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buying a second hand car in Puglia

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sukeyh
  5/29/2019 15:35 EST

HI All,

Just new to this. I own a house in Puglia ( since 2006), have a codice fiscal, but do not have a certificate of residency as I still live in the US. I have been offered a local little old fiat ( every time I go to Italy, I rent a car and it always gets dented or scratched and I have to pay for it to be fixed). I am unclear as to the process of getting a certificate of residency. I think I might need it to buy the car and yet I am not a resident. I do not plan on spending more than 3 months there and do understand that I can have it insured and uninsured about 3 times a year without penalty. Can I get this residency from my local town hall ( a very small town in the province of Otranto, Lecce.
Any/all advice is helpful. And the guy selling it to me is very honest, but not sure I can actually buy the car without getting this certificate...

maluza86
  5/29/2019 22:01 EST

You do need your certificate of residency to buy the car. It should be easy to obtain. Go to the local Commune or Anagrafe in Otranto and apply. You'll have to be at home when the local vigile or polizia come to make sure you actually live at the address you put down or that is registered.

Once you have the certificate, along with your codice fiscal and Carta d'Identita you can buy the car.

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rsetzer99
  5/30/2019 05:13 EST

The OP stated they were Americans and we're just staying in Italy on a standard three month tourist visa. They will not be able to get a residence card and will not be able to buy that car

Shtinky
  5/30/2019 14:31 EST

In order to get the Carta d’identita you have to first get a Visa to live in Italy before you leave the US. Then you must apply for a Permesso di Soggiorno or Permit to Stay. Once you get this you apply for the Carta d’identita or Residence Permit. Only then can you buy a car and register it. If you are here only on a 90 day tourist visa, you cannot buy a car.

sukeyh
  6/5/2019 13:44 EST

Hi to the last person who responded. I seem to be getting different answers. It seems really weird that I can buy a house in Italy, but not a car???
What do people do who are in my predicament. They surely do not rent every year...
Again, I will try to get what I need while I am there this time, but find it ridiculous that I have to go to the consulate in New York to prove my income and insurance when I am not going to live there, at this point, for longer than three month increments per year. Surely there must be an alternative?

Shtinky
  6/5/2019 16:24 EST

Hi Sukeyh. It all has to do with the anti-Mafia regulations. You cannot buy a car because you could take that car out of Italy and sell it thus laundering your money. You cannot take a house out of Italy and sell it. So you can buy a house. For Americans it makes little sense. But it is the law here. And people who don’t have residency rent cars when they come. It’s the only legal way. And without residency you could not even insure the car, so you could never register no matter if you could buy it. Anyway, if you want a car you will have to jump through the hoops needed to get your residency. Sorry.

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Sergios
  6/5/2019 16:46 EST

Long term leasing in Italy is geared towards businesses and not individuals. However there are a few companies that will lease to individuals. The costs are reasonable but.....
As an American in Italy you do not have a financial record. No tax returns, no employment. So they will not lease to you. However and I don't know this as a fact, you might consider bargaining with the lease company buy offering to pay the lease fees in advance. Up front. Just an idea.

codybrandy
  6/5/2019 17:18 EST

How about: Do you have a friend or relative in Italy who could buy the car with your EEE/$$ and insure it for you? In Italy the person is not insured, the car is so I think you could drive it legally. One problem any speed tix you might incur will be on the actual owner...but I understand that the owner can inform the mottoriazione that they were not driving the car at the time of the ticket and have it transferred to you. If you are in Italy longer than one year you must have an Italian license. This is just a thought...friends in Le Marche did this and it worked for them. Good luck

Shtinky
  6/5/2019 17:36 EST

Codybrandy, except this puts both parties at a big risk. It is certainly not legal. I wouldn’t want to do that to someone I knew. But that may be just me.

HenryGiovanni
  6/5/2019 19:50 EST

Hi sukeyh,
My wife is Italian; I am US citizen only. We moved here, bought a condo and it was in both our names. No problems.

We later bought a car. At time of title-transfer, they wanted proof of my Residenza, which I'd left at home. End result: the car went into my wife's name and not mine. Just how it is. You must have the Residenza in order to put the car into your name. Residenza is obtained only after the Permesso di Soggiorno. It's a bureaucratic two-step dance, that involves yet another step inside of those two steps (ie- polizia locale check), and maybe more, depending upon personal details.

End result: I can easily buy a house, but not so much a car. Think of it this way: insurance is required, absolutely. They want to know where to send the tickets/lawsuits, etc. It needs to be enforceable, for them. In other words, they need to be able to "reach out and touch someone". If you don't have Residenza, then you will be harder to "touch". And it doesn't matter that the car will remain parked for "X" amount of time while you are in your home country; it has no bearing on ownership and liability (ie- theft plus an accident by the thief) absent insurance that can only be purchased with proof of Residenza. In short, ability to purchase a house does not equal ability to purchase a car.

It gets complicated, as you have already discovered. Just how it is. It ain't like "home" (wherever that may be). Nonetheless, it is the law here and they make the rules.

Hope this helps.
Cheers, John.

HenryGiovanni
  6/5/2019 20:01 EST

Hi All,
Replying to my own post. but also to the site owners:

Now that I have posted a response, I see other posts that I was unable to see beforehand.

I have noticed this on other threads, where I may see a response to a question that was not "visible", to me.

There was a problem on this site last year that was similar. I hope the mods see this post and make the appropriate adjustments so we are all able to help. Because when I can't see the question, I surely don't know the answer.

Cheers, John.

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maluza86
  6/6/2019 01:07 EST

Hello Sukeyh,

I provided the initial response, but didn't fully read into your situation and made an assumption that you had a visa.

As everyone else has since posted in order to buy a car you have to be a resident.

In order to become a resident you need a permesso di soggiorno.

In order to get a permesso di soggiorno you need to apply for a an elective residency visa at your local consulate.

Italy doesn't not care that you only plan on staying for three months at a time. If you want to buy a car you need to become a resident and in order to do that you have to prove that you "want" to live in Italy full time.

Sorry for the misunderstanding on my original post.

Sergios
  6/6/2019 02:51 EST

To clear one misunderstanding, the one year period in which your foreign driving license is allowed starts when you obtain residency, not when you first arrive.

rsetzer99
  6/6/2019 03:04 EST

The French companies, Peugeot, ect offer excellent leases for long term and the cars are fully covered. I did 6 months with a Peugeot, and when I took it back with a few scratches they shrugged and said. "Thats what the insurance is for"

codybrandy
  6/6/2019 05:00 EST

Shtinky, but wouldn't it be the same as when my kids come to visit...I let them use my car...I asked the driving instructor and he said they didn't have to tell the ins. company (but maybe that would be a good idea)?

Shtinky
  6/6/2019 05:15 EST

Hi codybrandy,
We lend our car to house sitters but that is perfectly legal since they may drive the car less than 1% of the time that we have the car. Same for your only visiting kids. If you had a friend buy a car and register it for you, I assume you’d be the driver all the time, no? So it isn’t the same.

sukeyh
  6/6/2019 17:27 EST

Thanks to one and all for giving me advice ( even if it was what I had suspected and didn't want to hear!).
I think the best bet is to just ask my guy if I can pay him and pay for his insurance and drive it when I am there... Hope he goes for it!

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