Text 7292, 96 rader
Skriven 2007-10-18 08:04:06 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
     Kommentar till en text av Michiel van der Vlist
Ärende: Re: St. Bernardus Abt 12
================================
Michiel,
 
Mv> Still, a car imported form outside the European Union often needs
Mv> expensive adaptions to make it complient with local regulations that
Mv> makes such deals unattrictive. A friend of mine took his car back to
Mv> Europe after a two year stay in te US. He dearly regretted that as the
Mv> particular model turned out not be type approved in The Netherlands. Cost
Mv> him a fortune.
 
I did such a thing and know the story. Bought a Dodge van in 1992 in Montana,
drove it to New York and shipped it to Antwerp. Everything was OK, then misery
started.
 
Lucky me, I had asked for a fake-invoice for customs with a really low amount
on it because that's what they use to calculate import-dues.
 
So when I collected the car I was told to pay a full year's roadtaxes because
at import customs are allowed to charge a full year's. So I told them I wasn't
paying taxes for it if it wasn't being driven.
 
"What? You buy such a car and you're not going to drive it?". So I answered
something like "If I wan't to use it as a tree-house for my kids then it is
none of your business".
 
From that point on about 2 times a week I had a police-patrol stopping at my
door checking where the car was, checking its import papers, checking if
custom-dues had been paid,  etc... The reason for this was they were suspecting
me to drive the car anyway, not pay that year's road-taxes to customs. If they
could catch me at that it was an "economic crime", really high fines and the
police-officer performing the bust gets 1/3 of that as a premium. So every
police-crew that rang my doorbell I told them they were perfect idiots (I was
standing on my property and so were they without prior having asked permission)
and pointed them to a local pedestrian-crossing where cars were always speeding
even though there was a kindergarten. Always telling them if they really wanted
to do a good job instead of harassing innocent law-abiding citizens they could
catch some potential murderers there ... "But I understand, you will not land a
$1,000 for writing that ticket".
 
Then I started to discover all the things that needed changing. There was a
gastank in some semi-flexible material which had to be changed to a rigid-one.
The headlights were too high and had to be changed, the brandnew tyres had to
be replaced, the brake-lights and the rear lightsystem had to be replaced as
the American system where sometimes brake-lights and direction-blinkers are the
same is not allowed here. The exhaust had to be changed, the cabin lay-out had
to be changed. The speedindicator had to be changed to kilometer instead of
miles. The spare-tyre had to be stored elsewhere, a rear foglight needed to be
installed, other reflectors and so and so on.
 
Eventually it was going to cost me so dearly, without even talking about basic
insurance and registration, that I decided to just store it and keep it in
running-condition. At one time under cover of darkness I sneaked it to a garage
to have it serviced. Police saw it was gone "Where is that car?" "None of your
business". The problem being that if they would rang the doorbell and my wife
answered it, she would tell the complete story as she is really terrified by
police. "Yes, we drove it on a public road for 300 meters without license and
plate". That would give them a field day, so she was instructed that if she saw
a police-officer at the door to treat him even worse than Jehova's Witnesses.
 
A bit later the car was there again, so you guessed it "How did that car get
here again?" answer "I didn't even notice it was gone" ... and every time there
was a police-report and that went into a file as if it was the crime of the
century they believed that was about to be committed.
 
One day, the owner of the house had to do some maintenance and with my wife's
permission (I wonder if that would give me grounds for divorce) moved that van
with a part sticking out on the street. Within the hour a police-officer
noticed and the whole file was opened like a Pandora's box.
 
I was charged with criminal intent, was requested to pay years of back-taxes
and got an economic fine of some 600% of that. That could be contested but was
going to take a year or two, in the meantime these sums had to be payed ... it
was thousands of Euros.
 
So I paid the taxes and fines, contested the levy and still refused to drive
the car. Eventually it turned into a court case where my point was that as long
as I don't drive that car, and the fact that its front wheels had been found
touching the road could not constitute driving as it had no battery and an
empty tank, I do not have to pay road-taxes.
 
The court concurred and the ministry of finances had to repay me the complete
sum including a couple of years worth of judicial interest ... that was a
better operation than keeping it on a savingsaccount, I'll tell you. ;-)
 
Eventually someone contacted me who wanted to buy the car and made me an offer
which more or less covered my expenses over the years (including purchase and
import) so I sold it. At which point the police started harassing him.
 
Oh yes, the police-officer who had cashed about 600 Euro because he had busted
me on an economic crime had to refund that sum as well. I must say, that alone
made my day even more than getting the lumpsum back because he was such an
idiot.
 
 \%/@rd

--- D'Bridge 2.89
 * Origin: Many Glacier -o=O=o- Preserve - Protect - Conserve (2:292/854)