Here the MOT is actually a Revisión Técnica, pretty much the same thing except we have two sets of rules to obtain a pass. $20,000 pesos (£20) in the ash tray invokes the more lenient rules - the ones where they ignore anything wrong.
That said, not having the correct paperwork is one of the most heinous crimes one can commit in Chile.
The Government has said that there is a rolling 3 month grace period because of the virus. But you don't actually get a piece of paper to say that, and paper matters here.
As it happens we can't go out anyway, but it will be a tense period when we drive but don't have the actual piece of paper.
If the Carabinero issues you a ticket, then you can contest it. However stupid the ticket is, once it is issued it must go before a judge. And you must go with it. And it must be the judge who has jurisdiction over the area where you were ticketed, and it will take 3 - 6 months to go to court.
If you were caught 500 miles from home, tough s***, you'll just have to go back for the court date. If you're a foreigner then you'll be ok to ignore it if you leave the country before the court date and never come back. If you do come back you will be arrested at immigration, taken to wherever the jurisdiction is, and jailed for two or three days before being taken in front of the judge. Not paying the fine is even worse.
The RT centres are a b***** nightmare normally. You can't make appointments so you just have to turn up. If you're not there before 8:00am you won't get seen that day. And if you are there before 8:00am it will still be late in the day when you are seen and you sit in your car in a queue for the duration.
So you have two choices;
1) Drive a couple of hours outside Santiago to a rural test centre, get seen and done in 20 minutes.
2) Pay a local $25k to take your car for you and sit in it all day doing nothing. It's the kind of work that they like and there is no shortage of volunteers. You just have to choose one who won't nick your car.
FML.
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