lunes, 31 de octubre de 2011

Buying a second hand car / Comprar un coche de segunda mano


Credits: Daniel G. Ríos.

Due to my profession I often talk about usability and user experience referred to online tools. Keep reading to see how important user experience is in 'real life' too, applied in this case to the process of buying a second hand car.

Once you have found the car of your dreams, and from my experience this can take a while, some paperwork is needed in order to buy it. Let's compare this process in both Spain and the Netherlands:

In Spain:
Be sure you have a full day free and do all the steps together with the seller.

Go to 'Hacienda' (tax office), find the right queue for vehicle transfers and be certain that's the one you have to be, because when your turn comes you don't want to be told you should have been queueing at the other, even longer, one. Once at the desk, hand out the forms 620 ('Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales') and 430 ('Declaración de Transmisión de Compraventa') both previously downloaded or bought, to the clerk. After submitting these papers the officer will tell you the amount to pay (currently 4% of the value of the vehicle according to the official valuation). If you are lucky enough you will be able to pay this amount after queueing again in the same office but it can be that you have to go to a bank and then come back. Once you have paid, present the payment proof (usually to another clerk, after another queue) and if everything is in order, your documents will be validated with a stamp.

With all these documents and the car documents, go to the "Jefatura de tráfico" office. Warning: there are only 3 in all Madrid province!. Wait the never-ending queue to pay again some taxes and then wait again at the next window where you and the seller will submit all the possible documents you can think of: the receipt of the payment you just made, yours and the seller's ID documents, car papers, photocopies, contract, etc. Finally you get the vehicle registration with your name on it.

In the Netherlands:
Take the car documents, your passport and, if not Dutch, a proof of registration in your municipality not older than 3 months. Go with the seller to the closest post office. There will be no queue. Fill in a form, pay 9,25€ and get the car documents registered in your name.

Moral: It's a big difference when processes are designed to make user’s experience easier, in this example the citizen, who should not interact physically with all possible administrations involved in one single process. Instead, the citizen triggers the process in just one place and afterwards, the entities involved communicate between them.

Versión en español

domingo, 9 de octubre de 2011

'Kinderboerderij' / Las granjas de los niños

Credits: M.Wrigley/N.Vicente (left). P.Gallego (right).

I was not familiar with this concept: a farm open for visitors and specially designed for children where they can learn everything about farm animals. It may exist in Spain but I never saw it and here they are everywhere.

In cities it is very difficult to be in touch with nature and animals; these farms are the way to offer children and adults (because I love animals too!) the possibility to see and pet farm animals and learn how they live and are taken care of.

I recently visited the 'kinderboerderij' in 'Amsterdamse bos'. It's full of little goats and there are also some pigs, cows, horses... For a little donation you are allowed to bottle feed the little goats. Really cute! Something I recommend to everybody suffering this hectic life: connect back with nature whenever you can!

Versión en español