Buying a new car

rriiccaarrddoo wrote:

We are moving to Salinas in April of 2020.  We are coming in and then applying under investor visa (we already hired a leer and going to start the process once we get there).  With that being said one the first things we need/want to do is buy a car,  we are looking at a 2019 spark from the dealer. (No financing)    My questions I'm hoping for some help is;
1. Can we buy a car from dealer or even used with out having visa yet and under our legal valid drivers lice from Texas? 
2. Can we just for the car straight out? No financing
3. What should we get here in Texas prior to our arrival in Ecuador? (Paper work etc).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

1.  You can buy from a dealer showing a passport.  The Texas DL is not relevant to the purchase.  If you plan to drive the car past the first few months, you will need a valid Ecuador license.

2.  Plan to pay cash for the car before driving it off a dealer's lot.

3.  Your third question presents issues more complicated than it may appear.  You should probably be working with an Ecuador-based attorney to make sure you have the right and correctly apostilled documents for immigration purposes and car-related plans.  You stated that you have already hired a "leer" (Spanish for 'to read').  If that was a typo and you meant lawyer, perhaps you are on the right track .. and should ask the third question to him or her.

cccmedia

Thank you so much.   And yes that was a typo we do already have a lawyer hired there for the immigration stuff I guess what I meant was there any paperwork I needed to get here in Texas for the purchase of the car? (our paperwork for our immigration status is definitely already in the works)  sounds like all I need is my passport and cash!   I'm assuming a money order or a cashiers check from a bank here in the United States is not good enough? Thanks again for your advice

You might alert your Texas bank that you plan to wire money from your account to a dealership account in Ecuador, asking your bank for the procedure.  Perhaps your bank would want you to sign a paper enabling such a potential transfer of funds to be initiated by you when you are in Ecuador.

cccmedia

Hello rriiccaarrddoo,

Happy New Year first of all.

My wife and I are making plans to move to Salinas in April as well. We also live in Texas, Dallas in fact.
I just retired last year and have been thinking about this move for about a year now.

Just thought I'd introduce myself and get your thoughts on rentals,apartments and condos if you have gotten that far.

Cheers,

John W.

Thanks that's a good idea I was able to reach a manager at a dealership there in Salinas and he's actually going to work with me and even pick us up at the airport with the new truck so hopefully things will work out.

Well hey John it's nice to meet you and looks like Ecuador is going to have a few new ex-pats in April of this year!  Truth is I don't know whole lot about the rentals and what you can get because we bought a 10 room hotel right off the beach and so when we move in April we're going to go straight there with that being said if you guys need a place to stay for a few weeks or longer while you're looking for the right place we can certainly cut you a good deal on a room  since it won't technically be ready yet until November it will have furniture just not necessarily the furniture that we're gonna end up having once we officially open up and we're going to be having lots of construction because the first thing we're doing is getting a pool installed and then of course building our home on the lot next-door. 
There's definitely lots of rental opportunities and even though they don't seem to use the Ecuadorian craigslist very much for items for sale they do tend to use it for rentals and stuff but from what everything I've read you have to be very careful that you're not getting scammed definitely keep in touch and maybe we can learn about Ecuador  together. !!

You will need to bring proof of your education (or RECOGNISED) professional qualifications (if the system doesn't have it listed, expect hassle and time wasted getting it on the system - if system says no, then it is no ).

When you get your cedula, they put your education on there. If you don't have proof, they will put inicial (basically primary school).

You can NOT get a driving license if your cedula does not say you completed high school or higher. All documents will need to be apostilled and translated

Geez how do i get my high school diploma from 84 from a school that's not even open any more?  Will my high school diploma that I got when I walked the stage work?  What a weird law!   Anything else in need to do with it?  Thanks much

Do you have a college degree

Please note that there are two ways to obtain the Ecuadorian Driver's License. One is through Academic Level, and the other is through the Driving Records. If it is through Academic Level, you will need to take a Driving Test at a Driving School, maybe a test about basic mechanical knowledge (all in Spanish), and the test about general transit rules (Spanish).

With the Driving Record, you do not need to have your Academic Level stated in your Cédula or get a Driving Certificate from a Driving School, but only a reflexes test, and the test about general transit rules, which is in Spanish, but it is not really too complicated. The Driving Record must be requested to National/State Authority (DMV) that issued your Driving license. It will need to be Apostilled as well, by the Secretary of State of the state of this authority.

If you would like to do it through Education in your Cédula (or this is your only option because you do not have a valid License anymore), in addition to your High School Diploma (provided that you DO not have a College Degree), then now it is also required to submit Transcripts as well.

Good Morning Ricardo,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, Thanks for the offer. Would certainly like to discuss further about your hotel unit there on the beach. Debbie and I are going down on our exploratory visit in the April/May time frame.  We will probably spend a good portion of our time on the coast and as well some time in Cuenca to meet with Sara (our residency attorney).

Do you have a direct EMail address? Thought we could communicate directly so as to off load the forum site here. I'm at ***

I see you are from Austin. My daughter went to UT. Go Horns!!!!

Let's stay in touch

John and Debbie

I'll send you an email.