Selling our car 2.21.07

The insurance on our Toyota Yaris runs out on the 15th of March. We will be heading home to the states on the 5th of April, which meant we either had to extend our insurance for another month (not sure how do-able that would be) or sell the car and spend the last few weeks riding buses and what not. The simple answer was to try to sell the car sooner rather than later and we put out the word. We told all of our neighbors that we were selling it, consulting them on price and how to go about this. Martine said we could put a notice in her coffee bar and Nunzia said her brother had some connections with a used car place in Cava di Tirreni and also suggested we put a sign “Vendesi” (for sale) in the car window. She even let us put her phone number on the sign so that she could field calls from locals since we were worried about answering technical questions on the phone. She made us write down all the car’s specifications for her and for her brother as well.

We also listed it on the Expats in Italy website but didn’t get much more than a nibble. We told everyone we know here, including Antonio and his brother at the feramenta and Ferdinando at La Locanda, one of our favorite restaurants here.

We had a few people ask us at stoplights “Quante?” (how much?) for the car and they frowned and said “troppo” (too much) when we told them we were asking 3,000 euros for it. We paid around 5,200 for it two years ago and it seemed like a fair price, albeit without any “Blue Book” research.

Our plan was to try to sell the car on our own, but if it didn’t sell by the first of March we would take it to the lot in Cava and let it sit there in hopes of exposing it to motivated car buyers. We didn’t have to go that far! A friend of Herve’s (Martine’s son, with whom she owns the coffee bar) was interested. He offered us 2500 plus a large ceramic vase (he and his father have a ceramics shop) to boot. We accepted. He was supposed to give us his “anticipo” (a deposit) prior to the sell date of February 27 but it took him a few days to get around to it. Then the son of the lady who lives around the corner and a friend of Nunzia’s brother also expressed an interest. When we told Martine this she put a call in to Peppe (the first offer) and he came the next day and left us his deposit.

On the 27th of February we will turn over the keys to the car and fill out all the paperwork necessary to make the deal final. We feel like we have come full circle and will be back to taking the bus wherever we need or want to go until we depart Vietri on the 31st of March. We plan to spend a few days in Rome and fly back to the states of the 5th of April.

Our daughter Jessica is coming for a visit, from the 1st to the 14th of March and we have arranged to rent a car during that time so we can take her touring around the area more comfortably. Then on the 15th we head for Sicily for a few days. But that story is another post.

Ciao,
Rosemary and Bob