I'm heading to Germany next year and am considering taking advantage of the BMW or Merc "European delivery program" where you order your car in advance and pick it up at the factory. has anyone used it? what was your experience? would you recomment it? any advice?
European delivery program - anyone use it?
- Thread starter tomcat27
- Start date
- Status
Which BMW or Merc are you considering? Some of them are made in the US now, so no Euro delivery available on them.
With that said, I have a few friends that have done it, and they loved it.
I toured the MB factory in Stuttgart in 2000, and they had a customer pick up area then. Looked fun, an MB guy drives your car into a large large showroom area and then shows you how to operate all the features.
Just touring the facilities there would be worthwhile and goes a long ways to convince yourself that the car is worth the price tag. Also if you haven't been to Germany before, I'd go just for seeing the rest of the country.
Considering it for my 50th birthday mid-life crisis mobile. So watching this thread.
I'm not sure which car yet. I'd kinda like to stay at 50k or less. I'm headed to Germany regardless to tour Dusseldorf, Heidelberg, the Rhine, Krefeld....
I was there 4 times as a child - but nothing after 6th grade.
For BMW Euro Delivery details and discount,read these stickies and ED experience postsBMW Euro Delivery forum
Last edited:
Hello, As mentioned above; everyone I've ever known who did it loved it (they said) but I also cannot think of a single person who did it a second time except for one guy who was a friend of my Dad's who picked up several VW beetles through the '60's. He knocked off Europe a chunk at a time.
If you go that route:
A) Have a great time.
B) DO NOT forget to park the darn thing and go about on European mass transit. You have the option for 'essentially' door-to-door service with trains and street cars.
Don't grind your car away like a nervous American while in Europe. Yes, I said that.
C) In addition to the "usual countries"-France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Spain and the BeNeLux trio- don't overlook Scandinavia. Sweden, Norway and Denmark are beautiful and frequently get overlooked in my experience. Kira
true, many of the Merc SUV's are made here. it also appears that the Merc 2.o turbo is made here in a joint venture with Nissan and others. the "cool" factor sounds really high. in general, you order the car months in advance. once you get there you get a factory tour, accept your car, drive it for up to two weeks, and drop it off for them to ship over here. about two months later it appears at a local dealer. I dont see a down side, and its also a great excuse for a new BMW or Mercedes!
Volvo has a similar program, and I've talked with someone who has done it.
Not only do you have a vehicle to use on your vacation, but the Volvo program pays your airfare, and importing to the US as a "used" vehicle rather than new from the factory saves a good bit of scratch.
An added benefit is that you can option out the vehicle with European specifications, rather than the offerings that are typically shipped to the US.
Last edited:
Do they pay for your airfare, or is it the savings over buying from dealer inventory essentially pay for your airfare?
With many of the BMW cars, it looks like the savings can pay the airfare of one traveler.
I think their program offers tags and insurance for upto 30 days, IIRC.
We are thinking of another 3 week trip to Europe, Germany of course, to pick up the car and have it for as much of that time as we want.
Our trip to Italy in 2012 had us using a car for half of the three weeks we were there. Having a car to visit some of the more rural places in Germany, as well as re-visiting the Autobahn is something I dream about.
I wonder if I can break my car in on the ring?
A co-worker took delivery of her Mercedes c350 at Stuttgart. MB arranged registration and insurance for her, so she was able to drive it around Europe for three weeks.
She then turned it back in, and they then prepped it to be shipped. It entered in New Jersey, where they reprogrammed the GPS and who knows what else. A total of six weeks later, it arrived at the dealership here in Illinois (Isringhausen)
She also mentioned that the taxes and tariffs were less when it entered the US, as MB was able to call it a used car.
Originally Posted By: Kuato
An added benefit is that you can option out the vehicle with European specifications,
Sadly you can't do gray market anymore.
I'd be all over a stripped basic diesel G wagon or a basic E250CDI with no options.
Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Sadly you can't do gray market anymore.
I'd be all over a stripped basic diesel G wagon or a basic E250CDI with no options.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: javacontour
Do they pay for your airfare, or is it the savings over buying from dealer inventory essentially pay for your airfare?
...
I think their program offers tags and insurance for up to 30 days, IIRC.
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Kuato
An added benefit is that you can option out the vehicle with European specifications,
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Kuato
I forget where in the Volvo promotional material I read it but it did say you could order packages or combinations that are available in Europe - for instance manual transmission, since all Volvos sold in the US are now automatics. The vehicles still come with US emissions and safety features intact, and otherwise meet US standards.
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: Kuato
I forget where in the Volvo promotional material I read it but it did say you could order packages or combinations that are available in Europe - for instance manual transmission, since all Volvos sold in the US are now automatics. The vehicles still come with US emissions and safety features intact, and otherwise meet US standards.
Last edited:
Got it. Thanks KrisZ. That makes sense.
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Got it. Thanks KrisZ. That makes sense.
- Status
