Buying a car

I am not certain about thus, but I was told a couple of years ago that it was not possible for non-residents (even people on long-stay visas) to buy a car in Italy. You might consider leasing. That is said to be considerably less expensive than renting. Although the leasing programs seem to be based in France, there might be a pick-up option in Italy. It's not something I've ever checked out.

This is reputed to be an option near US military bases like Aviano Air Base, but this site and others that I glanced at don't make it appear that there will be much selection there.

Remember that under Schengen laws your time between Slovenia and Italy (and soon Croatia) must not exceed 90 days in any 180.

Thank you for reminding me about the 90 day Shengen limit. Does anyone know exactly when Croatia will be included in that limit. I understand up to this point time in Croatia was exempt.

Not for a while still, the technical adjustments are not finished yet and afterwards, the member states will have to give their final approval, which will take some time, too.

If you wish to buy a car in Slovenia, you have to have a registered address in the country and a national tax ID number. I would be surprised if there was no similar requirement in Italy. Buying a car has some caveats even if you do manage to get around this, though. First of all you will have to buy insurance, which is not cheap. The car will have to be safety inspected at a regular interval, so you would need to make sure that does not occur during the time you own it. You would have to return to Italy to sell it and you may lose a lot of money on it, especially if you need to get rid of it in a hurry.

It's a better idea to look into the tourist leasing option. You'll get a new car and it won't cost a fortune.

The problem is not in buy a car, but in being able to use the car once you have bought it. Cars must be registered, taxed and insured before you can drive them on a public road. And that requires a residence permit of some kind to at least register and tax the car. Leasing may be possible in some countries because technically you don't own the car, but I don't know if that applies to the countries you are heading for.

The leasing programs that I'm aware of are all based in France, with a limited number of international pick-up and drop-off spots, such as Milan's Malpensa or Linate airports or Rome Fiumicino airport.