Announcing the newest member of our family! One 1994 Honda Accord 2.0i.
Yes, we have finally bought a car. Terry almost made it a year without a car on his faithful bike. That got harder where school was concerned especially in January and February with winter rain and wind. Too many events are in the evening when buses are an hour apart or on weekends when the only twice-an-hour bus that goes up to the school is either a 20 minute walk from here or add on another half hour to go down to Centraal Station to transfer to it. During the school week from 8 AM to 7 PM it's not so bad because there are buses just a 10 minute walk from us that go up by the school every 10 minutes.
There are times like last Friday - the 7th & 8th Grade Social - when ER needed to be taken to the school and then picked up. During the high school musical tech week and performances, JA was able to find a ride home with a friend who lived nearby. This semester, both girls are going to be involved in their plays. It got to be too much to try and find rides for all the times they needed to come home late.
We don't know how many owners the car has had. Cars turn over in the expat community a lot with people moving in and out often after a couple of years. It has only 125,000 km (78,000 miles) on it. The average travel per year per car in the Netherlands is 14,000 km (8,750 miles). It's a 10 mile (16 km) round trip to ASH (Bishop Ireton was 15 miles one way.) It's a manual shift, 4 doors, in very good shape and a comfortable ride. Should serve our needs while we're here. Price was right - only 1800 euros!
We'll still bike for basic grocery shopping and to church. We have enjoyed our exercise. Getting out to enjoy the rare days of winter sunshine is appreciated more on foot and bike then in a car. The bus is still great for going down to the Centrum of The Hague for shopping unless we have to make a big purchase.
Of course, buying a car meant experiencing more aspects of Dutch culture: buying insurance and registering the car.
Our bank, ABN Ambro, sells insurance. There are other brokers out there, but because we were looking for ease, we bought our auto insurance from our bank. We received a substantial discount because of where Terry works and because we had obtained a letter from our U.S. agent that said we had a no claim history for over 10 years. Also bought General Liability and contents insurances. The monthly premium will be automatically deducted from our checking account. The cost is around 50 euros a month for everything. The car does not have collision because of its age. The green insurance card that indicates we have insurance and a copy of an accident report form to send to the bank in case of accident came in the mail in a few days.
The RDW (Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer) is the Netherlands' national authority for road traffic, transport and vehicle administration. The bank has access to the national database to bring up the vehicle we were buying and update the record to show that we were the new owners.
Next was the registration process.
Paperwork needed by the expat buyer (Mary Ann): Dutch ID card or a valid foreign passport and a copy of personal data from the municipal register (Uittreksel uit het bevolkingsregister) not more then 3 months old. The latter is to make sure that the buyer is registered.
Paperwork needed by the seller: The auto's Dutch registration papers which consist of 2 parts: Part I: Vehicle certificate and Certificate of ownership which is carried in the vehicle at all times and Par II: Transfer certificate. The transfer certificate is not a big piece of paper, less then 3"x5". If the seller does not have this paper, he has to apply for a replacement. It takes about 2 weeks to come in the mail. Only with that paper can he transfer the vehicle to the new owner.
Since I did not have a personal data letter, I went downtown to the Stadhuis to pick one up. I was given a ticket with a letter and number on it. Like the Virginia DMV, the letter indicated the type of transaction and the number was consecutive for that type. When I came to the clerk and told her what I wanted, she asked to see my ID (the residency card), filled out a piece of paper and told me to go pay (11 euro 50) and then come back the paper would be ready. Since I needed a form to obtain a Dutch driver's license, I asked for that also. She added something to the paper (19 euro 50). Indeed, when I paid I received the form for the driver's license and then returned to the clerk with the receipt to pick up my personal data letter.
The seller picked me up and we drove out to the..... Post Office! Transfers take place at TNT Post. The Friday morning counter traffic was light. We told the clerk what we wanted to do. The seller produced Part I and Part II of the registration papers. I laid out my Dutch ID card and personal data letter. He asked for 9 euros. He typed my personal information into his computer connection to the RDW. Less then 5 minutes later, he handed the seller the certificate of indemnity to show that he was no longer the owner of the car and he handed me the newly printed certificate of ownership. He stamped the transfer document with the date and handed that to me - I needed to keep it safe because whoever holds that piece of paper can transfer the car to himself or another person.
After this we just have to sign up with the ANWB (the AAA equivalent) and wait for the road tax bill to come in the mail. In July, the car will go through an annual safety inspection called APK. Doesn't look like there is an annual registration fee - just road tax and safety inspection.
We did buy a TomTom GPS system with the map of Europe. We went with the default British female voice, Jane (yes, the voices have names). TomTom is popular here because it is a Dutch product. Here in Europe, don't leave home without it. With Spring coming, we hope to do a little touring of Holland with our new wheels.
