How to sell a car in Turkey

Like nearly everything else in Turkey involving officialdom even selling a car is a complete nightmare, here is my experience, YMMV

1. Find buyer.
2. Agree price.
3. Next day get haggled down.
4. Next day get haggled down.
5. Finally stand your ground on price and shake (again) on it.
6. Go to Noter with buyer.
7. Take number and wait 1 hour for 2 people to be seen.
8. Within 30 seconds noter tells you he cant find you on the system, try somewhere else.
9. Drive 10km to a different noter.
10. Take number and wait 30 minutes.
11. Noter doesn’t know law and arrogantly sends you away to get paperwork translated even though its not needed.
12. Argue but realise these arrogant jobsworths will not budge so go and get paperwork and pay.
13. come back, take another ticket.
14. Wait 30 minutes.
15. Get told that your TC number isnt on the system and isnt linked to your tax number so its impossible to sell car, must go to Polis to change.
16. Argue that you’ve paid tax using that number and plate number for 10 years, you’ve had number plates renewed, stopped and checked docs by Polis, fines taken and paid and no anomaly has EVER been mentioned. Argue but realise these arrogant jobsworths will not budge.
17. Drive 15km to Polis.
18. Spend 20 minutes trying to park because one of the busiest police offices dealing with traffic is positioned in the part of town that has always been notorious for having nowhere to park!
19. Take number and wait 45 minutes.
20. Arrogant, unapologetic fucktard turns up, obviously after his warm milk nap, says the tax number isnt linked to the TC number (yeah we just told YOU that, Sherlock! Obvious how you got into the polis, nothing gets past you!) Sherlock sends an email to the province you bought the car asking them to check and correct their records because as it turns out tax numbers are based on province and in 2016 Turkey isnt treated as one big country but lots of little ones that need to ask permissions from each other to do shit.
21. After 6 hours of running around and paying at every fucking desk for something still nothing is one step further forward but we get dismissed with a literal wave of a hand with “orders” to call the polis and check if the records have been updated and when they are only then can we go back to the noter and actually sell the fucking car!
22. Who’s fault is bad paperwork? POLIS, who has to put it right? YOU

TO BE CONTINUED (UNLESS I KILL A BUNCH OF NOTERS AND FUCKTARD TRAFFIC POLIS)

Part 2

1. Find out EXACTLY what the problem is, the system was changed 2 years after I bought my car and no-one updated the old records so the tax office had the car registered linked to my tax number (the old way) instead of my ID number (the new way), the tax office from Fethiye where the car was initially registered need to change their records, the time and effort to just find out the EXACT problem is astonishing!
2. Go to tax office, meet a surprisingly helpful and lovely lady who gets the changes done
3. Check with noter that the computer system now shows the correct info, it does.

Part 3

1. Go with buyer to noter, all fine, contract made I am asked in Turkish if I understand what Im doing and the contract terms and I do so I say so in my best Turkish (which wasn’t bad even if I say so myself) then get told that we have to have a translator anyway coz Im foreign!
2. After 20 minutes the translator turns up, we chat in Turkish about the contract for 2 minutes, he signs contract and Im 100TL lighter for a 2 minute visit from a translator but at least have the money for the sale (cash! as thats the way its done in Turkey!)
3. Buyer is also charged twice the normal sales amount because he is buying from a foreigner! (If I hear Erdogan complain about “Islamophobia” one more time I swear I’ll ……
4. Give number plates to noter
5. Drive to Polis office to get new plates, realise on the way that he needs insurance to get plates
6. Go to insurance broker, they cant find the car on the system as the noter change hasn’t gone through yet so you cant get a quote or insure the car or get plates!
7. Insurance agents warns us both not to dream of driving the car with no plates as the current tensions in Turkey mean the Polis could shoot the car thinking you are a terrorist with no plates and even if you prove a recent sale you can get a massive fine and have the car confiscated!
8. Buyer decides to risk it anyway and drives back to work
9. I taxi home

Hopefully the story ends there and if I never see the inside of a noter office or the arrogant, lazy good for nothing aholes at the traffic police office again it will be too soon.

Oh and just for fun here is the procedure for selling a car in the UK, regardless of your nationality, from – https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/how-to-sell-your-car-privately

As soon as you’ve been paid for the car, you need to complete the following essential paperwork:

• Write a receipt and make two copies – one for you and one for your buyer. It should include the date, price, registration number, make and model, plus you and your buyer’s names and addresses.
• Complete the tear-off part at the bottom of the V5C registration document (logbook) and send it to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency at the address given.
• Hand over the top part of the V5C to your buyer.
• Give the new owner the car’s handbook, the keys (including any duplicate sets), the service logbook plus any receipts you have, and the MOT certificate if the car is over three years old. If you’re selling with a full service history, buyers also like to receive old MOT certificates and other maintenance receipts.
• And finally, keep a separate note of the buyer’s name and address.

THATS IT!