I had a wonderful morning as you can see by this picture. The police here do these roadblocks from time to time. The during the day ones are aimed at checking to see if you are legal to drive and taxes on car are paid. The roadblocks at night are the same, but really looking for drunk drivers too. I have been lucky and only been a passenger in a car for one of these stops. I wouldn't say it's too much of an inconvenience, the police are just doing their jobs.
So, I'm on the way to the grocery store and I see a traffic jam. No big deal, I am not in that much of a hurry. Then I see it's a roadblock and decide well I will just turn and avoid it. As I look to turn I see a police officer watching the line of cars...can't avoid it. They are really good at putting these roadblocks in places where you have no choice but to go through it. I then proceed ahead and as I go through where the police randomly choose people I get motioned to go down this side street where I am met by a small squadron of police officers. A lot of them! I pull into the spot where I am directed and wait.
A police officer comes up to the car and asked for my documents. Mind you I haven't gotten a driver's licence here yet and my American one is only good for 6 months. As a permanent resident of Brazil I am definitely in the wrong. I hand him my Brazilian ID card and car documents. I then explain that my Portuguese is horrible and please be patient with me. I'm like damn it I should of got the licence months ago. Now I am screwed! This police officer looks at my documents and tells me I am in trouble in Portuguese and walks away.
I am now sweating bullets, because I have watched too many locked up abroad TV shows and know that Brazilian prison can't be that good. Then I'm thinking what happens since I am not legal to drive here. Do they deport me...impound the car...see a judge...what is going to happen. My next thought is, glad my kids are not with me, my wife is going to kill me and I didn't wear underwear today so the strip search is going to be interesting during the booking process at the police station. I take a deep breath and wait.
The police officers are now gathered up and talking behind the car and I'm like damn I need a picture to send my wife. After I took it I realized that it was a bad idea to send her a photo of police behind my car. As I'm about to text her I am in trouble a police officer walks up and tells me in English "sir you have a big problem." Thank god a police office who speaks some English and can really tell me whats going on. In Portuguese I would of got some of it, but not all the details.
He tells me I am overdue on paying taxes on the car. Wow, a huge relief at first, because of the not having a driver's licence. Which never comes up and he never mentions it. The police officer then asks for me to call my wife and I attempt to call with no luck. I then explain that my phone provider is "Oi" and its horrible service. The next call went through and I quickly tell my wife I am in trouble with the police and they want to talk to you. I was expecting the yeah whatever, but I think she could tell by my voice it was for real.
I then sit back and listened to the police officer explain the situation over the phone to my wife. Most of the one sided conversation I understood and knew we had to pay the taxes by noon or they take the car. No big deal, tell us how much and we will pay. The police officer never mentioned the driver's licence to her either. I am now relieved and know they don't know or just don't care...awesome!
The police officer gives me my phone back and he walks away. My wife fills in the details of what I missed in the conversation. Awesome, pay the taxes and be on my way. He then returns with the bill and I about lose my mind. How the hell is it that much! I photograph it and send it to my wife with a message of let me go to jail. It's like highway robbery! The amount was close to R$2800 ($873 USD). This has to be a joke, really! She responds I will pay it and send back the confirmation that the bill is paid. It takes about 5 minutes and I have the proof that she paid it by bank transfer.
I show the police officer the proof and he takes me over to a small tent to validate the transaction. I am then provided a receipt and told they will mail the actual registration card to us at our home address. The police officer starts some small talk with me, tells me he lived in Georgia for a year and also welcomes me to Brazil by telling me "welcome home." Really nice guy and I am glad he was there to make the process a little smoother.
Then he sends me on my way with a small ticket to give to the police officer blocking the road at the end of the street. They are very thorough with security and making sure no one gets away. I can also see now that I am out of the car walking around that they are preparing a bunch of motorcycles for confiscation and that there is a very powerful sports bike with an officer on it prepared to chase anyone that runs. This process of catching bad people seems legit...the other side of it with providing a system that bills you is not that simple.
The amount we paid was the taxes, late penalties and traffic violation fines. You may ask why we didn't pay, well I had no idea it was due and we have owned the car less than a year. The bill never came in the mail and yes they have our correct billing address. The taxes are due on the anniversary of the plates on the car from the original owner. There is no sticker on the licence plates here that tells you when it expires. It's on the card in the glove box that no one ever looks at unless you are pulled over and providing proof to the police officer.
The late penalties, I can see penalizing someone who knows they owe and is avoiding paying the bill. Even though my wife explained that we never got a bill, they didn't care. I think it's horrible that the government here charges an outrageous amount in taxes and fees, but doesn't have an accurate system that bills people in a timely manner. We would of gladly paid the taxes months ago when it was due.
Lastly was the traffic violations, yes I probably got a couple. One was from 2013 when we didn't even own the car...again great system of tracking who has what penalties. The next was failure to transfer car into our name immediately once buying it...bad on us. The last two were driving on the freeway without headlights on (yes headlights on day or night here but not required on city streets) and stopping past the pedestrian line at a redlight. Mind you, we were never notified of these violations or provided proof that these were actually committed. Here you are guilty and have to pay no matter what. You can dispute later and try to get reimbursed. Also the cameras that catch you in the act of committing a violation don't flash or show any sign that they just caught you doing something wrong.
The only thing I can say about this whole ordeal is "It's Brazil" and there is nothing I can do about it. I absolutely love living here and will continue to live here for the unforeseen future, but it does have its drawbacks. Each month here it seems I experience a crisis of here is another surprise bill. It could be from the kids school, taxes, fees from where we live or another water leak at the house. I am truly hoping I can rein in this dramatic "oh shit" we have to pay this new thing now. I am actually at a loss of words at this time of how to explain the processes here. After being in the military for over 20 years and experiencing their messed up processes, I now know they were not that messed up. It's on a whole new level here!
Well I hope you enjoyed my pain and suffering! It was a little scary at the time, but now my goal is to set up an appointment in my phone to remind me to pay a bill later this year. I have no confidence that I will get a bill sent to me or that I will ever get proof I broke the law for those 2 traffic violations I may have committed. My wife contacted the dealership to see if they will reimburse us for the one violation we definitely didn't commit...to be continued.
Thanks for reading!
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