Our own van, finally! Yay!

We have our own van now... yahoo! It's a '99 Windstar and will be great for all the driving we do.

Now let me just record the process for transferring the ownership... I apologize in advance for how long this is, but it'll give you an idea of the 4 hours I spent in line ups. :-)

Puerto Rico has its own system of doing things. While in Ontario you would need to have the van "certified" for safety and emissions, here there is no such requirement (there is an annual emissions test in order to license a vehicle, that is easy to circumvent I'm told). While in Ontario you would disclose what you pay for a used car (to pay tax on it), here they do not collect tax on the transfer of a vehicle and don't care what you paid. While in Ontario the former owner simply "signs over" the prior ownership and the new owner goes in to register their car, here it involves having both the buyer and the seller go to the office together to have the deal notarized either by a public official (cost: $15, line up: 50 people), or a private lawyer.

• Agreed to meet the owner at 8:00 AM, when the web site said the offices would open. There are two lines - one for the "colecturía", and one for the dept. of transportation. The first line had about 50 people in it when we got there, the second had about 20. The colecturía sells "stamps" of varying values that correspond to the fee you need to pay. The transfer of ownership "stamp" costs $10. You can't pay that at the dept. of transportation, you have to have the stamp from the colecturía.


• To bypass the colecturía we went into a photocopy place that sells the stamps for a fee... the $10 stamp costs $11.50 - so we thought that sounded like a good deal rather being behind 50 people.


• Office didn't open at 8:00 AM. Someone in line said the office answering machine said 8:30 AM.


• Office didn't open at 8:30 AM.


• Department of transportation office opened at 9:05 AM. Colecturía was still closed. Security guard let in 10 people. The seller decided to ask the security guard if he knows whether the dept. of transportation will notarize the sale... nope... you have to go through the colecturía for that. Oh... but it isn't open yet... No problem, there's a legal aid office open across the hallway. We left our valued place in line and went there.


• Yes, the legal aid office will notarize our deal for $25. Only one transaction ahead of us... and within a few minutes 4 more behind us. Oh, one snag, the lawyer isn't there yet. She's on her way.


• At 9:45, the lawyer showed up. She notarized our deal within a minute. We headed back to the dept. of transportation.


• We stood in line for another 30 minutes. At 10:15, we were at the desk and ready to go...


• Nope. They can't let me own the car because I don't have a Puerto Rico driver's license. My passport and visa, birth certificate, Ontario driver's license, and newly received social security card are not good enough. I need to go to another town and get a certificate authorizing I am who I am, and then finish the deal within 10 days. Fortunately, I can do that without the seller.


• Rather than go through the hoops of getting the certificate, I decided to get my PR driver's license instead. There's an office in Fajardo - nice and close. And apparently there is reciprocity with Canada - I can trade in my Ontario license for a PR license provided I can pass the written test. Tonya got me an English version of the driver's manual and I studied.


• I went into the license office and showed the receptionist all my paperwork including my application for a license. No hablo ingles. :-) I need photocopies, I need $11 in "stamps" from a colecturía, I need 3 pictures, and I need the medical part of my application signed by a doctor. Receptionist suggested I go to the yellow house down the road, or the red one beside it.


• I went to the yellow house down the road. Let me set the scene. Front door is open. A few sticks of furniture in the living room/kitchen. The "doctor" is reading a newspaper and sitting at a table. Another guy comes out of an office and asks what else I need. I tell him. He makes copies of my documents, takes my picture for $6, and sells me the $11 of stamps for $14. Meanwhile the doctor asked me if I really need my glasses to drive, and whether I feel like I'm able to drive. "No health problems?" he asked. I said no. He signed my form and charged me $20.


• I returned to dept. of transportation and after some more waiting I went to a "teller" with all my stuff. She sort of speaks English... about as well as I speak Spanish. She sorted through all my stuff and gave me back my application for the driver's license. She says she'll complete the transfer of ownership as it is. No, I don't need any other kind of documents or certificate. Oh and driver's licenses are in the next line. Aargh.


• Since I'm there and I've invested $40 in my application already, I go to the next line for the license. Yup, everything is in order... except they have to mail me an "invitation" to come write the test since I'm a foreigner. I should get it in the mail in a couple of weeks.

So... we are glad for the new van and I hope you've enjoyed this reflection on red tape! :-) We consider it all joy.