Supremegermalene

Just picked up my PT plates today and feeling very pleased with myself...we applied for tax exemption at the end of January and were granted new matriculation on Friday so all very quick, just 6 weeks.

All done ourselves using advice from forums and a lot of research, not nearly as costly as I'd read (the actual IMTT charge for doing the registration was only €33 and customs was nothing) and much easier than is made out. UK consulate put the wind up me asking if I knew the implications of what I was doing and I couldn't work out what the lady was implying by what she was saying, they advised strongly speaking to a car import agent but I went ahead with my declaration of residence in PT and the mat process and it was all fine.

I'll sit down and type up the exact order of how I did everything and what you need for each step when I get a bit more time, charging €500 to oversee the process is extortion by agents as long as you are armed with all the information and do things the right way you should be fine.

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jaz1962

Fantastic.!!

i'll wait for your detailed report.
its all good...

Redflag

well done to you

and one in the eye for the blood sucking leaches who charge to do this

gedscottish

Dont be silly...start up your own agency and charge 300.... everybody will be happy that way

Nah seriously.... a big well done! Just shows with a bit of time & patience it can de done with no previous expeirence!

p.s dont panic if your documents aint arrived in a few months time....they can take 6 months or so!

Supremegermalene

hmm I'm not quite sure what documents I'm getting I was told I have to go to the Conservatorio de Registo de Automoveis in Lagos in about two weeks time to register the car in my name when I thought that's what I'd been doing at the IMTT today. The receipt they gave me says Certificado de Matricula €33 so is there a matriculation certificate on top of a livrete?

I'm just pleased I have my plates so hopefully won't get cut up by so many PT drivers LOL

GedScottish, not sure about time and patience but stubborness and being tight help a lot ha ha

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bigglesafloat

Well done - Look forward to seeing your method on the Forum. You are now the Import Guru !

gedscottish

Yes, I also am keen to see the whole process! Also as 2 people I know are in the process of legalising their cars with via an agent who unfortuantly I suggested and now seems to be getting lazy. Anyway...both have their tempory document that lets them drive but still no Portuguese plates and they desperatly the inspection(which cant be done without the proper documents)

I was thinking...maybe they can cut out the agent and go direct themselves, is the hard work already done if they have this temp. document?

Supremegermalene

Not sure I understand it right...we got our car Mot'd first, then took the MOT and all other documents to customs to get the temporary document to drive on. I have since been given another which is valid for another 60 days but this one has my registration number on it. I took a certified copy of that (customs gave me 2) along with the papers from the MOT to IMTT today who then told me I could take this form to anywhere to get the plates made up.

I would need to know what exactly they've given to the agent and what s/he says he/she's done, plus what the name of the temporary document is that they have...

Supremegermalene

I shall type up what I did (not necessarily the right method but it worked for me) tonight to see if that helps.

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Titleist

You know you are going to have to hold my hand now, every step of the way, while we do ours,
Well done

wanabee

Very well done to you. Its bloody mindedness like this that built the empire. And bloodymindedness like this that makes the portuguese processes so frustrating. There again, the portuguese had quite an empire as well.

There is no doubt that they obviously realised they had met their match with you.

You are fast becoming the oracle on this forum. Look forward to all the details of what you had to do and in what order.

Supremegermalene

When we went in to customs we took the whole family, gave them our life story, tugged our forelocks or whatever it is they say and were sweet as pie...when it comes to having to spend €5k as opposed to €50 I would never recommend going in guns blazing. Having said that they were only interested in the facts on paper!

All I had decided was that I had to try to do it. I'm a stubborn wotsit if someone tells me not to do something I do the opposite and though many people advise not to try it yourself, the few that had managed it without paying the tax were enough to spur me on. I'm of a mindset that why pay someone to do something when with a bit of effort you can do it yourself...the key is research, which is where these forums are indispensable. Gets me into trouble sometimes, but I like a challenge!

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gedscottish

I reckon they are probably at "stage 1"... a tempory 60 day document that only has the foriegn reg on it(one has a UK reg the other a spanish) sorry this is confusing as there are 2 cases...one of which had their original documents taken of them by the Police. Anyway...neither of them have got to stage where they got a registration.

Both have paid the agent 200 euros and the last payment of 300 will only be when everything is complete.

In your opnion...at this stage...would it be worth trying to cut the agent out and "go it alone" or should they bide their time and let it advance a little more

Supremegermalene

Hmm that is hard to judge, I think if one had original docs taken by police they must have already been here for over 6 months in which case they cannot apply for exemption of tax...in which case they may as well have just gone to the customs office and, if prepared to, paid the car tax that would be owed. If not they need to remove the car from the country. I wouldn't have thought the police would take docs if they had been in the country less than 6 months...

I already had MOTd the car here before taking all my documents to customs to initiate the process, and as you need the registration document in order to MOT the car they may be a bit screwed if that is with customs now...how long have they been waiting? Customs should however have given the agent a stamped copy of the registration document which may be able to be used in order to get the car MOT'd, worth asking the question?

Customs may well be querying things with the agent, which delays things, and he may not be mentioning that to your friends if he can deal with the queries himself. For instance, my fiscal number was registered to my Father in Laws address but my Residency and Atestado de residencia from the Junta were both at my rented address so that was queried and I had to go back to Finances and change all the addresses over....I hadn't wanted to change my Fiscal address as I don't know how long I'll be in the rented accomodation but everything has to match up.

I don't think you can really get out of the process now as if they are using an agent all correspondance will go to them so I don't know how they'd go about getting their paperwork back or intervening...customs still have my registration document, all my bills etc.

Mine was quite a straight forward application which would make the process quicker I guess...I would ask the agent for a meeting for an update on where he's at, if there are any issues they can help with, etc and ask when he thinks matriculation may be given? Make him work a bit for his money ;o)

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peemgee

And a well done indeed from me. We arrive in 2 weeks with two cars and after talking to a British owned 'Financial Assistance' agency was told that they could handle the dealings with the Matriculation guy in Faro for us and he would charge us €1000.00 per car but if we did two at the same time the cost would be €750.00 each. No wonder they have a smart office with a lot of staff.