, I thought, great, a 17k Euro car can be had for around 13-14k then?
No, he said it’s about 1k cheaper! I told him that’s silly, that isn’t what I’d call ‘much cheaper’, what about the IVA I don’t have to pay because it’s already registered? He looked a little red in the face and went off to see his boss again – came back with a proper figure, which I agreed to. I specified I wanted alloy wheels to go with the car, and he asked if I’d like 15 or 16”, I chose the latter for an extra 500 Euros.
A few days later, I came in with the cheque for the full amount, and the salesman (still ‘carping on’ about how great the UK is because of the fishing!) gave me the form with all the specs on it, so I can get it insured. I noticed it still said it had 15” steel wheels on the paperwork, so I questioned this. The guy rang up someone, and he then told me that 16” wheels could not be fitted to this model, and the 15” wheels would cost me a FURTHER 500 Euros. (Thought they may help resale value)
It was very hot that day, and I hate the feeling of being ripped off, especially when it comes to a ‘white goods’ bog standard family car which I find difficult to get too excited about. I told him, “OK, I don’t want it..”, he said, “Erm, OK, you don’t want the wheels….?”, “No”, I said, “I don’t want the car, we already agreed a price, I am not paying extra for smaller wheels, keep it, I’ll go to the dealer down the road…”
Even redder than before, he ran to his boss, I went outside to get some air, and he came back and said they’d include the wheels for no extra charge, plus a lot more optional goodies! It worked!
When I picked up the car on Friday, he said what unnerved them the most is the fact that I didn’t react like an Italian, all shouting and arm waving for a minute or so before calming down – but with little emotion I told him essentially to stick it, and was about to calmly walk out – he seemed quite fascinated by that!
After calling it a ‘white goods’ bog standard car, it really is quite good, it’s a Nissan Note diesel. The insurance cost almost 1,300 Euros, fully comp and insured to drive the car without any limitations anywhere in Europe (Italsure insurance). It seems steep, but is very cheap in comparison to what others pay – a lot are around the 800-1000 Euro mark for Third Party liability only, not even fire and theft!
I must have signed about 20 different documents during the purchasing of this car, almost as hard to get as our residency!
Rather than getting it fixed, taxed and MOT’d again in the UK, we decided, Sod it, why not get a new one, so we don’t have to worry about having to go back every year for the MOT.
It was quite an experience, the Italians love documents and thousands of signatures for the most mundane of things.
We went to the Nissan dealer in Asti, seeing if they’d part ex our Tino, but no joy – they would have given us 600Euros off the price of a new car. I knew that 0km cars could be had with as much as 20% off (IVA), so I asked about what deals they had (The salesman was quite good at speaking English, but just wanted to talk to us about carp fishing in the UK!)
He came back with some figures for a 0km car, and said “This is much cheaper than an unregistered car”, I thought, great, a 17k Euro car can be had for around 13-14k then?
No, he said it’s about 1k cheaper! I told him that’s silly, that isn’t what I’d call ‘much cheaper’, what about the IVA I don’t have to pay because it’s already registered? He looked a little red in the face and went off to see his boss again – came back with a proper figure, which I agreed to. I specified I wanted alloy wheels to go with the car, and he asked if I’d like 15 or 16”, I chose the latter for an extra 500 Euros.
A few days later, I came in with the cheque for the full amount, and the salesman (still ‘carping on’ about how great the UK is because of the fishing!) gave me the form with all the specs on it, so I can get it insured. I noticed it still said it had 15” steel wheels on the paperwork, so I questioned this. The guy rang up someone, and he then told me that 16” wheels could not be fitted to this model, and the 15” wheels would cost me a FURTHER 500 Euros. (Thought they may help resale value)
It was very hot that day, and I hate the feeling of being ripped off, especially when it comes to a ‘white goods’ bog standard family car which I find difficult to get too excited about. I told him, “OK, I don’t want it..”, he said, “Erm, OK, you don’t want the wheels….?”, “No”, I said, “I don’t want the car, we already agreed a price, I am not paying extra for smaller wheels, keep it, I’ll go to the dealer down the road…”
Even redder than before, he ran to his boss, I went outside to get some air, and he came back and said they’d include the wheels for no extra charge, plus a lot more optional goodies! It worked!
When I picked up the car on Friday, he said what unnerved them the most is the fact that I didn’t react like an Italian, all shouting and arm waving for a minute or so before calming down – but with little emotion I told him essentially to stick it, and was about to calmly walk out – he seemed quite fascinated by that!
After calling it a ‘white goods’ bog standard car, it really is quite good, it’s a Nissan Note diesel. The insurance cost almost 1,300 Euros, fully comp and insured to drive the car without any limitations anywhere in Europe (Italsure insurance). It seems steep, but is very cheap in comparison to what others pay – a lot are around the 800-1000 Euro mark for Third Party liability only, not even fire and theft!
I must have signed about 20 different documents during the purchasing of this car, almost as hard to get as our residency!
Ill rephrase it, I agree buying is easy, understanding is not , maybe I should have said Planning rather than Buying or the word Habitabilita, ever tried to get the correct paperwork for a .....Pozzo?.
Paperwork eh, My Italian/Australian cousin wanted to get married to a Sicilian and ....you wouldnt like to know the trouble she had getting the paperwork in order.Every time she made an attempt the next person came up with a different set of paperwork requirements...oops Im woffling.
Paperwork eh, My Italian/Australian cousin wanted to get married to a Sicilian and ....you wouldnt like to know the trouble she had getting the paperwork in order.Every time she made an attempt the next person came up with a different set of paperwork requirements...oops Im woffling.
xjandy said:
Ill rephrase it, I agree buying is easy, understanding is not , maybe I should have said Planning rather than Buying or the word Habitabilita, ever tried to get the correct paperwork for a .....Pozzo?.
Paperwork eh, My Italian/Australian cousin wanted to get married to a Sicilian and ....you wouldnt like to know the trouble she had getting the paperwork in order.Every time she made an attempt the next person came up with a different set of paperwork requirements...oops Im woffling.
LOL, I know, it does seem that each commune has a different set of rules, or they don't know what the hell they are, depending on how popular the area is with foreigners - our area isn't popular (no-one speaks English - but that was our problem, we decided to move here), but I had my boss and estate agent help us out a lot. The guy at the car dealer even told us we couldn't have an Italian registered car at first, even though we know we can, and did!Paperwork eh, My Italian/Australian cousin wanted to get married to a Sicilian and ....you wouldnt like to know the trouble she had getting the paperwork in order.Every time she made an attempt the next person came up with a different set of paperwork requirements...oops Im woffling.
I can only imagine the nightmare of paperwork and red tape need to fight through with marriage!
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