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I am in Basilicata so do not know any show rooms etc..in your area. However, I had a problem as they said I did not have the proper documents. I went to a VW sales room in Potenza. I took along my Permisso de Soggiorno, passport, code fiscale, but as I am still not a resident they could not allow me to buy the car. ( Cash not credit). My husband is now trying to buy a car, he was born in Italy but was naturalised in 1984. They have told him he needs an AIRE document??? Hope you have more luck than us.

Yes, we've been here 4 months now and had to hire a car at enormous expense ( need a car where we live )...we now have our residency which is why we are urgently looking for our own car.

must admit i did find it strange that we couldn't buy a car without residency....cost us a packet out of house budget to hire ! :mad:

The problem seem to be more the link between having insurance and buying the car, unlikr the UK, you can't buy a car without having insurance in place, also, you need to have an "officialised" address to register the car to, both parties, insurer and seller need this address. It is a damned sight more frustrating than the GB way, but a lot more secure, no uninsured cars being driven from dealers, then not being registered, BUT, I am sure the system breaches the principles of the EU relating to freedom of movement and trade, but, at the moment, it is the way in Italy...

George, how do you get round the address thing then.....we don't have one :o

[QUOTE=alex and lyn]George, how do you get round the address thing then.....we don't have one :o[/QUOTE]

Hi Alex & Lyn,

Stupid question alert......Apologies if this is a really mega daft question?

How come you don't have an address?
And how can you be resident without an address?

We have just bought a villa in Calabria, our satellite navigation system for the car recognises the Contrada we are on but the wall at the gate has 24 painted on it and the front door of the house (a mere 30 metres away) has 42 painted on it.

We originally thought there there must have been a dyslexic painter about at the time (no offence intended to anyone with dyslexia) but I'm now not sure about the numbering at all. How could any house be numbered in sequence when they are all built at different times (maybe decades apart)?

I am a little concerned that we will be the laughing stock of the neighbourhood because we purchased a 'cassetta da poste' and attached it to our railings but I wouldn't be at all surprised if there is absolutely no likelihood of any post being delivered to us at all. (So far the postbox has only been used as a very successful wasp's nest).

Could anyone tell us if post needs to be collected from somewhere (where?) usually?
Or does post actually exist in Italy?

I would be thrilled to find that post is outlawed and all the junk mail we get in England is a thing of the past but surely some things that could come in the post might be important??

Confused of Gilsland (and Belvedere Marittimo)
aka Lesley & Brian

We are the same as Alex and Lynn, have a house, but havn't a clue if it has an address or not. You get a box at the post office and collect your mail from there.........Not sure about junk mail though....... :confused:

No..we have no 'official' address...and all post goes to Post Office...just pop in and if they have a box they should give you one ( ours have none free at the moment !) so we just pop in a couple of times a week to collect.
We have had no problems with electric bills, residency, health due to no address...it is the 'norm' here. All we have is the Contrado name ......still concerned about the car thing tho' but meeting with our agent soon tolook at cars , so will find out all the gen.
Apparantly you have to have an address to register the car...but for the life of me I don't see how that is going to work.....watch this space...or if anyone else is in a similar situation please advise how you got round this.

Well...what can I say....got phone call...someone has exactly what we are looking for...go over, test drive it, examine documents, love it ,do a deal.... buy it !!! :)

All the guy needed was photo copy of Alexs' passport and we signed a form confirming we lived on our Contrado with SN ( senza indirizzio ) after it !!

NO ID card needed, NO residency papers ......we pick car up on Monday.

Just can't help wondering if all this time we've been wasting money hiring , we could , in fact , have bought !!! :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=alex and lyn]Well...what can I say....got phone call...someone has exactly what we are looking for...go over, test drive it, examine documents, love it ,do a deal.... buy it !!! :)

All the guy needed was photo copy of Alexs' passport and we signed a form confirming we lived on our Contrado with SN ( senza indirizzio ) after it !!

NO ID card needed, NO residency papers ......we pick car up on Monday.

Just can't help wondering if all this time we've been wasting money hiring , we could , in fact , have bought !!! :rolleyes:[/QUOTE]
No you do have an adress it's contrada ..whatever..snc (senza numero civico)
without a number, this is quite common and normal in rural italy and know a number of people in snc situations.However it is the resposability of the comune if you are in any doubt go to them ,as you are residents,and get them to give you a certificato di residenza it's a right not an optional,get your id card if you haven't already got one on which ...your adress is written..if there has been previous (and changed numbering) get them to assign it's new or actual civic number( this is particularly important for driving licence,insurance and any police matters.with an id card you can buy a car without any problem as it attests your residency (it is not required to show a permesso di soggiorno to almost anybody except police) as your id card is that proof.I'm sure that in your area there are plenty of car showrooms personally without any personal recomendations i would tend to go to a reputable concessionaire dealer as these offer (usually) better guarantees of being serious and solvent etc.There are in all parts of the country local magazines with endless pages of used cars for sale,or you can look on the net, for your area However i'd recomend to avoid any strange stories going to a proper car dealer as above.

[QUOTE=GeorgeS]The problem seem to be more the link between having insurance and buying the car, unlikr the UK, you can't buy a car without having insurance in place, also, you need to have an "officialised" address to register the car to, both parties, insurer and seller need this address. It is a damned sight more frustrating than the GB way, but a lot more secure, no uninsured cars being driven from dealers, then not being registered, BUT, I am sure the system breaches the principles of the EU relating to freedom of movement and trade, but, at the moment, it is the way in Italy...[/QUOTE]

I phoned ACI in Rome and was told that as an EC citizen (resident in England) frequently in Italy but not resident that I could register a car in my name at my ½ûÂþÌìÌà address provided I could demonstrate that I had a permanent address in Italy. However, local ACI office say that nothing bar residency would do. This seems to be similar to the confusion over Banca Posta: some people having no problem opening accounts and others been told that without residency it was not possible. What constitutes an "officialised address" ... ownership, rental agreement or as in UK: utility bills going back 6 months? Any thoughts anyone?

As Bananarama says, I heard a rumour thats its easier to buy in Greece, since the ships go from Brindisi to Corfu and Parga (mainland Greece and lovely town), we thought about getting some bikes over there. Sadly we will ahve to go over every year to re-register. Parga is a beautiful little town that I have been to on and off for 15 years, its was my 'sabbatical' place, so I cannot believe I am buying so close, weird!

Havent looked into it yet, so if you get any feedback let us know.
Good luck, and keep at it

And you'll never believe this but i want to Parga for my honeymoon (first one, second time round - Gretna Green) back in 1991. We stayed in some B&B accomodation that was brand new and attached to the back on a taverna. We used to walk down a hill, past a football pitch into the town at night (If my memory serves me well).

Spooky