Galloper...

[Gene French]

I had one of those magnificent suvs...

1995 galloper II ..

Worst piece of transporation i ever had the pleasure of owning..

I spent a fortune trying to keep it running....had to put 3 motors and 2 transmissions in it...

I understand all of you had wonderful service from yours..but after researching the vin number

I discovered it was manufactured in hell...

Lol...

Gene

Pura vida

Sent from BlueMail

[Berni J]

As I said Gene " It was about a year of torture caused by duelling Gallopers I think they were - both bought at Bargain prices.  A Bargain with the devil.  I always wonder who bought them?"

So now I know who bought one of them :-))  Berni

[Sam Wilson]

LiCR,

Okay, after all this Galloper talk, I'm convinced that is the way to go.  I've got 3 Hyundai Gallopers on my list and I expect I'll head into the Big City, pick the nicest one, buy it, and then pick the worst one to buy for spare parts.  I'll come out ahead money-wise and it will be like re-entering the cozy womb of my 1st love!  jajaja.  In penance, I must share my 3 due diligence tricks, after you get the license plate number:

1. Check the COSEVI site for outstanding traffic fines
   
2. Check the INS site for outstanding marchamo issues
   
3. Check the Registro for liens AND official owner AND official value
   

First off, if you've done any online shopping for cars, you've noticed that many try to hide the license plate number, or important for folks in the GAM, they'll only show the last digit (for figuring day of the week you can't drive.)  Quite often if you have a good windshield foto you can zoom in enough to figure out the license plate number from the inspection sticker on the windshield.  First stop:  COSEVI.

COSEVI - Consulta de Infracciones

For form fields you don't particularly know the answer to like Categoria and Código, just put "Particular" -- works for me!

Placa is obviously for license plate number.  Almost any older car you check on will have some infracciones listed.  Click on any of them to get the details.  Paid traffic fines will be listed as Cancelada, unpaid ones will be listed as Condenada, and often times accidents will be listed as Absuelta or Archivada or Pendiente with ¢0.00 in the Multa column.  One I snatched the plate number off a zoomed in foto showed me this doozy of a 3 page record:

The owner told me there were no outstanding unpaid fines.  COSEVI tells me there are 2 for a total of ¢190 mil outstanding and that the car (at least its license plate!) was involved in 4 "Accidentes de Tránsito."  Next!

Next stop, INS...  Please tell me, Mr. Insurance Man, that I've got nothing pending!

INS en LÍNEA - Consulta del Marchamo

INS can tell you things like this particularly (again, if you don't know the answer to something, just put in "particular",) beautiful Chevy Blazer, doesn't have a current RiTeVe so you can't pay Marchamo online -- you must pay it in person at an INS office.  In this case, pay it, plus the previous NINE which have not been paid!  Huh!  Yes, you heard me correctly, they owe for TEN frickin' Marchamos...  I wondered why the price was so cozy.

When I confronted the guy about this, he admitted it was true, but said if I gave him the money for the car he would pay the delinquent Marchamos.  Delinquent indeed!  I think technically a lawyer is not supposed to do the transaction if the Marchamo is in arrears, so this is quite the quandry...  Next!  

My last simple trick is one of the oldest in the books... checking the books.  I think it is what the lawyers do when they check out the car before doing the traspaso paperwork.  For this one we visit the fine Registro Nacional Público - Digital edition...  If you don't already have an account, you'll have to register for a free account to get into the good stuff.  Using fake info works if you're into that, but you will need to use an email account you have access to (like your fake email account!)

Registro Nacional Digital

So take the Sistema de Certificaciones y Consultas Gratuitas link and login.  Go to Consultas Gratuitas to find the Consulta de Vehículo link below Bienes Muebles.  Again, if you don't know the answer to something, just select Particular!  You should find a field to fill in Número de Placa and prove you're not a robot who somehow figured out how to login and navigate in Spanish to this useful spot.

Pay attention to the Valor Hacienda (¢3,620,000 in this case) and notice if their are any Gravamenes.  Then click the Ver Persona link to find some details about when the car was bought by the current owner and more.  You can check the Aranceles for Traspaso de Vehículos, for specific details, but I believe the easy way to calculate what it should cost if your lawyer doesn't try to stick it to you is, 3.5% of the Valor Hacienda covers impuestos and timbres (minimum ¢25 mil) and 2.0% of purchase price is how much you should pay the notario.  This particular car was listed for ¢2,600,000.  So 3.5% of ¢3,620,000 = ¢126,700 covers impuestos y timbres.  2.0% of ¢2,600,000 = ¢52,000 covers the lawyer for his efforts.  Expect to pay ¢178,700 for traspaso plus any extra you want to toss your lawyer's way as a "tip".  I'm not sure if that is still how it is calculated, but that is how I think it was done in year's past. The rule may be that the value you work off of is the higher of the Valor Hacienda and the actual sales price.  A friendly lawyer might cut you some slack on that and use Valor Hacienda for the tax part and a lower sales price for their part.

When you take the "Ver Persona" link you can find out current owner details.  Including when the car got registered in their name (Fecha Constitución.)  In this case, they bought the car in July 2018 and they are already trying to sell it...  Hmmmmm.  Is that a good sign?

Anyway, there is so much public information available in the Registro.  It can be a bit scary if you poke around.  Use the Force for good and not for evil and everything should be okay!  ;-)

After all the above due diligence has been done, still remember to have a trusted mechanic look over anything before you buy it.  Some sellers have no shame.  Just 2 months ago I know of someone who is very good at this who just bought a car with a hidden busted block.  It is quite the bummer to have to replace a motor just 2 months after buying a new (to you) car.  Pretty much you should assume any used car comes with a sticker which says:

Garantía: Como es visto no hay garantía

Heed that warning!

Hmmm... 2 Gallopers!  I'm gonna need a bigger garage!  ;-)

--

Sam