Buying a car at auction in Argentina: who pays the unpaid vehicle tax

Argentina's vehicle tax, the impuesto automotor or patentes, is provincial, and in some provinces municipal. So is the rule on what happens to arrears when a car is sold at a judicial auction.

Where the debt can follow the buyer

In several jurisdictions the tax code makes the acquirer jointly liable for prior debt unless a debt-clearance certificate (libre deuda) is obtained, or attaches the debt to the vehicle itself — among them the City of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires province, Santa Fe, Misiones, San Juan, La Pampa and La Rioja.

Where it is paid from the price

In others the arrears are settled out of the auction proceeds or stay with the former owner — Mendoza, Córdoba, Catamarca, Entre Ríos, Río Negro and Jujuy, for example. In San Luis the buyer is protected only if the judge actually withholds the debt from the price.

What the notice says matters too

The sale notice (edicto) often states who bears the patentes, fines and transfer costs, and courts have followed those terms. Read it alongside the province's rule, check the debt with the provincial or municipal tax office before bidding, and price it in where it follows the vehicle.