How to Register a car

Hello hotdog.

Welcome to Expat.com

Thanks.

Karen

Did you buy the van from a dealership or from a private individual? If from a dealership they should register it for you.

You have taken a very great risk by purchasing a vehicle if you bought it from a private individual since all debts, fines, etc., that (and the seller may have) relate to the vehicle pass with it to you at the moment you register it you may find that you will need to pay hundreds if not thousands of reais that you didn't expect to shell out.

First off, are all the documents up to date and was the car actually in use? If so then it is a lot easier.

You need to have a "vistoria" inspection done by DETRAN. The document of Vehicle Registration must be signed by the previous owner (signature notarized in the Cartório) and then you should take everything to a Despachante (you'll find them in the yellow pages or ask around) who will take care of the transfer for you. They charge for their services but since you don't speak Portuguese and aren't familiar with the process you don't have a lot of options.

Hope this kombi of yours doesn't turn into your biggest nightmare ever.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

James, would you say it is safest to buy a new car/motorcycle and have it registered by the dealer? What else do I need to know? And when I decide to sell the vehicle, to a dealer or private person, what do I have to be aware of?

Hi sandboxred,

Yes, it's always safest to buy from a REPUTABLE dealer, and have them register or transfer the vehicle. The reason is that unlike many other countries, if you're buying a used vehicle, the fines and liens (if any) stay with the vehicle and not with the previous owner. You could end up being forced to pay a fortune in unpaid fines or have the vehicle reposessed because you don't know exactly how to search for this information and have the seller clear up such problems if you buy privately.

I stressed REPUTABLE dealer because there are some out there that won't do this either and just pass the problems along to unsuspecting customers.

Cheers,
James      Expat-blog Experts Team

Do I need a CPF to buy a vehicle? How does it work exactly with insurance and road taxes?

You're supposed to have both an RNE and CPF as far as I know.

There will be a tax - IPI (Imposto sobre produtos industrializados) which you pay on the purchase of the car, also IPVA (Imposto sobre a Propriedade de Veículos Automotores) which you pay annually with licensing of your vehicle and also the obligatory insurance DPVAT (Danos Pessoais Causados por Veículos Automotores de Via Terrestre) which you'll also pay annually at the time of licensing.

DPVAT only pays for injuries or death, NOT damage to vehicles. You need private insurance for that and to protect against civil suits from injured parties over and above what they receive from DPVAT which is relatively a small amount. Private insurance is costly and there are a lot of exclusions, you really need to discuss at length what is and isn't covered with the agent when you arrange a policy.

Cheers,
James   Expat-blog Experts Team