Gasoline

With the freedom of now having our own set of wheels with which to travel comes the responsibility and expense of fueling said vehicle. And gas in Italy is not cheap! It's currently anywhere from $7-10/gallon. As I understand it, these coupons allow us to purchase gas tax-free, which can mean we pay nearly 50% less than locals. We are authorized (based on the horsepower of Tony's Honda) to purchase coupons for up to 300 liters each month, which are available at the Exchange for a set price. Apparently the coupons are changed each year so they look different, and we have a grace period to return unused coupons in September and October, but obviously we haven't experienced that yet. The coupons come in a book, and there are coupons for 20L, 10L, and 5L of gas. This is important because the two authorized gas stations, Eni and Agip, can only accept coupons for the exact amount of fuel without going over. So if we buy 28L of gas, we can't turn in a 20L and a 10L coupon; instead, we turn in a 20L and a 5L and pay the difference on the remaining 3L out of pocket. The coupons are a really great perk, but they are only useful in Italy; we can't use them in Germany, for example. I think that's due to host nation agreements with the military. And if we decide to road trip to another country we have to make sure we budget fuel costs accordingly, as well as pay attention to what tolls or vignettes are required to be able to drive in each nation. Thankfully we already have our international driver's licenses! I'm glad we did that in the States before we left, though they're only valid for one year. I'll probably be able to renew mine on one of my work trips back to Florida, so that's a good option if it's difficult to do here or by mail.

I've also noticed the tolls and parking around here can get quite expensive. We just took a day trip to Lake Garda, about 45 minutes away, and payed about 12 Euro in tolls and another 6ish Euro to park for about 3 hours. We're told to expect more tolls if we drive to Venice, and that parking there can cost 20 Euro or more per day. I'm sure cheaper parking is available if you look hard enough, but then we might get stuck paying additional public transportation fees or losing out on a more secure location to leave the car. So, we are going to try to embrace public transit as much as possible! Some friends of ours just spent the long weekend in Cinque Terre, about three hours away. They drove, and paid about 30 Euro in tolls, plus the gas they used up, and it turns out their B&B was only a couple of blocks from the train station, which they used to take a side jaunt into Pisa. While they had a fantastic trip (and plenty of great pictures to prove it!), apparently in a do-over they'd just take a train down there. Since Cinque Terre is definitely on my bucket list, note to self...

Springing the Car

Tony was able to get his car from the Vehicle Processing Center (VPC) today. It was a slight hassle and we had a few missteps in the process, but it was not as bad as we were anticipating...says the passenger who didn't have to do anything, sign anything, inspect anything, provide anything...

The first step was to go to the Vehicle Registration Office, which is on the same site but in a different building from the VPC. We did that yesterday. They gave us two sample license plates and sent us out to the vehicle to determine if we needed the long European-style kind or the European square ones, which are more typically seen on SUVs and non-European imports. Six of one, half dozen of the other. Neither one fit perfectly on the Accord, but ultimately Tony decided to go with the square so he wouldn't have to procure a special mounting bracket or drill holes in the car. Once that was set, Tony showed a bunch of paperwork and they assigned him a license plate number, though they didn't issue it to us.

Once we got the license plate number, we had to call our insurer (USAA) and provide it to them so they could overnight the European proof of insurance, which must be displayed on the windshield at all times. USAA overnighted that to Pentagon Car Sales, a military car sales company located just outside one of the post gates. I walked over there around lunchtime today and picked it up while Tony was taking care of other business at the Housing Office. Then Tony's sponsor took us back to the Vehicle Registration Office. Tony provided his driver's license, ID, SETAF driver's license, proof of insurance, $20, 5Euro, and a partridge in a pear tree in trade for the license plates and registration.

Next, we walked back over to the VPC and they pulled the car around for an inspection. Tony's car came over here in perfect condition, and he found two damaged spots underneath the bumper. Probably from putting it onto or taking it off the car carrier. Anyway, they aren't very visible, but they're there, so he got briefed on the damage claim process. Basically, he can take an on-the-spot offer (though they give him a couple days to decide, I think) or he can go out on the economy and get a repair estimate quote. It was about 3:30 after all the paperwork was done, so we decided to deal with that part another day.

From there, we came back to the base and went to the Directorate of Logistics to get approval to purchase NATO fuel coupons. Depending on the size of your engine, each person is authorized to purchase either 300 or 400 liters of NATO fuel coupons from the PX each month. Since the car isn't fully registered yet (more on that in a second) we were authorized to purchase a one-time-only book of coupons for 200 liters until the inspection and registration are fully completed. So once we filled out that paperwork, we attempted to get the car inspected, but just missed the cutoff for the end of the working day. Instead, we headed over to the customer service section of the Exchange to purchase the fuel coupons. Basically you pay for the coupons at reduced prices; on the economy, gas is ten or eleven dollars a gallon, so it is definitely worth your while to take advantage of this program. Only certain gas stations are allowed to redeem them, and there's a lot of hoopla right now because the large gas station conveniently located right outside the base just got a lifetime ban for (allegedly) watering down his fuel. You can also get NATO coupons to purchase oil and propane, but today we didn't need to mess with that. The coupons are only good through the fiscal year, and we will have the opportunity to sell them back to the PX in September in October if we don't use them all.

Tomorrow we will get the car inspected on post; it doesn't cost anything. Once that's done, we have to go back to the Vehicle Registration Center and prove that the car passed inspection. In turn, we'll get our fuel ration card at that time. I assume it will work pretty much the same way. There's a lot of talk about upgrading to the German ration system, which gives you a scannable card and is all electronic. That makes a lot more sense to me, but obviously will cost the government some money to implement.

Anywho, at least we have the car! Still have to get it inspected and deal with the damage claim process, but it's exciting to have a bit more mobility at our fingertips.

In another exciting update, Tony's other business at the Housing Office today was to set up an appointment to start pre-negotiations for a rental house! We were going to look at one more place, but there were a couple small hitches in that plan and so we decided to take it as a sign. Cross your fingers that everything works out for the place in Marola!