Citizens advice bureau

[Mike.1940]

Have just read in a Paphos life article in the Grapevine magazine about joint ownership of a car and the difficulties that arise when one half of a couple die. Can anyone please tell us where the citizens advice centre in Paphos is and hours of business. We wish to put our car into joint names to avoid problems later. Many thanks in advance.

[memory man]

All the info here >>

https://www.paphoslife.com/directory/en ... =essential

[trevnhil]

Mike, you have to have the insurance in Joint names (not just two drivers) before you change the ownership to two people..

[Mike.1940]

Found the place but large queue out the door, so shall return another day early. Many for the info.

[trevnhil]

Afternoons are much quieter..

[Lofos-Jan]

I went around 2pm last week and it was almost empty! Don't forget if there are a lot of people there, they may be queuing for a different thing. There are different numbering/queueing systems for each service so if you are the only one out of 20 people looking to change vehicle ownership, you may be seen straight away.

Jeanne

[Tuppence]

Our car insurance is currently with Abbeygate & I recently called in to check with them about the insurance being in both names. For over 8 years the insurance has been in my husband’s name & I have been a named driver. The log book has always been in both our names & I was assured that was all that was necessary for probate & that the insurance didn't need to be in both names. I was also told that if anything happened to my husband I shouldn’t lose the no-claims bonus. Perhaps somebody else insured by Abbeygate would like to check with them & see if they get the same answer or somebody unfortunate enough to have been in this situation can tell us differently?

[josef k]

Just a point. They are Citizens Service Centres (i.e. government service "one stop shops"), not Citizens Advice Bureaus (independent advice centres) which are a UK charity and don't exist in Cyprus.

[trevnhil]

We are with Abbygate and got the insurance in Both Names. This was what the Citizens service centre said they needed.

[grb]

We changed both our cars from individual to joint names last year. A couple of points to be aware of; Atlantic Insurance couldn't just add the other person to an existing policy as a joint owner, even though they were a named driver, we had to cancel, gaining some refund, then we had to open new policies in the joint names. The Citizens Service wouldn't change the 'log book' of the car that was 'duty free', without the remaining duty being paid. (It is on a sliding scale over 10 years of car ownership so after 1 year you would pay 90%, after 9 years 10%.)

[Varky]

Just a point. They are Citizens Service Centres (i.e. government service "one stop shops"), not Citizens Advice Bureaus (independent advice centres) which are a UK charity and don't exist in Cyprus.

And here we all know them as Citizens Advice Bureaus in the same way we all know Butcher Boy Road instead of Eleftherios Venezuelos. Stop being so pedantic.

[Lofos-Jan]

Also being a bit pedantic - they really aren't the same as the UK Citizens Advice Bureaux which are predominantly just that (advice). These are service centres where government related transactions are carried out. Most people I know here actually call them Citizens Sevice Centres - it's only the occasional forum poster that calls it otherwise

Jeanne

[Varky]

And most people I know call them the Citizens Advice bureaux, whether they perform the same or different function as compared with the UK Citizens Advice Bureaux.

[Dominic]

So what? We pronounced "Geroskipou" with a "G", until it was pointed out that it was actually pronounced with a "Y". Since then we pronounce it "Yeroskipou".

The building is called the Citizen's Service Centre. Now that you know that, why not just call it that? Why make a point of prolonging the mistake?

[Kili01]

Still about the Citizens Service Centre..just for interest. In todays cy mail there is an article which says that the Govt think it a good idea to have a 2nd service centre (office), in Paphos. Apparently they want to put it in the Industrial area at Mesogi , sited close to the Dept of Transport office. But, the leader of the Old Town's shop keepers assoc wants it to be located in the old town...
Personally, the industrial area seems a reasonable location to me. At least car parking there isn't a problem. I find it hard to park close to most places in the old town, plus the traffic in the mornings and the car parking can be a problem there.

Dee

[smudger]

Totally Agree Dee. Parking anywhere in the old town is a nightmare and needs to a consideration in the siting of the next office. The Dept of Transport area works be much better. Wonder who will have the greatest 'pull'???

[Lofos-Jan]

As there is already one in the main post office (although not full services) and in the centre of town, perhaps somewhere between Kate Paphos and Peyia would be more helpful? I don't see much sense in having three within a short distance of one another when other areas are not served at all.

Jeanne

[darrow]

We changed both our cars from individual to joint names last year. A couple of points to be aware of; Atlantic Insurance couldn't just add the other person to an existing policy as a joint owner, even though they were a named driver, we had to cancel, gaining some refund, then we had to open new policies in the joint names. The Citizens Service wouldn't change the 'log book' of the car that was 'duty free', without the remaining duty being paid. (It is on a sliding scale over 10 years of car ownership so after 1 year you would pay 90%, after 9 years 10%.)

Since 2013, the requirement to keep a car without duty paid, has been 1 year. You only need to go to Customs with the paperwork and they will issue a new log showing duty not owed. We also got our car changed from one owner to joint owners and had no problems. Abbeygate gave us a new print out with both our names on but didn't alter the policy that was the same year.

[WHL]

On a side note, a big thumbs up for these centers, any one who has lived here for some time, will know how hard going to Government offices and getting things sorted out used to be, these centers in my opinion are very well run and very professional.

[galexinda]

A CSC in Coral Bay would be a good location with a big catchment area.

Agree with WHL that these centres have really made it so much easier to get various official documents. It helps if you know the Greek for the various colours of the tickets and numbers - or just find the person with the same colour ticket and previous number to yours and watch to see when they get up to go to the relevant counter!