4) On selling a car in Chile. Not!
Little did we
know, that we could not sell a car that we bought only a day before through a
notary office. Since they only give us proof of purchase and not proof of
ownership. Had the Public Registry Employees accepted our temporary RUT and
given us the proof of ownership 'al tiro' (at the moment like they say here)
the car would have been sold. But for us, nothing is ever that
simple.
All the employees
of the tow company were very helpful. They really wanted us to find a way to
return the car and get our money back. However, we were pressed on time. We
were all meant to be in Punta Arenas on Friday for the skills tests. We
were still heading the Patagonian Expedition Race… remember?
Complaints were
filled, papers were signed, our story was told yet another time and we headed
with our 550 lbs of gear to the bus station in Rancagua.
Click for part 1
Wed Feb 6th
9:00 AM
 |
| Sam resting on the flatbed truck in his new ToeSox Sandals. |
Sergio, picked
us at the Casino parking lot. We were all deep asleep in the sidewalk and slept
most of the way to the Notary Office. Our bodies and minds were exhausted. We
had not had any proper sleep since Tuesday morning when we got up early to buy
the car in Melipilla.
With high hopes
we headed to the Notary Office. By now we were experts on the process of
buying/selling a car in Chile. We knew that the public Registry would not do
the transaction due to our temporary RUT number. The Notary was our only hope.
We had the entire paperwork ready... We had it from the day before!
 |
| Yet another trip to the Notary Office. |
We headed back
to the towing company. By then the sun was high on the sky and they had enough
time to examine the vehicle. Enough time to realize the piece of junk we
bought and decide it was not in their best interest to buy it from us.
We were stuck
with the:
'Car That Shall Not Be Named'.
 |
| Playtime and then to the bus station! |
Our only option
was to put a formal complaint with the 'Carabineros' (police) stating the kms
we traveled and the day that the 'Car That Shall Not Be Named' died on us. In
that way we could continue our travels to Punta Arenas, race and head back to
deal with our junk with wheels.
 |
| Riding with the boys. |
Click for part 2
Click for part 3
Click for part 4
Wow, it looks like selling a car is a worldwide problem, and not just something confined to the United States and the terrible DMV! Thankfully you guys were lucky enough to deal with some cool tow truck drivers, a lot of them aren't nearly as helpful as the ones you dealt with.
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