yes, I was told the same thing - But I insisted the seller sign a Power of Attorney giving me permission to drive it anywhere.

We went to one of the most isolated border crossings run by the army and first tried the "just hand over the TIP and they won't even glance at it" trick.

Well bullshit!!!!! Soldier had my passport in one hand and the TIP in the other. Took him all of a microsecond to see that the names didn't match. Uh oh, lots of whispers and consultations out the back and no sign of the boom gate opening.

The "yo no habla Espanol" didn't work either even though the whole station didn't have a word of English between them - well except for the nice border mutt who greeted us with a polite "woof" and I understood that OK.

The nice young soldier persisted until in a flash of brilliance he made me understand "Permissione" while miming reading a bit of paper. So in great surprise I rushed out and got our paperwork folder, rummaged through it and triumphantly produced a very official Poder signed sealed and delivered 7 monthe earlier in Nuenos Aires at a cost of 850 Peso.

Smiles and nods all around and the top brass came out a clucked excitedly and read every word and after being there for about 90 minutes, I asked "problemo?" "No, no no. No problemo" they chorussed
So they all went back inside and laboriously processed the paperwork and wrote it all in their huge journals and then they all came outside for the boom-gate raising ceremony. I got the impression that they didn't get many visitors, and we were definitely the first for the day

Phew!!!

Without that Poder I would have had to shoot my way into Chile and they had the guns and quite a few miles to catch up with me.


As always - your experiences might vary.

BTW I had only paid for half with the balance payable once I was safely into the next country. Also the previous owner kindly arranged for the proper transfer of registration and other paperwork back in the UK so once over the border I was legal without the Poder and was always insured properly. Just that little detail may not be possible with vehicles registered in some countries and bought by non-citizens.

Another problem can arise where the vehicle has crossed several borders and previous Argentinian TIPs have been handed in but not processed off the system, so comes the time when an official with nothing to do goes to the trouble of searching by VIN or license plate as you try to cross and comes up with more than the current live TIP.

__________________
Tony
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