Don’t. Go to the UK. Buy a car over there. Tax and insure it. Spend 2 days driving it over here. Job done and everybody happy.

Alternatively, get a bicycle or use public transport.

Whatever you do, DO NOT TRY TO BUY A CAR HERE, unless you have full residency status, in which case it’s fine. Also, even if the car is free, it will cost you just to transfer title (between €330 and €680). Yep, Italy is a great country, but I’m amazed that most Italians haven’t emigrated to somewhere where life and, in particular, bureaucracy, is much easier – like the UK, for instance.

So, a friend of a friend is emigrating to Canada. If she does not get rid of her car by 10^th July, she will have to pay a whole year’s insurance of €400. As she knows the difficulties here, she is prepared to let it go for free. And I have the chance to have it. Just a couple of small problems.

I can’t legally own it without having Residency here. It will take much longer than a couple of weeks to do this, even if I can, which I somehow doubt. And I need to have the car as mine has many, many things wrong with it and, surely, it is only a matter of time before it fails.

In addition, the owner has mislaid, or never had, one of the two documents that she needs for the car. To get a replacement can take 90 days! And cost €200! And she will be gone within 90 days!! And post, here, is difficult to have re-directed (I’m almost certain that you need to prove that you live at the new address before the Post Italiane will permit the post to be re-directed).

Maybe I should just give up?