PCSing to Vicenza: what to do about a car before you arrive

Last updated 21 September 2026 · start of the Vicenza car-buying guide

The car decision gets made badly because it gets made late. People arrive, discover they cannot legally drive yet, discover the good cars went in July, and end up paying too much for whatever is left because they need something by Monday.

Almost all of that is avoidable from stateside. Here is what to settle before you fly, and — just as usefully — what you genuinely cannot do until you land.

Decision one: ship a car, or don't

This is the fork, and it has a deadline that arrives long before your flight does. Check the POV entitlement in your orders early — your first vehicle generally moves under SOFA paperwork without duty, while a second attracts duty and VAT on the shipped value. Two cars is a completely different calculation from one.

Ship if: the car is paid off and you like it, it is reliable enough to not need a US parts supply, and it is small enough to be pleasant on Italian roads and in Italian parking. Don't ship if: it is large, it is thirsty, it is nearly due for something expensive, or you were going to replace it within a year anyway. A full-size American truck is technically shippable and practically miserable in a medieval city centre.

Also weigh the thing people forget: shipping takes weeks, sometimes months. Even if you ship, you will have a gap.

Decision two: how you cover the gap

Whether your car is on a boat or you never had one, there is a window between landing and driving. Plan it rather than discovering it.

• Rental. The straightforward bridge. Expensive, but cheaper than buying the wrong car in week one because you had no transport.
• Lodging location. If you can influence where you are billeted on arrival, walkability is worth real money during this window.
• Buying quickly on arrival. Possible, but it depends entirely on the licence test, so don't build a plan that assumes you drive away on day three.

What you can usefully do from stateside

• Watch the market before you need it. Inventory here is public and it is small enough to get a feel for in a couple of weeks. Knowing that a clean 2018 SUV sits around a certain number means you recognise a good price on day one instead of week six.
• Read the registration process. Not because you can start it, but because it changes what you buy — an Italian-plated car is a longer transaction than one already on AFI plates.
• Get the tax picture straight. The fuel ration and road tax argue for a smaller engine than your US instincts will.
• If you are buying new, start now. Military sales programmes are factory orders with lead times measured in months. Ordering before you move is how the car is waiting when you are ready, rather than sixteen weeks after.
• Sort your licence paperwork. Know what the test requires so it is a formality rather than a delay.

What you cannot do from stateside

Being honest about this prevents a lot of frustration:

• You cannot register a vehicle before you are here and eligible.
• You cannot take possession without the AFI licence.
• You cannot reliably reserve a specific used car weeks out. These are small lots with real turnover; the car you bookmarked in March will very likely be gone. Learn the price level, not the individual car.

Timing, if you have any say in it

Arriving in high summer means the widest selection and the most competition, because everyone else is rotating too. Arriving in autumn or winter means a thinner market but far more leverage. If your report date is flexible by a few weeks, that is worth knowing; if it isn't, at least know which market you are walking into. The PCS season timeline has the month-by-month version.

A sane sequence

• 4-6 months out: decide ship-versus-buy, using the entitlement in your orders. If ordering new, place it now.
• 2-3 months out: start watching listings so you know what things cost. Arrange the arrival gap — rental or lodging.
• Arrival week: book the licence test. Do not buy anything yet.
• Licence in hand: now buy, with three weeks of market knowledge behind you instead of none.

Start watching the market now All guides

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