Well here is a story about a car…..

I bought my 2006 Full Fat 4.2 SC from Florida / United States due the very low Dollar currency.
At the time it did look like a very good deal and I had an independent car inspection company to check it out before committing to buy. For once I did hit the rock bottom dollar currency at the time of the finance transfer.
The dealer was suppose to produce a new title within a week after I paid them and therefore a slot on a Wessel was ordered, they failed to comply and I lost my slot, I then had to wait another 2 weeks for another slot on a boat and it took a 5 weeks from buying the car to arrival in Italy. Customs and Tax paid I took it home.
It is in perfect condition and I am extremely pleased with the car.

But.. But.. Here is a long story about getting a European build car registered in Italy just because it was build for the states.

Before I bought it I looked into what I needed as in papers and it all looked reasonable simple.
Technical specifications
Stamped Title (proof of ownership)
Customs / Tax papers.

After having chased the dealer, the original seller and Land Rover USA for an official Technical document stating size, emission, power and so forth with no success. I tried the Danish Land Rover and the British Land Rover. (Being Danish but live in Italy)
Land Rover UK had different information each time I was calling them? First they would issue me a COC document (Certificate Of Conformity) and then they could not because it was a NON-European car (produced for the American market) then they would issue a CONC (Certificate Of Non Conformity) and That would have been sufficient but in all the confusion and miss-information they changed the system to not being able to issue CONC documents ever again and they told me to go to VOSA for a SVA (single vehicle approval) designed for British cars. But mine was in Italy and was never going to be registered in UK???
The Danish Land Rover was helpful but useless as they also were not capable to issue any technical document for my car? A friendly guy even told me that he had known a case where a guy gave up on getting a LR3 registered in France for the very same reason? (Ended up selling it?)
Makes you wonder – how hard can it be to print the specifications on an official document when you have actually build the car??
In the end I contacted a special company who deals with registering cars in Italy and he said that the beauty about Italy is that if you know the right people and pay them off you can get anything… ANYTHING 
So I finally got a technical document from Land Rover in Rome. (Waited 7-8 weeks for it, as August is shut in Italy?)

Then I come to the Title and my stamp….
I was told to get the title stamped with an “appostille” which is a legal term where the document is verified.
This is done by “the secretary state Department of Florida” whom I contacted to be told that for them to “appostille” it, it needed to have a notification done first by a legal office in the states. Getting frustrated I called the dealer to ask for help and they agreed to help me. Only to send it back without the “Appostille” but with the notification done by their legal department. Arguing that it already had a stamp from the government of Florida. (It do have a stamp but from the motor department of Florida)
Back to the office here in Italy to ask about the stamp and requirement just to be told that I had misunderstood the requirements and legalization by The Italian Consulate is what I needed? This is now the 4’Th of August and if nobody knows – Everything shuts down for holydays in August in Italy and thereby also the consulate In USA. Another month of waiting before I could even contact the Consulate? Finally I got hold of the Italian Consulate only to be told that for them to legalize my papers they needed to have the “Appostille” first????? And a translation stamped by an Italian legal office? Now I was really confused?? Because if following the regulations only one of the two is needed? Anyway now I needed to send $10,00 to the secretary state Department of Florida by money order or an American issued cheque? And enclose a pre-paid return envelope. Then upon return another American Money Order to the consulate again with pre-paid return envelope….
This all seemed like a lot of sending back and forth from the States to Europe and I had difficulties getting the funds in American issued cheque from Europe. So again I called the dealer to beg for help. The sales manager agreed to help and I was a happy bunny for a week. After a week I contacted the dealer only to be transferred to the big boss of the dealership whom informed me that he would NOT take responsibility for my legal paperwork’s? I was shocked by the way he treated his customers. I did never ask for him to take responsibility but asked the sales manager for a personal favour where I would pay all expenses’. I asked him to hold the papers one day for me to send him an address to a friend of mine in the States but he refused saying that he would only send back to me?? Thank you very much..
I send the papers back to a friend of mine in Arizona who sends it to the secretary state Department of Florida only to have it returned to him after e week asking for $ 20 instead of $ 10 as their web page states, again he sends it to the secretary state Department of Florida with the prober funds. After that he sends it to The Italian Consulate for the legalization, and by some miracle it is done without any more hassle.
I then returned to the office who deals with the paperwork’s and he went to the Motor Office for approval of the documents only to be told that the Legalization from The Italian Consulate was insufficient, they had not legalized anything but the translation which I already had legalized in Italy??? So a fourth trip to the States!!!
Finally I had all the papers in my hand ready to get it Registered and to be honest I was starting to lose the plot, the joy of buying this lovely motor was diminishing.
While waiting I installed a detachable tow hitch and had my local Land Rover dealer to certify it and when handing in the papers to the office doing the papers the incompetent fool (sorry my language) said that I needed another document from Land Rover in Rome stating that the car was approved to have a tow hitch installed? And he was the one saying to go to Land Rover to get it certified in the first place. So another two weeks of waiting??
I bought the car the 12’Th of may and the papers finished the 4’th of November That is almost 5 MONTH????????????????????????
In the mean time I have installed a tow hitch and color coded the side mirrors and front and back lower valance, installed sidebars and performed service on it as well.
Got my plates the 12’Th of November EXCATLY 5 month after the buy and I have not been out of it yet 
I have now owned the car for a fortnight and I have ALMOST forgotten half of all my trouble. It is just SO nice to drive.

I hindsight I would have done everything different but to be honest the car even though it is now almost half a year older was still a good buy, it is flawless and I am very pleased. But I cannot ever recommend to import a car into ITALY, This country is just SICK when it comes to bureaucracy and paperwork.

Sorry to bother all with such a long story but I thought it might amuse a few

Robert



http://www.flickr.com/photos/schwaners/show/ 2006 Full Size 4.2 V8 SC. Bonatti Grey - Ivory/Aspen.

Ciao Robert,

I plan to import a US RRSC to Italy as I cannot find the exterior and interior colour combination here in EU, though after reading your very interesting and informative post, could I ask at which customs port did the ship drop off your car?

I have been informed it would be much easier to import and register in Germany first, then to subsequently register in Italy, due to the VERY sick Italian system. Any further advice you could provide would be very valuable.

PS. I hope your RRSC is all well after the ice accident!