Car Plate Drama

Registering a car in Finland was a new experience to me. I tried to be as well prepared as possible, but it wasn't enough. Somehow I knew it in advance... The Swedes don't have the exclusivity to all bureaucracy in the world, you know.

The first thing for me was to go to the custom's in Tampere. I had gathered a lot of papers proving that I really had lived in Sweden for more than one year. And that my car had been purchased for more than 6 months earlier. I had car insurance papers to prove the latter and my employment contract for the former. I had also my hire contract of the Solna apartment and some salary receipts with me. And of course the part one of the vehicle licence.

The man at the custom's gave me 4 or 5 papers which I had to fill in immediately. The forms asked about the same details all over and over again. He adviced me kindly so there was no real pain there.

As I was afraid of, the part two of the vehicle licence was needed as well. I had tried to find it for days, and now he was asking me where it was. Because it was missing, he told me to send or fax a copy of it later. And since I needed to send something afterwards, he said that I should send a testimonial too. He would have accepted my papers concerning my stay in Sweden had I had the goddamn part 2 with me in the first place! He also said that I could go to register my car anytime, even without the custom's approval, because my papers were there only about car taxation.

It took me and my wife a couple of days to find that second part of the licence. It wasn't that well hidden, but we just searched it in wrong places. What a relief it was finally to hold that piece of paper in my hand!

I had asked my boss in Sweden to send me my testimonial earlier, because I knew I would need it later on. I had four weeks time to send it to my union representatives to get a discount for my yearly charge. And only two weeks time to send a copy to the custom's. So far I had got no reply. What a surprise!

I had even written a template for him. He should only translate it in Swedish (I requested it to be in Swedish, because it would look cooler and raise some eyebrows, which I always prefer) and sign it. I had to contact him and other personnel in Stockholm several times until finally, only four days before the ultimately last date, I got it. It was written (read: copypasted) by another and signed my boss. Of course it was in English. But nevermind that.

I went to have an inspection and registration in Nokia. It costed 234 €. I paid for it and went outside to wait for my turn. The car inspector noticed immediately that my car was so new that it didn't need any regular inspection yet - just some EU-related checking. Instead he took me back to the outlet and the same clerk who had charged me that 234 euros. Now I had to pay only 170 €, so she put the 234 € back to my account and tried to charge that 170 €. For some reason my account was locked and she couldn't do it. I told her that she could use the credit part of the card to pay it, and the result was succesful. But she had by accident marked my car as a motorcycle! Luckily it costed the same amount. She didn't want to test if my credit account might get locked too, so she just left it there and wrote something somewhere to notify someone sometimes - I don't know what exactly.

It must have been a nightmarish day at the office for her, but it wasn't too easy for me either (add the infamous ABBA quote here, if you will :). The inspector took care of the papers, but... He couldn't register the car without the approval of the custom's. It needed to have a message saying something like the car can't be sold in three years after its purchase. It wouldn't be printed there, if I had to pay the car tax. Since there was no desicion available yet, registration was put on hold.

A few days later I got the approval from the custom's. I was freed from paying the car tax. I went back to register my car the following morning. Everything went very well. I had to pay another 30-something euros for it, which sounded a bit weird. I had already paid 170 € last week. Now I got new register plates which should replace the Swedish ones. The clerk didn't tell me anything more and I was too stupefied to ask. She was too busy handling the matters of the next customer there.

I tried to remove the plates myself, in the dark. They were not attached like the ones in Finland. Because the Swedish plates have a place in the middle for the expire month sticker, they are clearly wider. And furthermore, they were attached to a Bilia plate holder or something, so there were no screws visible. I guess I have to twist the plate a little to get it out of the holder. That may break something, let's see what happens.

Later I started thinking: 'Wait a minute, what about the old ones? Where should I put them?' It wasn't that simple. I have contacted Renault insurance representative and someone from Vägverket and got some more information (I have written in Swedish to make sure I will get a fast reply). According to them, I should return the plates there, otherwise they can't take the car out of register in Sweden. I'm not sure if I should post it myself, or was it included in that 30 € I had already paid. Things will get sorted out soon I'm sure, but for now I'm paying insurance and yearly car tax into two countries.

And, like all my better stories, they don't have an end. I will keep you posted on this.