I was foolish enough to lease a Peugeot…
I was foolish enough to lease a Peugeot 3008. Loved the car which had all the bells and whistles and decided to purchase the vehicle under their special program that allows a 20% discount on the retail value. I thought I was getting a bargain until I found out that importing a car from France to Portugal is like importing from America, except you are subject to the 23% VAT which would not have applied to an American car.
The fact that I was not fully aware of the bureaucratic process, was partly my own fault, by expecting the leasing Company to explain what was involved.
It took more that a month to get this done and the insurance provided by Peugeot would run out before that month. After contacting them , they reluctantly extended the insurance a further 4 weeks at no cost to me.
However the process included first visiting the customs office in Olhao, where I have an apartment, being referred to the customs office in Faro, who referred me to the IMT office, who insisted this new car be inspected for roadworthyness. I had to go on line a book an appointment at their facility in Loule. The soonest was 10 days later and my insurace was expiring on that date. They then sent back to the customs office to pay the VAT. The VAT is paid thru any ATM, but you needed to wait for a document which was emailed to me a few days later. I received this after my insurance ran out and when I asked the leasing Company to extend it for a further 10 days, they refused and said I should have checked into the process before commiting to purchase the car. I paid the VAT and hopefully on Monday I will go back to the IMT office and get my new Portuguese registration. However, I cannot use the car until this is done because the insurance Company in Portugal will not insure a car without Portuguese plates.
18 janvier 2025
Avis spontané