Business is setup to work smoothly in the US. Business drives our economy and any added friction to the system is polished out. This means keeping the population working is the #1 priority.
In California, purchasing a used vehicle from a private-party or dealer works very similarly. You test-drive the vehicle, agree on a price (plus taxes or fees for a dealer), pay for the vehicle and drive away. If you purchase it from a dealer you’ll get the title to the vehicle within a few weeks and if purchase from a private party you’ll need to mail the old title, pay a fee, and then get a new title. Either way, the key point here is how well this system works. Most vehicle purchases happen on weekends, when people are off work. And the necessary paperwork can be done through mail.
In Spain, if you purchase from a private-party, the vehicle title transaction must be done either at DMV or a DMV-satellite office (Gestoria). The Gestoria is an office licensed by the state to perform certain administrative tasks on their behalf… for a fee. If you do not want to pay the fee, you can opt to make an appointment at DMV and have the transaction take place there. Also, it is not until DMV ratifies the titles that everything is done. For this reason, some people prefer the DMV because they can have peace of mind the transaction is complete and there can be no surprises (there are horror stories of Gestorias not properly checking for stolen vehicles, etc).
Purchasing a used vehicle from a private-party works like this:
- Search for vehicles online and contact them to view them
- Test drive the vehicle and inspect it
- Make an offer and agree on the purchase price
- Make an appointment either at the Gestoria or DMV. The latter will take longer because of long queues in the system, but it is less expensive
- Attend the appointment and the owner for the vehicle
- Drive off
With just a bit of imagination you can see how prone to friction step #4 can be. Gestorias and DMV have working hours during the week. So you need to take at least a few hours off work to attend. But those hours need to be agreed upon first, because the seller also needs to take the time off. And they all have to be in sync for when there are appointments available.
While we were moving back, we had to sell our vehicles (2) and time after time, step #4 was the issue. The issue being “I cannot find time for it” or “I need to find time, I’ll get back to you“.
Thankfully, unless this is your business (buying and selling), you only need to experience this headache a few times in a life-time. And when you do… you can always find a beer ๐
