After living here for a year, we decided to get our Land Cruiser running again. It served us so well in Africa. When we got here the battery was dead. I spent many hours trying to figure out where and how to get a new one and get the car insured and registered. It requires tons of paperwork. "Bureaucracy demands it!" Then there's the issue of insane Moscow traffic with gridlock and confusing road signs and roads. Occasionally a friend who has a car would take us to the bigger super markets or Ikea. Otherwise, walking and the metro suited us just fine. Especially when it's -7 degrees Celcius and there is hazardous ice and snow on the ground.
But there are some occasions where a car would be great to have. The battery ("accumulator") took 4 days to get. First it took 20 questions with 20 phone calls: dimensions in metric, how many Am's, plates, cold cranks, filter sizes, fluid volumes in ml... Then they search for parts. How to get it? I ended up paying them 200 rubles ($6) to deliver. And finally! Instant start after a year in hibernation!
But now there is still the issue of insurance and registration. The car needs to be inspected which means driving it to a mechanic. To do this though, you are driving it without a registration. You cannot insure the vehicle here until you have registration - so you're driving it without both registration and insurance. It must be perfectly washed inside and out for the inspection and it has to have a fire extinguisher and road side orange triangle and flares. These can only be bought at certain store locations which require someone with a car to take you there or a very long metro ride with multiple line changes.
On Wednesday I have an appointment for my inspection. Our friends had trouble because their tinted windows were "too dark" and they were told on inspection that they would need to replace all the windows. But a few extra rubles took care of that. Another friend had a blown engine replaced in another country before arriving here and the VIN# didn't match the engine block. It will be interesting to see how the Land Cruiser fares.