Lost in Cyberspace

We are trying to buy a car.  We have been trying to buy a car for over two weeks now, and for over two weeks now we have been renting a car like this (which would cost about $18,000 to buy):

for about fifty-five dollars per day.  Watching us all get in and out is a little like watching the clowns rehearse getting in and out of their tiny circus car.  It has been difficult to find a car.  We did a lot of research and had quite a time finding something affordable.  Keep in mind that we are looking for something 2002 0r newer that can fit John, his mom, me, Jonah, and Andy.  Our friends here have warned us that anything older may already be deteriorating from the salty air and rough roads.  Here are some of the cars on the market and their prices: 

2008 Toyota Camry = 165,000Reais or about $96,000

1996 Toyota Camry = 21,000Reis or about $12,500

2005 Toyota Corolla = 42,000Reais or about $25,000

2005 Chevy Corsa = 32,000Reais or about $19,000

2008 Fiat Doblo = 55,000Reais or about $32,500

2008 Ford Ranger extended cab = 120,000Reais or about $71,000

 This may give you an idea of what's available here.  I know it doesn't look very promising, but that's not even the problem.  We have actually found a few cars that we can pay cash for.  The problem is that we can't get to our cash.  It seems to be stuck in cyberspace and no one around here knows where that is.

John ordered a transfer from our account in Texas to Brazil about sixteen days ago.  The bank here said it should take three days, so when it wasn't here in five, he did some investigating. They told him the problem was that our CPF cards (that's the equivalent of a social security card) needed to be renewed every year (something we have never done.)  We did that, which took two days, then John went back for our money.  

They told him that the sending account, which happens to have his name on it, needed to be in his name.  We decided to cancel the transfer and start over.  That was about a week ago.  The money has still not shown up in our Texas account.  It seems our money is lost in cyberspace and can't be touched.  What this means to us is that we have to continue renting the clown car until we can get our hands on our money.  Even when it does get back into our Texas account, we still aren't quite sure how to get it to Brazil.  We do, however, have someone who works at the Brazilian bank on the case.  He assures us that our money will be returned and that he will help us to work this out.