Wendy WilliamsEXCLUSIVE by Wendy Williams
A FORMER BBC scriptwriter has been forced to denounce an expat who bought her car but failed to change the name of ownership leaving her paying the bills.
Adrienne Conway – who wrote the TV series Streets Apart – sold her blue Seat Ibiza to Terence Wood in January 2008 for 950 euros believing he wanted it for spare parts.
But Conway (pictured), who lives in San Pedro, claims Wood has been illegally driving the vehicle and speeding in her name while she is left paying the taxes and fines.
“I keep getting speeding fines, in addition to the tax and I have now had to declare the car off road,” explained Adrienne.
She claims Wood, 54 – who lives in Mijas and runs a website www.relocatetospain.com – was supposed to register the car and bring the receipt plus the new ITV.
He was also meant to return the green card to her gestor, who would have re-registered the car. “It has been going on for four years now and he is always full of excuses.”
When contacted by the Olive Press, Wood, 54, claimed he knew nothing about a denuncia.
But he admitted when he went to the gestoria to transfer it into his name ‘it was apparently never completed due to their incompetence’.
He said: “In fact, I hadn’t got a clue until Adrienne contacted me three years later about the speeding fines.
“I really don’t know why she didn’t tell me sooner, I mean who pays tax for someone else?
“The whole situation is absolutely ridiculous and I have just scrapped the car rather than have the headache of all this.”
Sad – since this very problem is written about so often in the english language media along the Costa Del Sol. You wonder WHY Sellers don’t insist on sale at a Gestoria where all proper papers are done and Sale Receipt is stamped – all paid by the Buyer. That avoids such problems at no cost to Seller – otherwise “seller” is still registered as the Owner… and responsible for all costs, fines, taxes, etc.
Very sad
This happens with transfers done by gestors too, of course. Most Spanish gestors are incompetant – it took me four years to find a gestor who could even add up properly. Amazing incompetance but normal for Spain of course lol.
I did take the buyer to a gestor! He messed-up!!!
I did the same, but added an extra. I went to the town hall and took a baja out on the car in my name. With that, its hard for anyone to touch you.
I too have been victim to a muppet not transfering the car into his name. I am battling for 2340 euro in fines that this idiot collected whilst driving to Madrid. Do not trust anyone. Do the transfere yourself…. its not difficult.
Spain is a learning by doing or better said pay to learn the expensive way, experience ……. sold a fixer upper car to a fellow expat in 2003 – in 2008 I had to pay 5 years back taxes plus late fee’s …… the whole story surfaced because I was called by the Guardia Civil one day asking peculiar questions about the same car …… investigating further I unearthed this great typically spanish story: The fellow expat sold the car a month after he purchased from me to the chief of the local municipal police > who consequently assured the expat that he would take care of all transfers etc, his brother being the owner of a Gestoria ….. happens he never did but rather junked the car and used the paperwork to sell a stolen vehicle of the same make/model, my name still on all the papers. He finally was busted, turns out it was a big ring of car shufflers specialized in this kind of biz ……. what they did was buy junked or crashed nicer cars that had proper paperwork, threw the cars away, then used the vin numbers and paper as well as forged power of attorneys to sell the same model/make to Morocco or wherever ……
BTW He is out of jail and after a 2 year ban back working on our local police force, when I confront him about my money he just walks away …….. wonder why folks call this place a Banana Republic.
All cars after bought or sold after this loss was done always in Trafico directly and only payed after all papers where transfered and all taxes paid ….. only way to do it.