car saga sequel

Well, the car story got a bit more interesting. My friend Bill told me his acquaintance with the car, Ted, suggested I just "buy" the car from him and he would buy it back from me when we are ready to come home. That way, I could simply get my own insurance and he would pay me the amount I paid him less a reasonable rental fee. That seemed like a pretty good idea so we went to see Ted and complete the transaction. Ted does these kinds of things for his business. He imports trucks, modifies them, then sells them. Consequently, he is familiar with vehicle transactions. He tried to complete our transaction via his normal methods but found he hit a roadblock since I did not have a NZ driver's license. At that point, we were instructed to go to a licensing agent and they could handle it. So, Bill and I jumped in his car and drove over to the licensing agent. You see, in NZ, there are no vehicle titles. All you need to do to be the registered owner of a vehicle is to know the license plate number, the make, and the model. With that info, you can have any vehicle registered in your name for a small fee ($7 US). The trick of course would be getting the real owner to give you the keys. But in this case, for my $7 I became the owner of a 1993 Nissan March. We then went back to Ted's place to figure out the details and get the car, but Ted was not there! Come on! Fortunately for us, the keys were in the car and off we went. (We'll settle up with Ted later). However, at this point I still have no insurance. Well, Bill had been in contact with his insurance broker and they told him any insurance agency could write the policy I need. Bill apparently forgot to indicate that I was a foreigner staying only temporarily. We stopped at an insurance agency and explained the scenario and they said they did not write that kind of business. Are you kidding me? They gave us another agent to try. We went there and they told us there office was too small to handle it but a different one in Nelson probably would or we could call their 800 number and try that way. You guys are killing me!! You can't make this stuff up! At this point I am a little nervous. We got back to Bill's house and I phoned the 800 number. Thankfully, at long last, someone was willing to work with me. After about 20 minutes of answering questions I was able to secure insurance. So, I am the proud owner of a car with the steering wheel on the right hand side.

Photo of the car and of the Queen's Gardens in Nelson.