Chile Forum

So here in Santiago,among the Jacarandas and the tear gas, I have found a vehicle I wish to purchase to get me out of here as quickly as possible. This car has no plates, but has a plate made out of paper in the window, with a form attached that appears to state that this is valid until January. My understanding from the seller, is that the plates are supposed to arrive within 1 month to the owner in Valdivia, at which point he will send them to me in Coyhaique. Does this sound legit? Also, since there is just the one "plate" copy in the front window, are the carabineros going to be pulling me over all the time because I don't have a plate on the back? Should I try to make a copy and tape it on the back bumper? Any thoughts/advice on this will be much appreciated.

This is normal, but a pain in the ·$%&/U( check the plate matches the serial of the engine and the chassis on the ownership forms, get the latest certs from registrvo civil to make sure there is nothing dodgy with the car....

chilco wrote:So here in Santiago,among the Jacarandas and the tear gas, I have found a vehicle I wish to purchase to get me out of here as quickly as possible. This car has no plates, but has a plate made out of paper in the window, with a form attached that appears to state that this is valid until January. My understanding from the seller, is that the plates are supposed to arrive within 1 month to the owner in Valdivia, at which point he will send them to me in Coyhaique. Does this sound legit? Also, since there is just the one "plate" copy in the front window, are the carabineros going to be pulling me over all the time because I don't have a plate on the back? Should I try to make a copy and tape it on the back bumper? Any thoughts/advice on this will be much appreciated.

For a replacement of plates the owner should be able to go to a Registro Civil and ask for Placa Patente Provisoria, which is good for 60 days. It is possible that this is what the former owner did to get that paper plate, and so I mention this (following) as a general understanding of the process and yes a temp paper plate can be legit. Even if the guy in Valdivia "forgets" to forward the plates, as long as you have the following you can request replacements when you get to Coyhaique.

Obviously some of the requirements won't work for you yet since you are not yet the registered owner -- so the current owner would need to have done this for the provisional plates (paper). Here is the process:

Registro civil says you need the following to replace (with duplicates) the plates:

- Fill out the form "Formulario de solicitud de Duplicado de Placas" And bring your thumb, because part of the replacement request means leaving a thumbprint on the form.

- If there was a theft of plates claimed then owner would need a copy of the denuncia. Sometimes registros civiles even ask for the police report (what they are calling a denuncia) if the plates were "lost" because that is also a reportable event, since the bad guys like to use stolen plates and carabineros need to know about stolen plates as soon as possible.

- Present carnet and "padron" which is ownership document for the vehicle ("Certificado de dominio").

- Permiso de circulacion - even if not current.

- Payment for replacements and receipt

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Now let's make this even harder: people are waiting up to 6 months for new or replacement plates because this is Chile and the government is inept. Read this article if there is any doubt in your mind (some of the government clowns are saying there is a "shortage of aluminum") --

http://www.nexchannel.cl/nexchannel/not ... ta=6810717

Senado cita a director del Registro Civil para conocer causas del problema

Insólita escasez de placas patentes para vehículos nuevos: Esperas de hasta 6 meses

Inesperado aumento del parque automotor y cambio de normas ambientales, entre otros factores, generaron cuello de botella en la entrega de las láminas identificatorias de vehículos.

Demoras de hasta 6 meses en la entrega de sus placas patentes afectan a quienes han adquirido vehículos nuevos durante este 2011.

Esto se debe a que la proyección del crecimiento del parque automotor que hizo el Registro Civil (entidad que realiza el trámite) quedó simplemente corta , dado que esperaban que la inscripción de vehículos nuevos llegara a 300 mil unidades y no a las 380 mil que se esperan de aquí a fines de año. Un 21% más del cálculo inicial.

Esto llevó a que la espera normal, de un promedio de 5 días hábiles, se tradujera en meses.

Thank you for your responses. I am now the proud owner of a beast I have named " La Weona" , and I believe she will make it to Coyhaique and beyond. Anyway, I'm about to find out. I will briefly relate my experiences thus far.
Finding her was not too hard; a couple days of trotting around the car lots along Amerigo Vespucio and we had found our bride. Paying for her was another matter entirely. For those who are interested in such things, apparently Chile does not follow the international spot price when it comes to coins of oro. Instead, it appears quite random, and the offers can vary wildly, but generally a couple hundred dollars below the world market.
Turning then to credit cards. Our dealership did not have a credit card machine. I read that people were able to get large chunks of money from their cards, but since I have never before taken a cash advance on them, I needed pin numbers which they would not give me over the phone. I went to the American Express office in Santiago, where I was handed a printout in both Spanish and English, stating that their office does not provide assistance to anyone.
I called the person I was working with at the car place, and he said we would go to his bank the next day to see what we could work out. In the meantime, I called my bank and raised the per-day withdrawal limit to $4000.00 US The next day we went with our car dealer to Bank of Chile, who could not help us, and suggested Santander. We went to Santander, and engaged the services of and extremely helpful gentleman who had attempted to help us the previous day with no success. I pulled out my three Visa cards, and managed to acquire all of $300 US. So we went to their ATM machine. The limit for each transaction was 200.000,00 CLP ,but somehow it allowed us to do it again and again, until I had actually acquired all we needed for the car. (Actually in my excitement, I overdrew my account a little bit)
We then went to purchase our truck. All paperwork was done at the office, our dealer paid all fees for notario,etc. and then took us to a mechanic, where he paid for a quick check and additional oil, and even a little hanging deodorizer. He then drove us back routes to our hostel, so we could avoid any toll. He was really very nice, and if our car makes it to Coyhaique, I might give him a plug here.
We then went to Fallabella, where I have read that one can acquire car insurance in 15 minutes. After wandering into various Fallabellas before finding the correct one, I was told very coldly that they do not sell insurance for cars to extranjeros, and that I was S.O.L. because I'm not Chilean. Despite my protests that many foreigners buy car insurance from Fallabella, they turned a deaf ear, so tomorrow our next goal is to find insurance before we hit the road south. Any alternate suggestions to Fallabella would be well appreciated.
And by the way, Santiago is REALLY hot. I believe in the hole in the ozone here, because the sun really burns!
ciao for now,
Chilco

chilco wrote: .... one can acquire car insurance in 15 minutes. After wandering into various Fallabellas before finding the correct one, I was told very coldly that they do not sell insurance for cars to extranjeros, and that I was S.O.L. because I'm not Chilean. Despite my protests that many foreigners buy car insurance from Fallabella, they turned a deaf ear, so tomorrow our next goal is to find insurance before we hit the road south.

Sí, Fallabella no es bella pero sí es una falla.

Do you have a RUT yet? That can help with the insurance game. You can send someone to an insurance agency with just the RUT and vehicle info and they need never see your pretty face to say oiga, you're not chilena. In fact at some agencies they don't even look at a carnet to check the RUT, just had it written down along with vehicle data, ten minutes and 15 Lucas y chao.

I think I used a MAPFRE office in Limache to get SOAP for a foreign-owned vehicle that had foreign plates and no residency for the owner. Too far to go to Limache but other MAPFRE offices might be handy. If the problem continues badly I might talk to my agent here and see if I can arrange it and then overnight the two copies to you.... in fact might even be able to scan and send faster. Should only be about 15,000 CLP or so for the coverage. I owe you that much anyway. And more, before it's all over.

There are also online means to buy SOAP but without a RUT don't know if we can make that work for you. I got part way through this and it looked promising - pick no-cliente. Lots of other online purchase sites for SOAP.

https://www.travelclub.cl/soap/no-clientes.asp

And good ruck

Yeh, get a temperay RUT so you can get your 3rd party liability insurance (SOAP) you don't want to be in the south in the middle of nowhere pulled over and the truck held until you go back to some town looking for a RUT to buy it. There may even be a fine for driving without it.

nwdiver wrote:Yeh, get a temperay RUT so you can get your 3rd party liability insurance (SOAP) you don't want to be in the south in the middle of nowhere pulled over and the truck held until you go back to some town looking for a RUT to buy it. There may even be a fine for driving without it.

Around here you can't register the vehicle without SOAP, so that scenario would be moot.

If the previous owner SOAP for that vehicle is in force.... why not? You buy it for a year and it's supposed to be nonrefundable and transferable to new owner, no?

chilco wrote:After wandering into various Fallabellas before finding the correct one, I was told very coldly that they do not sell insurance for cars to extranjeros, and that I was S.O.L. because I'm not Chilean. Despite my protests that many foreigners buy car insurance from Fallabella, they turned a deaf ear, so tomorrow our next goal is to find insurance before we hit the road south. Any alternate suggestions to Fallabella would be well appreciated.

Complete rubbish. I contracted car insurance from Falabella just a couple of weeks ago and have had 2 previous policies through them during the past 5 years. You probably do need a RUT number though.

James.

You're nothing without a RUT. BTW, make sure that your bank did not automatically lock your card since you probably withdrew above the daily limit. BoA immediately locks my debit card due to a fraud alert when I need to withdraw money to pay my rent.

I do have a RUT. I got it the first day I arrived in Chile. And I called my bank beforehand to increase my withdrawal limit. Turns out the insurance already on the car is good until next March!

.
Here is a note that relates to vehicle purchase, plates, and registration in Chile. Maybe something to add to the wiki.

When looking for used vehicles you will sometimes find one you like but it it is not currently registered. And it hasn't been registered for a few years. But it can be made to run and it's the model you have always wanted, and it makes it through revisión técnica and oh boy oh boy it's my Christmas present to myself.

You get to the permiso de circulación wicket with all papers in order and wham, the registration cost is off the graph. Why?

Because in Chile you have to pay for all the years that the vehicle didn't have a paid-up registration. Even though it was sitting in someone's galpón. The government assumes you have been driving it all that time without permiso de circulación, which is one of the country's larger sports.

Of course, there are places in the civilised countries that do this as well, that charge fees for vehicles not in use on public roads.

There is a solution. If you are going to keep an unlicensed vehicle, you can make a declaration at the municipalidad and effectively de-register that vehicle to avoid the obligation to pay for each year of non-use. You have to turn in the placas as part of this.

Por lo que valga,