Travelling with a car owned by somebody else
 

Hello,

I am a Romanian planning a RTW trip by Land Cruiser and I have the following problem: because of the stupid Romanian tax system, there are extremely large taxes to be paid when purchasing an old vehicle. I intend to buy my car from a guy I know, so that I can go around making the official papers and skip the taxes. The problem with this is that I won't be the official owner of the car. I intend to get a legalized paper in which he basically grants me the right to use the car in every way i see fit, but it will still be his car, according to the law.

My question to you is: do you think this will be a problem at the various border crossings, for example in Africa or South America or in any other situation? Do you have any experience in overlanding with a vehicle you didn't own on paper? Is it even possible?

I would very much appreciate your answers.

Thank you,
Alex

Before now someone says, that it isn`t possible to do it - we did our transafrica with a company car.

For legal issues you have to get a letter of authority in a multilingual way from the owner, approved and stamped by a attorney/notary.
Some country need a so-called Apostille Certificate which has to be attached to that letter (South Africa, Argentina at sample.)

On the border they had some time problems with our documents, mostly because my name was not on the car papers - but on the carnet.
But our french was to bad, to explain us that we have a problem :smartass:

After Mali we used always the carnet - and never ask after more "papers".

Surfy

Hey Alex,

I did Central Asia on a motorcycle not registered in my own name. Like Surfy said,l you need an official letter that you're allowed to travel with the car. I got a English piece of paper from a notary, with a big stamp on it :thumbup1: I guess a carnet that lists you as the driver will also help, but better to get the letter also.

That being said, the only country really asking to see the document was Russia, and they were very strict about it.

Good luck.

Here is the needed Document in 5 Languages:

http://www.tcs.ch/de/assets/reisen-c...s-fahrzeug.pdf

The Carnet has always to to belong to the driver, not the owner.

Thank you for your answers. Isn't the name on the carnet supposed to be the one of the owner? Is it possible to receive a carnet for a car you do not own?