Originally Posted by s445203

Hmm. Doesn't sound like a good situation to be in.

What I can add from personal experience is:
1. Don't chance it at the border. I had my bike confiscated for "illegally" crossing the border 50metres away from the main road at which the proper border crossing was closed due to Bolivian protests last year. It took me 4 days of hanging around to sort out.

2. There is a world of difference in going to the border and trying something on and going to the local AFIP office and asking a hypothetical question. At least in my experience, the AFIP office people were very helpful. Get someone who is good at Spanish if you're not, and ask hypothetically what one should do if they were in your shoes.

My guess is as far as the Argentine law is concerned, it is illegal to sell a non Argentinean vehicle inside Argentina. They have a computer record that shows the vehicle has been sold if you rock-up at the border. To straighten out the proper way you will need to own up to an illegal transfer and pay the fine. This may well be the dutiable value of the car (that's what they tried with me and my bike) which will be a material % of some ridiculous book value the Aduana maintain. And it will take days to sort out. The alternative is you fly the vendor our and you transfer between borders like most do. I'm not sure there's much else in between.

The carrot you can wave at the vendor is that if they ever try to set foot in Argentina (a truly wonderful place IMHO) after their TVIP expires, they will experience the full blunt end of the Argentine bureaucracy if things are left as they stand.

You will hear countless stories of successful bribes taking place - in my experience I find those stories v. hard to square up with the Germanic streak that runs through most Argentines but that's just my experience.

Good luck.