Bought a car - well, kind of

I spent couple of days looking for a car to buy (used Opel Corsa, several years old). I checked out online ads but by the time I phoned to ask about the car, the car was already sold.

Then, I decided to take a tram to the part of town that has a lot of dealerships. I looked and looked and once again, everywhere I went, they were sold out of the car I was looking for. This was late in the day and I was hot and tired, but I decided to walk to the last dealership on the strip. It was a Peugeot dealership (French car) so I did not expect to find an Opel here, but you never know. They told me that the only Corsa they had was reserved. As I started to leave, I heard someone say that they thought that another Corsa came in but was not preped. I begged them to let me see it and after a longer begging session (I am getting good at this, unfortunately) they let me see the car.

Yup, it definitely was not preped but I had to see through the dust and dirt and realized that this was the car that I have been looking for. 5-door, 2005, 36,000km, manual transmission, AC, power locks/windows, mp3 player - all for CAD$12,000. And that is a deal here! For some reason, cars are really expensive here. I will post pictures of the car once I pick it up, but here is a picture of a car similar to ours. I put down a deposit on the car yesterday, but I cannot get the plates for it yet as I still don't have papers confirming my residence!$#@ I keep going back and forth between police and the Ministry of Interior (MUP) asking what is holding up the process. Each side is blaming the other side (how original). In the end, MUP said, "Well, it takes a month and we cannot do anything about it."

At least the people at the dealership are trying to help. They will try two different approaches to see if they can help me register the car by Thursday. I hope they succeed!

I just looked up Opel Corsa on Wikipedia and found that it is known in Australia as Holden Barina. Opel brand is owned by GM, but used to be a German brand and people still think that Opel is German. I looked to buy this brand as I think it is going to be much easier to sell if/when we move than Fiat or Renault cars. People here still think German made cars are good, and they poopoo the French and Italian made machinery.

I guess it's good to know this information before you buy. I could looked to buy a Volkswagen Golf or Polo, but they are the most stolen cars around and therefore have higher insurance premiums on them.