Vehicle Power of Attorney Translation

A vehicle power of attorney is a mix of a technical and a legal document. On one side there is the list of powers; on the other, the vehicle identification details: the VIN, the body or chassis number, the engine number, the registration plate, the make, the model, the year of manufacture and the colour. The customs officer and the Service Agency employee check both parts.

Below we describe the situations in which you need a vehicle power of attorney translation, which powers are confused most often, and how we check the technical details. The translation is ready the same or next day, with notarization.

When you need a vehicle power of attorney translation

• Import into Georgia - the car was bought in the US, in Europe, in Japan or in another country, and instead of the owner it is cleared through customs and registered by a broker, a relative or a company. A foreign power of attorney needs a Georgian translation to be submitted to a Georgian authority;
• Export and sale abroad - a car registered in Georgia is being sold in another country, and the owner is not there;
• Transit - the car is driven through other countries by a driver who is not its owner;
• Driving abroad - a family member or a friend travels in your car. When the driver is not the owner, the border usually asks for the owner's power of attorney, and it has to be readable for that country's border officer;
• Sale and transfer of registration in Georgia - the owner is abroad and has asked someone else to sell the car or transfer its registration.

Each situation needs different powers, and rendering them precisely in the translation is often more important than the language itself.

The right to drive and the right to clear customs are different

The most common mistake is that a power of attorney is issued "to drive the car", while what is actually needed turns out to be customs clearance or a sale. A translator cannot add a power, so whatever is not written in the original will not be in the translation either. A vehicle power of attorney contains separate powers:

• Driving and use - drive, use. This does not cover selling, transferring the registration or customs procedures;
• Crossing the border - some countries require the power of attorney to state expressly the right to leave the country or to enter a specific country;
• Customs clearance and representation before customs - customs clearance, representation before customs authorities: filing the declaration, paying the charges, collecting the car from the customs zone;
• Registration and technical matters - registration, obtaining plates, obtaining or replacing the registration certificate, the technical inspection;
• Disposal and alienation - dispose of, sell, alienate: sale, gift, exchange. This is the broadest power, and translating it as "use" or "drive" stops the transaction;
• Receiving money - the right to receive the purchase price has to be written separately, otherwise the buyer may not be allowed to pay the representative;
• Substitution - substitution, right to delegate: whether the representative may pass the powers on to someone else. In an import this is often needed when a relative hands the procedure over to a customs broker.

VIN, body and engine numbers

The VIN, the vehicle identification number, consists of 17 characters and does not use the Latin letters I, O and Q, so they cannot be confused with the digits 1 and 0. For us this rule is a check: if an "O" seems to appear in the VIN on a scan of the original, it was a zero. In VINs issued in North America the 9th character is a check digit calculated from the other characters, so for a car imported from the US we can additionally verify that the VIN is correct.

• The VIN is not translated or transliterated - it is written character by character, in the order of the original and without spaces;
• Body or chassis number - older cars and some Japanese cars have a shorter body number instead of a 17-character VIN. We do not pad it out or "correct" it to the VIN format;
• The engine number, the registration plate and the registration certificate number are each checked separately against the original;
• Make and model are written in the manufacturer's official form, not in a Georgian transliteration;
• Colour is translated as it appears in the registration document: if the colour is given as a code there, the code is carried over too.

After translation, every technical number is checked separately against the copy of the registration certificate. That is why, when you order, we ask for a copy of the registration certificate or the foreign title document together with the power of attorney.

Other vehicle documents we translate

A power of attorney rarely travels alone. For import and sale, these are often translated together with it:

• the vehicle registration certificate, also known as the technical passport;
• the US Certificate of Title and Bill of Sale - the documents that prove ownership and the purchase;
• the German Zulassungsbescheinigung Teil I and Teil II - the two parts of the registration certificate;
• the purchase agreement, the invoice and the auction documents;
• the export certificate and the deregistration certificate;
• a driving licence, if the driver will need it abroad.

In every document of one package, the owner's name, the VIN and the vehicle details are written the same way. If the details on the invoice and on the title document do not match, we tell you as soon as we start translating, because customs will notice the mismatch anyway.

Notarization, apostille and validity

A Georgian notarized power of attorney that you will use abroad is usually translated, and the translation is notarized. If the receiving country asks for an apostille, it is placed on the notarial document. A power of attorney issued abroad usually needs an apostille or legalization and a notarized Georgian translation to be submitted in Georgia. More details: translation of a power of attorney sent from abroad.

A power of attorney has a period of validity. Under Article 109 of the Civil Code of Georgia it terminates when its term expires, when it is revoked, when the principal dies or when the assignment has been carried out, for example after the car has been sold. Under Article 108, third parties must be notified that a power of attorney has been revoked. That is why we translate the term and the revocation conditions as precisely as the powers themselves.

What stops a car at customs or at the border

Most refusals involving a vehicle power of attorney come down to one of these reasons:

• One character of the VIN differs between the power of attorney and the registration document - often a mistake made when copying by hand, for example 8 and B, or 5 and S;
• The power of attorney is issued by someone other than the owner - by a previous owner or a family member in whose name the car is no longer registered;
• The list of powers is too general - "all actions relating to the vehicle" is accepted by some authorities, while others ask for the specific action to be written down;
• The power of attorney expired before the car reached customs - shipping by sea often takes weeks, so the term should be set with a margin;
• The foreign power of attorney has no apostille, or the apostille was placed on a different document;
• Only the text was translated, while the notarial certificate and the apostille were left untranslated.

We notice the first two cases at the translation stage, because we compare the details in the power of attorney with the registration document, and we tell you about any mismatch before you submit anything.

Timing

A vehicle power of attorney translation is ready the same or next day, including notarization. If the registration certificate, the title document or the agreement also need translating along with the power of attorney, you will receive the whole package together, with consistent details.

How to order

Frequently asked questions

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