If you spend anything more than a few weeks on Margarita, at some point you'll want to buy a car.

While taxis and buses are available for most trips, sooner or later you'll want the freedom of having your own vehicle and being the final arbiter of your own schedule. For visits of less than 90 days, it probably isn't worth it, but for anything longer than that it becomes worthwhile to buy a vehicle. This is especially true if you're thinking of buying a home here want to explore the island in depth and really get to know what's available on Margarita.

The first thing you should know is that cars are expensive on Margarita. Housing may be cheap, but vehicles are expensive. The import rules have been structured such that your vehicle can only be imported if it's less than one year old and you are the original owner. If this isn't the case, you can't import it. We suspect that the reason for these rules is to stimulate the sale of cars produced in Venezuela by closing off the supply of used vehicles. The net effect is to drive up prices on the used cars currently available. There is also the issue of inflation, which is currently running about 10%, and the inflation is also a key factor in the high prices for used vehicles.

If your budget allows the purchase of a new vehicle, go to the dealer and buy one. That's probably the best approach to obtaining a vehicle on Margarita. You may discover that the supply of new vehicles isn't as large or varied as you'd like, but they are available. However- if your budget or personal taste doesn't allow for the purchase of a new vehicle, your only other option is to find a used vehicle and buy it.

Buying a used car in Venezuela will be a frustrating experience for the average American who is used to a fast and efficient system for transfering title to motor vehicles. Buying a car on Margarita is neither a fast or efficent process, as you'll soon see.

The Process Of Buying A Used Car

The first step is to find a used vehicle that you'd like to buy. That isn't as easy as it sounds, because up until a year ago, there were no used car lots on Margarita. There are now a few used car lots, but they aren't very big and the selection is limited. The only real alternative is to look at the classifieds in El Sol, the largest daily paper on Margarita. You can also keep an eye out for cars that have "Se Vende" written across the back window, and get the phone number when you see one you like. Unfortunately, though, that's about it for options.

It is very wise to find a mechanic before you purchase a car. Find a mechanic you can work with, and when you find a car you think you'd like, have the owner bring the car to the mechanic for an inspection. This step could very well save you a lot of grief down the road, because there is a lot that can be hidden and covered up. Have the mechanic do a compression test on all the cylinders, and generally check everything- paying particular attention to the cooling system and drive train.

If you find a car you like, and have inspected it to your satisfaction and negotiated an agreement on price, you're ready for the fun to begin.

The first step is a trip to the police station in Porlamar to find out if the vehicle has any outstanding fines on it. That will cost B1200 (about 50 cents), and if there are no fines you'll get a paper attesting that there are no outstanding fines, but the paper is only good for 48 hours. The next step is to go to the police checkpoint outside Juan Griego, where you have to get an appointment for an inspection of the vehicle. The problem here is that they start making appointments at 03:00 AM, they only do 25 inspections a day, and the inspections start at 8:00 AM. In addition you have to have a bank voucher for B8000, and only a bank voucher will work. No cash, no checks, and you have to have the voucher and the paper attesting there are no fines when you show up for the inspection.

The vehicle owner and the vehicle must both be present at the police check, so make sure that the prospective owner agrees to a police check as part of the purchase process. Set a time limit if you like: if they want to sell, they'll get the check. If you want to be present, they can call you after they get their appointment and tell you when it is.

After a successful police inspection of the vehicle- which involves checking the engine serial number and chassis serial number against the paperwork and then running a computer check to see if anything is listed as stolen- an inspection report will be issued within 48 hours stating that the paperwork is in order and nothing is listed as stolen.

Next comes a bill of sale and a visit to the notary public. Typically a bank check for the full amount of sale is handed over at the time the bill of sale is notarized. The bill of sale becomes your title, when properly notarized. It appears that it's possible to have the vehicle registered in your name, but nobody does this. The mail service is inefficient and untrustworthy, and we're told that there is a good chance that if one sends the paperwork to the motor-vehicle department to have the title transferred to a new name that the paperwork will disappear forever. The net effect is that nobody does this, and so vehicle owners carry around a set of paperwork showing proof of ownership and transfer from the original owner down to the present owner.

The owner named on the title is the titled owner. The person buying the vehicle from the titled owner is referred to as the "first owner" even though they don't have their name on the title. The vehicle can be sold two times after that, utilizing a notary public transfer. With the third sale, the new owner must have the vehicle transfered to their name... which might not be easy at all. This creates situations where the value of the vehicle is in part a result of where one sits on the ownership chain. One way around this is to have a power of attorney (POA) drawn up, with title residing in the previous owner but all rights to the vehicle transfered to the new "owner" via a POA. Someone buying a vehicle from the "second owner" is wise to get a POA if they want to have a saleable vehicle.

Finally, there is some relief to this insanity. Occasionally the motor vehicles people have a "convocation" and anyone who brings in their paperwork can get the title in their name on location, in the same day. We are fortunate because such a "convocation" will occur sometime in November, and the attorney told us that he can't remember when the last one was. "How long ago- months or years?" was our question. "Years" was the reply.

We used a lawyer (English speaking) who is located across the hall from the Public Notary in Porlamar (Centro Commerical, AB). The lawyer cranked out a bill of sale for B50,000 and the notary charged us B68,000 so our total cost to transfer "title" was about USD $50. The notary's office is not like a notary's function in the U.S., think of it as more of a county clerk's office and you'll understand.

Impressions

Inefficient? Sure. Does it work? Yes. Would it be possible to go to Caracas (or wherever this department is located) and get the title transferred in person? When we asked the question nobody seems to have an answer. Usually they just roll their eyes that a gringo would be so foolish to ask such questions. Nobody does this. If you want the title in your name, why not buy a new car?

This process of buying a car takes time. People are almost never in a real hurry to get something done, so it can take weeks to get everything done. For us it was a process that took about 4 weeks from the time we started looking for a vehicle to the time we finally got possession. In our case, the first vehicle we tried to buy didn't work out. We don't think it was stolen, but the paperwork wasn't in order... something was missing... and they made excuses for not being able to get a police check until it became obvious that something was wrong.

We decided that if they didn't want to have the police check the paperwork, we didn't want the car. We found another vehicle with a motivated seller with a nice SUV and paperwork that was in perfect order... and the entire process was taken care of within 3 days. It could happen to you as well, but don't count on it.

If you're like most Americans, the freedom to just jump in your car and go anywhere you want, whenever you want, is something that you take for granted. Finding a cab and negotiating the fare is a hassle, especially if you don't speak the language well, and there are always going to be times when a cab is just not to be found. Having your own car is a nice solution to this problem.

What Kind Of Car Should You Get?

Always, always, always make sure that your housing has a secure place to park your vehicle. If your apartment doesn't have a secure parking space, either don't buy a car or find another place to live that provides a secure place to park the car. Don't even consider parking out on the street on a permanent basis or you'll wake up one morning and discover lots of parts missing from your car. 'nuff said on that subject.

Avoid exotic vehicles like the plague unless you have the money to deal with the frustration of importing hard-to-find parts. Ford has an assembly plant in Venezuela, as does the Toyota group. Parts for these vehicles are available. General Motors and American Motors parts are also easy to come by. You will see other vehicles, such as Land Rovers and Renaults, Fiats and Volkswagens. You may or may not be able to find parts for these vehicles.

If you can drive a standard transmission vehicle, buy one. Virtually any shade-tree mechanic can change a clutch, but if an automatic transmission goes out you're going to see some delay and expense getting it repaired. The automatic transmission vehicles are more expensive to buy and far more expensive to maintain and repair, so this is a "no-brainer" for us. There is a final issue, and that is security: it is common on standard transmission vehicles to have a tab welded on both the clutch and brake pedals so that they can be padlocked together to a tab welded to the floorboard. This is a low-budget but effective technique that makes it impossible to drive the car, and thus very difficult to steal.

Anything Toyota, anything Fiat and Chevy Corsas are the three types of vehicle most commonly stolen on the Island, and these three makes of vehicle are the ones most often stopped at the police checkpoints. If you buy one, expect to get stopped a lot more than if driving something else.

You'll also want to avoid dark colored vehicles. You'd think we wouldn't have to mention this, but we see black cars every day- so we'll say it anyway. The strong tropical sun on Margarita will turn a dark colored vehicle into a solar oven just about any and every day of the year, and the air conditioner will be working overtime just to extract the heat that the paint job is absorbing. White paint is best, and the temperature goes up from there. It is also popular to heavily tint the windows in another effort to beat the heat. This is fine, but night-time driving can be difficult until you get used to the limited visibility. Many of the vehicles on Margarita have everything but the windshield totally blacked out and even the windshields are tinted enough that mid-day looks like dusk.

Rusticos

The most popular (and expensive) vehicles are the SUV class of autos. Known locally as "Rusticos" they are usually Chevy Blazers, Ford Broncos, Toyota Land Cruisers, Jeeps of all flavors, and various other vehicles like Land Rovers, Isuzu Troopers, Kias and Dihatsus. We even saw an ancient Nissan Patrol and a new Hummer once- both on the same day. As to cost, expect a 10 to 15 year old Blazer to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. in U.S. dollars, or about B24,000,000.

The Toyota Group has introduced the Terrios, a small 4-door SUV that will be available under the Venezuelan family vehicle program. This vehicle and vehicle program are delayed and backlogged, but you can get a (brand new) Terrios for about B22,000,000 in the basic model and a fully tricked-out version for about B30,000,000. By next year this vehicle should be in full production and easilly available. If your budget can afford this, you should really consider buying one and avoiding all the hassle and mechanical problems that come with buying a used car.

When buying a used car, there is also the issue of finding a mechanic. We know of a pair of Swiss mechanics, young guys in their 30's, who are up by Playa el Agua. There is also an Austrian gentleman of about 60 years of age who has a shop in the Porlamar area, and all are said to do excellent work. We have received on recommendation for a Venezuelan mechanic, but we're trying to get a second opinion on that.

We have seen the result of some of the local repair work, and let's just say that if you want to maintain a vehicle on Margarita, either find a good mechanic (like one of the ones we mentioned above) or make sure your car doesn't have a computer or any micro-processor controlled modules in it. In other words, about a 15 year old vehicle with a simple carberator. Then, if it needs to be repaired, you'll have a wide choice of mechanics to turn to.

Driving On Margarita

Driving on Margarita is relatively straight-forward, and the roads are fair to good. The driving isn't much like that in the U.S., however, as it's more of a no-rules free-for-all. People merge from the left and right, cut in and out of traffic and one shouldn't count on anyone recognizing the concept of "right of way" or you'll get in a wreck. All in all, though, driving on Margarita isn't very bad at all. Most of the year there isn't much traffic because the population is low. During high season there are a lot more people, but most of them don't have cars.

The police and National Guard checkpoints take some getting used to- especially if your Spanish isn't very good. As stated earlier, Toyotas, Fiats and Corsas get stopped quite frequently because they are the most-often stolen vehicles. When driving, always make sure you have your passport with you (they want to see the passport- not a copy) and have all your paperwork in order in case you're stopped. Friday's are the most active days for the checkpoints, from about noon until 6:00 PM. We think that it's because most people get paid on Friday and the police and National Guard are looking for "tips" to fund their weekend activities. Yes, the practice of mordita is alive and well on Margarita.

Our position is that we don't pay bribes. Our paperwork is in order and if we didn't do anything wrong we don't have to pay any money. Of course, if we're pulled over for a traffic violation, that's another story. A "tip" for the officer will usually make him develop a memory problem and forget whatever it was that you did, but we frown on this system on general principles of not wanting to be part of police corruption. You'll have to make your own decisions if you choose to drive on Margarita.

With gasoline priced at about 15 cents per gallon for 95 octane gas, driving on Margarita is very economical. Diesel is even cheaper- priced at about 8 cents per gallon. There are lots of pretty places to see, and due to the inflation rate you can buy a vehicle and sell it a few years later and not lose any money (assuming you paid a reasonable price in the first place). The benefits of having your own car outweigh the frustrations of going through the process of buying one, and that's our conclusion.

Related Articles

·  The Basics of Margarita Island Real Estate ·  Margarita- The Last Of The Cheap Caribbean Islands ·  Thoughts On Reading The News