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Comments
who talked to me for the dealer invoice on an ED 323i. She finally cracked and told me that it was $22095. The MSRP is about $24.5K. This is about $2.5K of dealer profit....hmmmm. I called back the next day and asked for the invoice on a 328i but they wouldn't budge....So the price should be negotiable by the dealership!
My preference would be to buy a new car (VW or Subaru preferably) FOR EXPORT to California in 2+ years.
Any tips on how to go about this?
Thanks in advance...
Spent the first night at the Intercontinental Stuttgart, free under the program. They also gave us a free drink and DM50 off dinner. Stuttgart on a Sunday afternoon isn't very exciting. Museum was good, but doesn't take up much time.
An alternative would be to stay by the Airport or in one of the hotels in Boblingen or Sindlefingen and use one of the free hotel nights elsewhere. Or pick up the car the day you arrive, but that's pretty tough on the system. Also the morning factory tours are limited to buyers only.
Was surprised at how big the new delivery center is (opened in February I think). They have an enormous floor where vehicles are brought out and tech go over the features. 20-35 cars were out on the floor at any one time. Majority were Germans picking up cars not for export. Many, many S classes. Over half the new MBs were silver. Many more trim levels than we see in the US.
The factory tour was fascinating, saw the C and E class being built. Glad to say no one on the tour was allowed to operate a welder (someone posted that earlier). But we didn't find time for the museum which is on the other side of town.
Second night was Hotel Lisl, Hohenschawngau in Bavarian alps (also free). Beautiful, enormous anique-filled room looking out at the castles. Very highly recommended.
Stop by the Harms office after you pick up the car to fill out paperwork. The info from MB tells you to do this, but the salesman at the delaer and the person at the deliver center said not to bother. But it would have been better as we were late when it came time to drop off.
Highly recommend the program for anyone who is buying a car and need a vacation.
Anyone with any input on Gothenburg? We're staying 1 night at Hotel Gothia on Volvo, and the rest of the time at Radisson SAS Scandinavia (formerly Sheraton). Is anyone familiar with either property?
Any tips on the city would be appreciated. We are only going for the car and to tour the factory. Total of 3 nights/4 days.
Thanks,
Kathy
Volvo covered my plane ticket. I flew BA by choice, SEA-LHR-LGW-GOT. We arrived at Landvetter Airport, about 20km out of town, at 600pm. Volvo will pay for ONE ground transfer. If you land early in the day, they'll meet you at Landvetter and run you right up to the factory, but in my case I had to choose between the airport-hotel run or the hotel-factory run the following morning. I opted to hop the airport bus into town, to the Hotel Gothia, and let Volvo come get me the following morning.
The airport bus is great. Departs every fifteen minutes. When you get out of Customs at Landvetter, walk outside, turn left, and there it is. Cost is SKR45 ($5.50). For the Hotel Gothia, ask for the SECOND scheduled stop. The ride takes about 20 minutes.
The Hotel Gothia is a big, modern convention hotel. Lots of birch and glass. Rooms big by Euro standards. Great sauna, great free breakfast spread. Rooftop bar charges berserk drink prices. Volvo pays your room and tax, you pay for incidentals (including the local phone call you make to Volvo to request pickup). The hotel is a pleasant fifteen-minute walk from "downtown" -- lots of bars, cafes, bistros, and most everyone has some English. We had a nice evening incl. dinner in a sidewalk cafe.
Volvo sent a taxi (not a Volvo limo
After we'd driven the car around for about ten minutes we noticed a flaw in the front passenger seat: a shallow half-inch incision in the leatherwork. We called it to Leif's attention and his face darkened, he grabbed the keys back and whisked the car back to the workshop. When we returned from lunch a whole new seat had been installed. I doubt that would've happened at a Stateside dealer.
The Delivery Center has luggage lockers for folks in transit, a children's playroom, and a (pretty modest) accessories shop with good prices. We bought locking lug nuts there and Leif had them installed at no charge.
We spent about four hours there all told -- they offered us a facility tour which was interesting even though the assembly line was down (August industrial holiday). We saw the Special Vehicles shop where various craftsmen were doing police, hearse, & limo conversions. Lunch was on Volvo at the paint shop dining area -- very nice. Anything we wanted. Then in true Swedish-egalitarian fashion the cooks came around the counter and ate with us.
A sweet, personable guide took us around. We had a chance to speak to many employees and ask them what they thought of the Ford takeover (mostly they think it's a job insurance policy).
We were gone around 3pm and easily made Copenhagen by 6pm. Leif told us a morning delivery is best because things get busy at the Delivery Center in the afternoons, when the ferry arrives from Kiel and bunches of Germans arrive to pick up their cars. The staff there will make ferry arrangements, by the way, or help with maps and directions or whatever.
Two weeks later we dropped the V70 at Harms, the shipping agent, across the road from Heathrow Airport in London. 2200 miles on the odo; flawless performance from the car, which averaged 24 mpg combining autobahn and London-gridlock driving. The dropoff procedure takes about an hour, and unless you're doing it in Gothenburg, Bremerhaven or Antwerp, there is a transport surcharge which they want in cash U.S. dollars --no credit cards. I checked on the fee before leaving home and packed $235 in a sealed envelope! We photographed the car all around before leaving it; it should be back in Seattle in six to eight weeks.
That's the summary. It was a great experience. E-mail me if you have any further questions.
Interestingly, we were given a new set of floor mats (German floormats not flame-resistant enough). They let us keep the old ones. Also got a new owners manual.
The prep center in Port Hueneme fixed a problem we had in Germany (instead of unscrewing the antenna, I managed to unscrew the mount (two pieces one inside, other outside the fender that screw together)). The inside piece fell into the fenderwell.
You need a smog inspection for CA. Smythe European wants $70! But they are very acommodating, they paid sales tax & license fees and gave us the car, asking that we get $4,009 to them by Tuesday.
One thing to mention, Germany traffic is as bad as anywhere in the US--make sure you allow plenty of time for traffic especially if travelling on Friday PM.
Can anyone give me any input on this topic?
I have heard of DEALERS, not Volvo Cars USA, buying the customer a second ticket to Gothenburg to seal a deal. Getting seats together, seeing if the second ticket qualified to earn FF miles, etc. would probably be your problem.
They were very accomodating. I basically picked the airline and the flight.
Delivery was flawless. I would do it again.
Can anyone refer me to websites/phone numbers for information on the respective plans for these 3 manufacturers?
In addition, is anyone familiar with the tax/duties savings available through these plans? After reading some posts in this topic, I get the sense that the buyer sets up the sale through a local dealership and is taxed as if the sale was a local one. The benefits to the buyer seem to be the savings off of car rentals for a European vacation, and possibly savings compared with the prices one would pay by buying the car locally. Am I missing something?
Look on the Canadian sites for these manufacturers, and/or visit a dealer. I have no idea whether there are ED programs in Canada or what the terms are.
I'm told this time is about average for west coast deliveries, but I thought it was quite good.
It took almost exactly the same time from Sindelfingen, Germany to San Jose, Calif for Mercedes. We weren't apprised of the sail dates, etc. We had to call the MB dealer after six anxious weeks and ask 'where's our car?' FWIW, Port Hueneme is about 100 miles further north near Oxnard.
JON
Delivery, but I am expecting our first child in
March. I am not willing to gamble that the baby
won't come early. Is there any way to have a
family member take delivery of the car for me?
What does it mean when the person who's name the
car is registered in? That certainly does not mean registered in my state, because that is done after it arrives in the states. Is there anyway to have the loan in my name, but the ED paper work to be in another family members name? Surely, there is some way to work this. I don't need a co-signer, but if I had one, could that person take delivery?
Anyone have any ideas?
I presume it's because, if proxies were permitted, people could go into business as proxies -- and set themselves up as de facto importers of Volvos, in competition with Volvo's usual dealer distribution channel. If you could pay someone to be your agent and go take delivery of the car for you, what's to stop that person from doing it ten times a day? This is to protect Volvo's dealer network.
Also, on European Delivery cars, you can't have dual owners, e.g. husband/wife. One person must be named as sole owner.
What I guess you COULD do is have someone else buy the car, get his/her name on all the Volvo paperwork from the word go, and co-sign the loan yourself. But make sure it's someone you trust!
BTW, what's the real price advantage on a Euro Delivery 40-series, anyway?
want the car configured. If the dealers in the
U.S. were coming off MSRP then I would go that
route, but at this time that is not happening.
You point about a proxy is not completly correct.
I called VCNA myself, I have been told that they
could pick up the car if their name is on the ED
paper work. This is independent of any financial
paper work.
Also, if I had some else buy the car and then
re-registered it in my name, that would cause
double tax to be paid.
-John
Volvo in Goteborg were very nice and Leif was very knowledgeable about the accessories and very friendly. Hes the man to talk to when you goto to Goteborg. If I had to do it again I would -- it would be a no brainer for the price and the service and See Sweden at the same time ( we were in Lappland for Xmas)
Aside from that, this program is a knockout. 2 round trip tickets, hotel, plant tour, get to tour europe in the car, etc. You get the car at a very low price, and I figure the trip is worth over 3K.
dave
(The real problem is cash flow... having to pay for the whole thing a month before seeing it, but keeping my old ride in the garage and on the payroll until the Volvo arrived on US shores.)
We DID have a problem licensing the car when we got it back to the States, however, because our dealer had mistakenly listed Volvo Finance as the lienholder rather than PeopleFirst. VolvoFinance was duly, wrongly listed on the Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin (MCO) and Volvo would not issue a duplicate MCO. I had to get a notarized letter from Volvo Finance affirming they had no interest in the car before I could get my state's DMV to issue a registration. Just a little something to watch out for, as ED transactions don't happen at dealers everyday and some are more experienced than others with them.
Car_Man
Smart Shoppers / FWI Co-Host
The other advantage, other than cost savings, about buying a V40 or S40 by ED program is that you can specify your options - stateside the only choice are purchasing one of the four set packages - and I wanted power driver seat but didn't want to pay for a trip computer! I also ordered the light gray cloth interior (which I think is beautiful and really prefer) with the wood trim that you usually only see with the leather.
Has anyone actually done the 91 day thing and saved the tax? Of course, I am sacrificing getting the use of my car for 2 1/2 months. I would love to hear about others experience.
No, but we thought about it. The problem for us was though we have friends & family in greater London, we couldn't saddle them with the burden of looking after an expensive car and taking it to the shipping agent.
Are you sure about the insurance cost? You can't insure a Honda Civic in the US for $525 for 6 months.
If you're in CA, you need to get some sort of form from either the Francise Tax Board or the DMV, I can't remember which. I can't even remember exactly what the form was for, but you needed it before you bought the car to avoid sales tax.
I think I understand the base price advantages of buying the car in Gothenburg, Sweden and bringing it to the U.S. I don't mind waiting for a couple of weeks or even months before taking possession of the new car here in the U.S.
Can anyone explain to me all the downsides of this type of deal? I don't plan to stay in Europe and use the car there. In this case, what are the components of the total cost, including any hidden costs? Are there any price breaks on the options as compared with what they would cost in the U.S.? What about sales taxes (in Sweden and in the U.S.), insurance, etc.? Who pays for my airline tickets to get to and back from Sweden, the hotel expense in Gothenburg, etc.? Please reply to me directly at <<A HREF="http://mirek@ecn.purdue.edu">mirek@ecn.purdue.edu> as this topic may be of little interest to many other people.
If you are going to fly all the way to Europe to take delivery of a new Volvo, why not vacation there for a few days? It might be fun to take a little vacation if you are going to have to go there to get your new car any how. In fact, your lucky if you do decide to purchase a vehicle through this program, because for a limited time Volvo is providing its European Delivery customers with free air fare and a free 1 night stay in a hotel.
I think that you should be able to answer the majority of the questions that you have on this program by visiting Volvo's European Delivery homepage. Please click here to go there: Volvo Overseas Delivery Program.
Car_Man
Smart Shoppers / FWI Co-Host
Car_Man
Smart Shoppers / FWI Co-Host
Mercedes is gradually inching toward a no-haggle price operation. They request that dealers not create loss-leaders or substantial discounts, and to offer as close to the sticker price as local market permits. The fact that the ED and US prices now match makes sense in that regard - you are getting a US-spec MB either way. Dealers may now be under directive to keep ED prices consistent as well.
kcram
Co-Host - Smart Shopper & FWI Conferences
edmunds.com Town Hall
Anyone care for Mexican delivery???
2--the US duty when car arrives to US?
3--airline ticket? for one or two persons?
4--when does warranty and new included service time period start: when you get car in US?
What do you do when dealer wants to charge separately this even the factory program includes it?
Any new programs? I was told that Audi will start in 2002????
besttt@aol.com
sva@neoucom.edu
I'm considering purchasing a BMW 325i through the European Delivery Program. The primarily reason I would do it through EDP is cost savings. I've seen a chart that shows the Invoice/MSRP for EDP for the 325, but am not sure which would be closer to the actual price I pay. What would be considered a good purchase price for a 323i, automatic? Also, are there any hidden costs (eg. not covered port fees, etc.)?
If my wallet can't afford the 325, i'm considering getting a Volvo S40. I may also do this through their EDP. Same questions as above for this car. I've been offered decent deals (Low $24K - S40 with cold weather package, metallic) in State and am not sure it'll be worth my time to go overseas.
I'm a bit fearful of getting overseas and learning that there's thousands of dollars in other costs that i'm unaware of, negating the whole purpose of my overseas purchase. At the same time, the idea of driving my car in Europe sounds awesome.
Any help/comments are appreciated.