Dirk, when I was stationed in Germany I had a special rider on my
auto insurance that would _pay_ the import duty on my automobile if
it was stolen in Italy and not recovered before leaving Italy! Yes,
that's right, if your car was stolen and not recovered before
departure across the border, it was considered as having been
imported and the import duties were paid for it, and you were not
leaving Italy until they were!
Talk about insult to injury. Apparently far too many people had
driven in autos from elsewhere, sold them and then claimed theft to
avoid the duties . . . and thus a somewhat draconian measure was
instituted to close the hole being used by the dishonest and collect
the duties. Undoubtedly there must be at least one other country in
the world that does the same.
-- John
Oh yes, indeed. We in NATO are entitled to tax-free vehicles under
certain, strict conditions. However, you may not sell such vehicles
to non-entitled persons and if your car is stolen you have a problem:
1. The Dutch Customs want the tax you did not pay on the vehicle
2. You have to persuade your insurance company to pay the full
amount of replacement cost (because the allowance is strictly
limited) AND the tax to the Dutch Customs.
Yes, I know it's a great privilege... it's the only way I could
afford a Mercedes ML270 CDi (oops, I mentioned a SUV ;-))
But it's a great OM carrier, and I plan to take it to the Highlands
of Scotland to take all those wonderful, marketable shots in the next
phase of my life.
Chris
--
~~~~~ ><>
Chris Barker
mailto:chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
mailto:chris_barker@xxxxxxxxx
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