Dealing with bureaucracy 1

I chose to move to Brazil, and I have no regrets about it – I have a much better standard of living now that I would have back in England, but Brazilian bureaucracy at times drives me nuts!

When I arrived here I decided I would need a car – I had owned a car since I was 21 so it seemed logical to get one, plus I live 250 miles from a large city and bus travel is the only other way to get there (OK, there are flights, but only twice a week). I looked online at classified ads to get a feel for price and availability, and decided that my best bet would be to go to a proper car dealer rather than buy privately – mainly as I did not know the procedures for registration, etc. I eventually bought one and the dealer registered it for me, but at that stage I did not have a proper address where I lived (I was staying in temporary rented accommodation) so, although it was in my name, the address was the dealership – apparently not as unusual as it may sound! The dealer told me that this would not be a problem and I could change it either once I had a permanent address, or when it came up for renewal – every year motorists have to pay a “licence” fee, which included third party insurance, the month of renewal is dictated by the last digit of your number plate! The renewal fee can be paid in one lump sum, up to a couple of months after the due date as far as I can tell, which entitles you to a discount, or in instalments.

Anyway my renewal was due when I was out of the country trying to arrange my volunteer visa, so I went to the dealer and asked if he could hold on to the renewal papers when they arrived and I would sort it out upon my return. Simple? Not so! When I got back I went to see him and, of course, nothing had arrived. No problem, he tells me, you just have to go to any bank and they have ATM machines that will print out a copy of the renewal document, you then pay at the bank and all is well. I asked about changing my address details and was told I had to go to DETRAN (department of transport headquarters) and it was easy to do there. So I found a bank, printed off and paid the renewal, and then headed to DETRAN. And there the fun started!

I had already checked what documentation I needed to take with me – proof of residency, ID, and car papers – so I went in the main entrance, took a ticket and waited for my number to be called. The wait there was not too long and I explained my situation, and was sent outside round to another window, where I presented all the papers and explained the situation (I must add here that I am fluent on Portuguese, which helps enormously!). I was given an application form, and told I had to go back upstairs to find the Xerox (copying department!) office as they needed copies of everything. So, off I go, get everything copied, fill in the form and go back to the window. A different man was there and he took one look at the paperwork, and literally threw it all back at me – telling me it was useless! Apparently an address change can only be done in your home district (250 miles away!), and, surprisingly, not at the regional headquarters! I explained that it was his colleague, who had looked at all my papers, including my address details, who had told me to come back, but he was equally abusive the second time around.

So after my return home I went looking for the local DETRAN office – very few buildings have signs so not an easy task, but I found out where it was, though every time I passed it was closed. Eventually I asked the shop next door (no idea what they do as no name or sign on their door either!) to be told the DETRAN employee was away in Salvador for training, so Seabra (a town some 40 miles away) was dealing with all enquiries. At the time I was volunteering Monday-Friday so asked if it was OK to take a day off to resolve this, and headed to Seabra. On arrival at the offices there I was directed upstairs to see one man, then he sent me downstairs again to see someone else, who told me I needed various documents. I showed him that I already had everything, duly copied, and then he informed me that the computer system (Brazil-wide) was down, and he had no idea when it would be up and running again!!

A week later I was back again – having taken another day off from the charity – and the system was back online, and here the bureaucracy really gets crazy!  After filling the form in I had to go and make a payment at a bank (to try and stomp out corruption and bribery almost all payments are made electronically in banks and the receipt then taken back to the relevant department), and their system was down so payments could not be made! However this was very temporary and 20 minutes later I was back at DETRAN. Now I had to go across the road to a number plate manufacturer and order a new plate (for my town – the plates here all have state and town details), pay for it, and bring back proof I had paid. I duly did that, and came back again – next the car had to be examined to see that the chassis and engine numbers tallied with the documentation. I kid you not, but this involves rubbing the numbers (much as you would do a brass rubbing) on to a piece of paper with a pencil. That done I had to take the car to the number plate shop to get the new plate fitted, then come back again – this time for them to fit a security tag to the plate so it could not be tampered with. This was the last stage so now my car was legally registered to my home address, and I went back inside to be told I had to come back 4 days later to pick the new paperwork up!! No, they would not post it to me, but I had to come in person, which meant another day away from the charity! So something that could be done online in the UK (and probably in most Western countries), had almost driven me to distraction!