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He shrugged sympathetically and wished us good luck, but it was certainly not a problem
that he could help us with in any way. The law may be absurd, but it was quite clear. It was
one of those situations where you realize you've fallen into a Italian reality crack, one large
enough to trap you without any obvious means of escape.
WeaskedotherAmericanshowtheydealtwiththisinsanity,andtheirsolutionswerevaried
and ingenious. One guy had a relative in Hamburg through whom he had bought his car so
all the legalities were handled in Germany. A couple from Colorado shipped their VW bug
to Tuscany, paid to have it modified to comply with local vehicle codes, and kept their Co-
lorado license plate. Somehow this created a loophole that they could squeeze through. But
most of the others had turned our temporary measure of expediency into a way of life: an
Italian friend held title to the car and the insurance, while the Americans reimbursed him
for everything under the table and got to drive the car.
Well, it took us a while to figure it out, but we did eventually come up with our own clever
solution to add to the repertoire of workarounds. As we got set up to do business in Italy,
we incorporated a parallel Italian version of our company, the Italian equivalent of an S-
Corp. As it happens, our company is a distinguished corporate personage who is a resident
in good standing and is legally entitled to acquire auto insurance. And, since we are all on
good terms, we get to drive the car whenever we like. Hah!
***
It feels so good when you find a way through the maze and can get on with your life. We
had the car insurance thing on autopilot for a few years until the Volvo began to let us
know that it was getting ready to return to Volvo heaven. So, based on a very positive rent-
al experience we had while exploring Sicily, we decided to buy a Renault Scenic. We put
downadepositandthedealergaveusseveralformstofilloutandstampwithourcorporate
seal along with a list of additional documents that we would need to obtain from various
sources.
We set the wheels in motion by contacting our accountant, the Chamber of Commerce and
our auto insurance company. The company we had chosen a few years ago, Dialogo, had
a pretty multi-colored logo and advertised competitive rates and state-of-the-art online ser-
vices. It's all lovely until you have to call Customer Service where every element of the
encounter has been carefully calibrated to insure that you will only ever call them when
you're desperate.
Every company has its own little melody that it plays while you're on hold. Dialogo's
seems to be especially well-chosen to become quickly annoying. And, best of all, while
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