European Delivery Experiences, Advice and Info

sandeep5 · October 2003

Anybody have any experience with the eurobuyers.com website with or without ED?

sandeep5 · November 2003

ger3sf · November 2003

Are the posted ED prices for Mercedes Benz non-negotiable? If they are negotiable, what's a reasonable discount? Thanks.

aukema · January 2004

I am interested in a reasonable negotiable ED price on a x3 3.0i for a June delivery date. Below is the invoice and MSRP prices with the options.
INVOICE MSRP
BASE $30,720 $33,760
Prem Pack 3,005 3,300
Xenon 730 800
Paint 430 475
Glass 320 350
Delivery 695 695

What premium over invoice? If local dealers won't negotiate can I order out-of-state and still have it delivered to my home town? Has anyone used out-of-state dealers? Any downside? Thanks

wibble · September 2004

As per title. Thanks!

Kirstie_H · September 2004

I'm trying to send someone over here from the XC90 discussion who wants to do Euro delivery.

kirstie_h
Roving Host & Future Vehicles Host

wibble · September 2004

I used to work for Volvo in Sweden and the Netherlands sosend 'em on over!

scooterz · September 2004

Hi Wibble - since you mentioned you used to work for Volvo in Sweden, maybe you can help...
I am thinking about using the expat program (TDS) from Volvo for a new S40 since I am currently living in Denmark and will be returning to the US within a year. So, here are a couple of questions...
Can I extend the car stay in Europe past 6 months, say on a month to month basis after the first 6 months?
Also, is there any negotiation room in the Expat price, say for options or accessories?
Thanks for your help in advance.

jdmjpowell · October 2004

I am interested in the OSD program for the 2005 XC90. Can you tell me more about taxes or saving on taxes? Does Volvo only discount on the base price, but all options are at the non-negotiable MSRP?

Any info would be much appreciated!

cassidym · October 2004

I just bought a BMW 545 through the European Delivery program. The salesman I ultimately bought from told me that ED would lower the MSRP by $5000 and we negotiated from there. I got another $2000 off by using the invoice pricing I had obtained from Edmunds and bargaining with that. Then, I traded him my feeble old 1986 325 for the HUD upgrade.

I also negotiated with another salesman from a different dealer and when I asked him how much I would save off the price of the same car if I used European Delivery, he hesitated for a second then said I save $3000. I wished him a good day and left.

Delivery in Munich went off flawlessly and I recommend it to anyone especially if you intend to vacation in Europe. I didn't use my car on the vacation because I was reluctant to drive it around the French Riviera which was our destination. One look at their driving practices convinced me I'd made the right decision. Also, I needed the car back in the US as soon as possible

The dealer I bought from mentioned nothing about tariffs or any other charges.

aeaneas · January 2005

I'm interested in buying an S40 Volvo 2005 model. I have several questions.

I understand the details of the OSD program. It sounds good.

My questions are:

1) Is the OSD price negotiable?

2) I heard the price is reduced by 8% off Retail -- is that correct?

3) Can you lease an OSD car?

4) Will dealers attempt to take additional profit during the process of buying an OSD car by inserting fees, dealer installed parts, etc?

5) What "hidden costs" are there? Docking fees? Local taxes? Anything else?

6) this one's for fun -- what did any of you OSDers pay in total gax prices on one of your two week trips? :-)

Thanks in advance!

costas · January 2005

Dealer Cost?

A flat is paid to the Dealer.

kasumi · January 2005

I am interested in this to for a Volvo S80 - based on Volvo's pricing on their website the model I want with some extras is pricing at $36650 about $1000 below invoice. I see Volvo has some incentives- can I use these to get the car down much more?

Thanks-

K.

neednewtoy · February 2005

I'm considering buying a new Volvo S60R and getting it through Volvo's European Delivery Program. Obviously Edmund's True Market value isn't going to be of much use in my negotiating. Does anyone know if there are deals to be made on the price, even though it's much lower than the normal MSRP? What arguments can I use with the salesperson?

robr2 · February 2005

OSD prices are fixed. The dealer gets a small fee from Volvo to process the sale but unless they are willing to give that up, you won't find a discount on OSD.

Sometimes Volvo might toss in something extra if they have prebuilt OSD vehicles ready to go.

electrictroy · April 2005

troy

stickguy · April 2005

No. It has to be a car that is sold here. When you do Euro delivery, you are getting the exact same US model that you would get at the dealer. basically, you just get to use it over there before they put it on the boat and ship it over here!

parzam · May 2005

Can anyone comment on making a ED in mid Dec or Jan (winter)? Any and all thoughts are appreciated, pro and con.

stickguy · May 2005

get heated seats. I would also avoid Volvo unless you like the dark.

saigonboi21 · June 2005

i am new to this forum- im looking to buy a new bmw within a month or so. I was wondering if anyone ehre can tell me how much i can get a 2006 325i with Premium, Xenon, and Auto for. I 've read about european delivery but am not sure if it would help that much. thanks

sadone1 · June 2005

In May 2004, I took European delivery of a new 911 GT3. I paid $2250 to Porsche Factory for this great experiance. And my Wife and I wanted to see the area in Germany where this beautiful car is built. Well Porsche decided that after I paid them all this money up front that they would take my car out and put some hard miles on my new car. After I dropped the car off at the Factory in Stuttgart for final shipment to my dealer for me to take U.S. delivery, they drove my car a grueling 132 miles to see how good it runs on the Autobahn or maybe they took it to the track, who knows. The European delivery person told me that she was sorry. Porsche has never offered anything to me, in the past year, for the agravation this extra addition of miles has had on me. And by the way the millions of bugs they killed when driving the car were still on the car.

robr2 · June 2005

And by the way the millions of bugs they killed when driving the car were still on the car.

Hmm - that's interesting. I know that Volvo requires that you drop off a clean car when doing Euro delivery so they can wrap it in plastic. Perhaps the miles were put on here in the US?

dino001 · June 2005

2) Automobiles in Western Europe tend to be 30% cheaper than they are in the U.S., with the exception of in the U.K.

I don't know where you got this info. Cars in Europe are way more expensive than in US. It varies from brand to brand. There may be appearance of lower price just because engine trims (they sell small 4 cylinders there, anything bigger is uncommon) and equipment standard in US is optional. I cannot speak for all Europe, but I checked my home country and e.g. Volvo S40 2.4i ($25K-30) was close to $40K for similar config. Same with VW, same with Saab. BMW and MB had smaller difference, generally for higher models, the difference (in percent) was smaller.

530ir1150r · June 2005

We purchased a 2002 BMW 530i, Sport Package, 5 speed through BMW's European Delivery Program. Delivered on July 4, 2002. This July 6th we will take delivery of a 2005 Saab 9-3 Arc Convertible; July 4th did not work with our travel schedule.

BMWs are discounted 7% of the base price(not options), but include insurance; Saab 9-3 Arc Convertibles are discounted over 11% (including options)plus $2000 travel reimbursement; insurance is purchased separately. Advantage-Saab.

BMW meets you at their gate and walks you into their Delivery Center. Saab meets you at the train station, ferry terminal or airport in Gothenburg, chaeuffurs you to Romman Inn, pays for a 3 course dinner, pays for your room and chaeuffurs you to their Delivery Center in the morning. Saab's Delivery Center has to be very terrible not to be Advantage-Saab.

BMW's sticker is negotiable. Saab's is a factory program run by their North American Distributor. Advantage-BMW.

After we return I will add to this concerning delivery experience(BMW's is excellent), car condition(BMW was detailed perfectly and had a full tank of gas and 1.6 miles on the odometer, 1.9 on the trip odometer), drop off experience(Harms in London was seamless) and later delivery time(BMW arrived in Paducah, Ky 40 days after drop off) and car condition(again detailed perfectly and with a full tank of gas).

I would not trade my BMW for anything today. I hope the Saab experience continues to better BMW's. The only problem so far is GM's Employee Pricing Program. There is very little difference with list prices now and resale will be impacted forever. This is the 4th time I've been GMed.

kyfdx · June 2005

You are doing ED on your Saab convertible? Is that in Trollhattan?

Did you do the deal in Lexington? Blackhorse?

regards,
kyfdx

530ir1150r · June 2005

Picking up in Trollhattan, dropping off in Gothenburg via Oslo, Lillehammer, Svag(?), Upsalla, Visby, Copenhagen and Skagen.

Quantrell Cadillac, Volvo, Hummer has had the Saab franchise for about a year. Ours is there first ED sale. Our saleslady actually works Volvos, but handles all of their EDs. She said Saab was much better to work with than Volvo.

I'm hoping Swedish and Danish beaches with a Saab Convertible are just as nice as Switzerland with a BMW.

kyfdx · June 2005

Wow... sounds cool...

My family always bought their Caddys from Quantrell.. I grew up a stone's throw from there....

Danish beaches.. hhmmmm....

530ir1150r · June 2005

We're starting to get antsy, we leave Friday. Tourist information from Denmark indicated that all Danish beaches are clothing optional. I do not know if that is a good thing or scary.

Skagen sounds like the Danish Key West. Our only concern is sleeping with 20 hours or more of daylight.

kyfdx · June 2005

Clothing optional...

If I'm looking.. it's good

If I'm participating... It's not so good... :surprise:

I find drinking heavily helps me fall asleep... no matter what it looks like outside..

Sounds like a great time... and getting a new droptop won't hurt, either...

regards,
kyfdx

530ir1150r · June 2005

I'm not so sure that looking is always good. Local wines and beers are always part of cultural investigations, though, which might help some looking.

530ir1150r · July 2005

Continuation of #176

Delivery experience. Saab provides transportation to the delivery center which is a Saab Dealer in Trollhattan. The car is under cover in a large garage area. We forgot to look at the Saab store for individual items. Saab provided a very good European Road Atlas and gave us a Saab key ring. Time in and out was less than an hour. Draw with BMW.

Car condition at delivery. Car was detailed perfectly, but only had 3/4 tank of gas and had 1.3 miles on the trip odometer. Advantage BMW

I expect the car to be delivered in excellent condition in 6-8 weeks. Saab's overall experience is better than BMW's, but the difference is not enough to determine which car to purchase. Also, restaurants we found in Sweden, Norway and Denmark were better than the restaurants we found in Germany, Switzerland, France, Ireland and England 3 years ago.

officecubed · July 2005

It was stated in a message that BMWs are discounted 7% for the ED program, but the message also said that the sticker is negotiable.

Does this mean that I can do better than the 7%?

Thanks, JEFF

530ir1150r · July 2005

Yes. Our 530i was discounted another $1000. Others here have talked about $1000 to $1500 over invoice depending on model.

530ir1150r · August 2005

Continuation of #183

We pick up our Saab 9-3 Convertible this evening, 2 weeks ahead of schedule.

avatexrs1 · August 2005

Does Volvo limit the varieties of its cars available for European delivery? Its website currently lists just about all of its models as being available. It also says the new C70 convertible is scheduled to come out next Spring, and my guess is that it will be probably be selling at MSRP or higher when it comes out. Anybody know whether that kind of car is one that would be available for European delivery?

vsaxena · August 2005

Volvo has incentives these days to move their cars. If I go via Volvo Euro Delivery do I get the incentives also? From what I have heard, unlike BMW, Volvo does not publish an invoice price for Euro Delivery. They give the dealer a certain amount (the number quoted is 5%, though I do not know). Have folks had any luck in getting the dealer to split this difference. 5% on a $40K car is a generous chunk

.

robr2 · August 2005

The incentives are not available on Euro Delivery. The Euro Delivery program gets you a price of about 8% under base MSRP and the options/packages are MSRP. You also get the 2 free round trip tickets and the one night hotel stay.

My understanding is the dealer gets a couple hundred dollars for processing the order and prepping the vehicle in the states. If the dealer were getting 5% per vehicle, they'd make more money doing Euro deliveries than selling from inventory.

The vehicle will most likely cost you less money buying off the lot with the various incentives. The Euro Delivery bonus is the trip and a decent price on the car.

Go to www.flyvolvo.com and poke around. You'll see pricing there.

c_ya · September 2005

I can, it will be cold. HOW cold, depends on where you are picking it up. Both Scandinavia and Germany are cold in the winter. Make sure you get heated seats. Both areas have great Christmas and New Years events. Much better than in US. Europeans are not afraid of the cold. Similar to the Quebec Ice Sculpture Festival, some of the towns have great activities and things to do in the winter. Much better way to spend Christmas and New Years than in US.

rdubs · September 2005

Hi ger3sf,
I have exactly the same question. Anyone know if the ED discount for Mercedes applies in addition to the price you can negotiate the dealer down to, or is it strictly from the MSRP, no more lower price? Looking at a 2006 CLK350.
Thanks in advance.

strato435 · October 2005

Hi, I'm interested in getting a VW for European Delivery. Does anyone know if there are any such programs?

I'd like to get either a diesel Jetta or a diesel Passat. Unfortunately, there are no diesel Jettas in stock in the US now -- perhaps given to the rising gas prices after Katrina. And VW has oddly decided not to sell the new Passat with a diesel engine at least until 2007 (according to my local dealer) :confuse:

- Frank

robr2 · October 2005

VW does not offer a European delivery program. Especially since the Jetta is made in Mexico for the US market.

I think VW isn't offering the diesel Passat until 2007 because of the impending implementation of low sulphur diesel in the US.

2004v70 · October 2005

We picked up our 2004 Volvo V70 in July of 2003. This was the second Volvo we ordered through ED and both experiences were great.

Note that there are a few differences on what options you can get. We bought through Don Beyer Volvo in Alexandria, VA. They had cars in inventory, but did not have any which had the options we wanted. With ED, we could order exactly what we wanted. We wanted automatic leveling (which is great feature), and very few Volvos wagons in the US have that, and you could not order one for US delivery with it. It would have had to have been a dealer install, which we were not keen of the dealer doing it, and there would have been allot of labor added to the cost (which is not reflected below) Another issue was we wanted a trailer hitch installed, but they would not install on ED, so we had to have dealer install it. We were OK with that since it was just a trailer hitch.

Below is a breakdown of what we ordered, with a total savings on just the cost of the car being $3,781, plus we had to pay a little extra for the Bremerhaven drop off and ferry from Sweden. Then we also had a total savings from Volvo of $5,727 for the trip.

As soon as the new 2006 C70 is availabe for ED, I will buy it.....

-----

2004 Volvo V70

(note that the first price is the Price US, which is what we would have paid if purchased through a dealer, the second is what we actually paid through Volvo TDS).

Item Price US Price TDS Remarks
Base Price 28460 26750
Destination Fee 685 Included
Metallic Paint 450 Included
Premium Package 2995 2995
Mimas 16 Wheels 500 500
Automatic Transmission 1000 Included
Leveling System 495 495 Would be much more on US version
12 Volt Cargo Area 25 25
Touch Up Paint 5 5
Front Fog Lights 179 225
Mud Flaps Front 24 70
Mud Flaps Rear 35 70
Floor Mats Rubber 139 55
Cargo Mat Reversible 80 80
CD Changer 612 695
Spoiler Rear 309 350
Protection Net Steel 265 200
Load Carrier Square 138 100
Security Film Side Windows 300 300
SUBTOTAL $ 36,696 $ 32,915
Shipping from Frankfurt N/A $220 Free if shipped from Bremerhaven
Ferry from Sweden to Germany N/A $300.00

Savings  Paid for by Volvo
2 Round Trip Tickets - SAS N/A 3000 Upgrade to Bus if Prem Exec
1 Night Radisson Hotel N/A 145
Limo from Airport to Factory N/A 15
Lunch for 2 at Factory N/A 20
15 days European Insurance N/A 200
Shipping of car to Baltimore N/A 1500
Cell Phone for 7 Days N/A 35
Customs Duty N/A 812.70
Total 5727

530ir1150r · October 2005

We have also had 2 ED experiences (2002 BMW 530i and 2005 Saab Arc convertible), but there is one detail you have not considered. You know what you paid for your Volvo. You do not know what you would have paid for an US delivered model. A typical discount on Volvos is near 10% which would be over $3000 off your savings. Also, having your own car in Europe eliminates other transportation costs, adding to your savings.

We intend to do a third ED, but unless you want to vacation in Europe, it really is not worth the extra hassle. It takes approximately 6 months from initial order till final US delivery.

joshwall · November 2005

I'm a broke soon to be graduated graduate student and my wife and I would love to take a trip through europe and we need a car. However, given my lack of present income and he mediocre income I don't think we are in the market for a BMW, or Saab at present. VW would be possible but from everything I know they killed the ED program, are there any other manufactures that have more.... ahem... budgetary considerations? Thanks!

munrokicker · November 2005

Does anyone know where I can obtain invoice prices for both Volvo and BMW cars?

shibs1031 · February 2006

If you had the option between purchasing a volvo in the US or purchasing the car on the oversea delivery plan, which one would you choose? and why? Are the savings worth the trip?

530ir1150r · February 2006

If money is your only criteria, buy the car here. With Volvos and Saabs it is hard to compare because the discounts on cars here are much larger than discounts on ED, if any.

The real savings is if you are planning a European vacation. You are driving your car instead of renting, you are on your schedule and you see and do what you want to see and do.

Another thing to keep in mind, buying a car on ED is a 6 month process;shop, order the car 3 months before delivery, pay for the car 1 month before delivery, vacation for 1-2 weeks and delivery at home 6 weeks after drop off in Europe. Also, if financing or leasing you may make 2 payments before your car arrives here.

We did a ED on a 2005 Saab 9-3 Convertible last summer and on a 2002 BMW 530i and we believe if you are planning to buy a European car and plan to vacation in Europe, combining the two is the only way to go.

historiker · March 2006

I had to be 3 mos. in Germany last spring, and when I checked car rental prices decided buying a car was a better deal. I got a Mercedes station wagon through their website, which included an 8% discount (I assume from list), 30 days of insurance, transport from Germany to the local dealer in the U.S., hotel for a night in Stuttgart, taxi to the factory, and lunch there. The whole process was absolutely painless, and we sure preferred a roomy station wagon to a small rental car for an obscene number of $1000s. BMW also offered the same discount and amenities plus two round-trip tickets to Germany and back, but they required a six-week notice, and I did not have time enough to go that route.

I am returning to Germany in the fall for another three months, and I am trying to figure out the best deal for transportation again. Renting a car is a possibility, of course, and I have also thought about another factory delivery and selling the new Mercedes before I leave the U.S. I am considering Mercedes again, but I have also thought about BMW and Porsche from the factory. I know Volvo has a European delivery program, but dealing with Sweden seems like quite a hassle for someone who is going to be in Germany. Besides, I had a Volvo some years ago, and it was, quite frankly, a pretty lousy car with a lot of cheap plastic parts that did not perform very well.

Does anyone have any advice about how to determine the best deal for getting three months of cost-effective transportation in Germany next fall (Sept., Oct., Nov.)?

rroyce10 · March 2006

... **Does anyone have any advice about how to determine the best deal for getting three months of cost-effective transportation in Germany next fall (Sept., Oct., Nov.)? ..**

Check with Mathias ......

Terry.

steine13 · March 2006

Well, I'm here... but I don't know much about buying cars in Germany... never done it myself.

Euro delivery can make sense for you, but the exchange rate is not your friend at the moment. IF you want a Mercedes [Porsche, BMW] anyway, then go for it, but by the time you add the friction costs of reselling, paying sales tax at home et cetera, I think you might as well rent a small car... sticks are cheaper :-)

Of course, buying an older jalopy is an excellent exercise for your German abilities... I suspect that even there, the car people have a language all their own. You know "needs fixed... runs good... fresh V8... does have rust" -- that sort of thing.

Now if my old man will finally go and buy an A4 this fall, you're welcome to his '95 Ford Mondeo wagon with automatic for a pittance, I'm sure...

Viel Glueck,
-Mathias

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