3716 Buying Car and Using Phone

Dear All,
Sorry for being a bit slow but can I check whether I've got it right?
1. Am I right in thinking that I can't buy a car to leave in Italy because the house is (for the next few years) a holiday home so I don't have residence.
2. I can't take a car over from England unless I bring it back every year for MOT and Tax.
...so 3. My only option is exorbitant car hire

I have found it hard to understand all the info about mobile phones (I don't even own one) All I know is that, when in Italy, we are charged an enormous amount for the use of my wife's mobile - apparently whether we phone or receive calls. Is buying a mobile in Italy a way round this or will it still be the same?

Thanks for any help you can give,
Ben

Category
Cost of living - Utility Services

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 05/21/2006 - 16:05

Car. You no longer have to be a resident to buy an Italian car. It is helpful to have a permesso di soggiorno, and then (assuming you can demonstrate that you own a property in Italy) you can declare that you are going to spend half the year in Italy, and you are free to buy a car. If you buy a second hand car, you have to add something in the region of 500 Euros to the price for the "passaggio di proprieta" (to register the car in your name.) You cannot insure a car on Italian plates with anyone other than an Italian insurer, and insurance costs are high.

Similarly, you cannot insure a car on English plates with other than an English insurer, and English insurers check that you have an MOT - so unless you ship the car back to the UK to keep it in MOT you are snookered.

Mobile phones are really simple here in Italy. Just drop by your local Italian phone seller and pick up a decent (not top fashion!) Nokia for around 60Euros, and do it all "pay as you go" - buying credit for the phone in any tobacconist or supermarket. (If you have an English mobile phone which is "unblocked" you can just fit it with a new SIM card for about 10Euro.) Either way, this makes Italy to Italy calls reasonably cheap, and Italy to UK calls much cheaper (on today's information, things are changing...) than using your UK mobile in Italy - and the receiver pays nothing.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 05/21/2006 - 17:05

Thank you so much for such a prompt reply!

BTW do you really have to be staying for half the year or is that just a 'form of words'?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/22/2006 - 11:49

[QUOTE=Relaxed]... an Italian insurer, and insurance costs are high.....[/QUOTE]

Relaxed is right. To save some money you can insure your car (with Italian plates) online:

[url]http://www.genertel.it[/url]
[url]http://www.directline.it[/url]
[url]http://www.zurigo.it[/url]

Or go to [url]http://www.affari-web.it/assicurazioni_auto_moto_online.php[/url] for a complete list.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/22/2006 - 13:41

Two other things to say about mobiles are first that you can buy credit for your Italian sim card in an ATM using Bancomat and second the quality of the signal varies a lot from one provider to another so eg out in the country where before i got no signal from Omnitel I now get a good signal from Wind

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/22/2006 - 18:31

There is also a good "comparison" site for car insurance at [url]www.6sicuro.it[/url] (this one often comes up with [url]www.genialloyd.it[/url] as a best buy). But Direct Line are also coming into the market at competitive rates.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 05/22/2006 - 18:36

You make a good point. In my area Wind is hopeless!! So you should choose your Sim card provider (in my opinion) as the one which works best in your local area: most of the time the mobile will be "at home", and it is a real pain if you cannot get a signal when the phone is on charge in your bedroom!! You can also recharge the phone credit online - so you can do it from the UK, whichever operator you choose.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/25/2006 - 05:09

[QUOTE=Relaxed]Car. You no longer have to be a resident to buy an Italian car. It is helpful to have a permesso di soggiorno, and then (assuming you can demonstrate that you own a property in Italy) you can declare that you are going to spend half the year in Italy, and you are free to buy a car. If you buy a second hand car, you have to add something in the region of 500 Euros to the price for the "passaggio di proprieta" (to register the car in your name.) You cannot insure a car on Italian plates with anyone other than an Italian insurer, and insurance costs are high.

Similarly, you cannot insure a car on English plates with other than an English insurer, and English insurers check that you have an MOT - so unless you ship the car back to the UK to keep it in MOT you are snookered.

Mobile phones are really simple here in Italy. Just drop by your local Italian phone seller and pick up a decent (not top fashion!) Nokia for around 60Euros, and do it all "pay as you go" - buying credit for the phone in any tobacconist or supermarket. (If you have an English mobile phone which is "unblocked" you can just fit it with a new SIM card for about 10Euro.) Either way, this makes Italy to Italy calls reasonably cheap, and Italy to UK calls much cheaper (on today's information, things are changing...) than using your UK mobile in Italy - and the receiver pays nothing.[/QUOTE]

The ability to buy a car before becoming a resident interests me greatly - does it apply to non-EU citizens? I want to buy an Ape as soon as possible after I move to Italy this Summer - as apparently it takes about 3 months to get a permesso di soggiorno before applying for residency, any way of speeding things up would be very welcome!

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 05/25/2006 - 06:44

I don't know about non EU citizens, but for Europeans, getting the proper permesso di soggiorno takes a month or so, but a "valid receipt" of application for such a permesso is usually issued immediately.

Someone has recently pointed out that you don't need to own a house to buy a car (you could be renting a property), and whether the same ownership rules apply to (very small) Apes as to ordinary cars I don't know. Basically the important thing from the point of view of the authorities is that they are certain that you have an address in Italy to which any communications relating to traffic violations can be delivered.

Good luck