Recently, I have had to explain over and over again to friends and family what in the world I was doing in Sweden buying a car. I was interested in purchasing Volvo’s new smaller SUV the XC60. As a new model, it was in pretty high demand and I was having a hard time finding one available with the options I was looking for. As I began looking on the internet, I ran across Volvo’s Overseas Delivery Program. I was able to price the exact car I was looking for online and it was about 10% cheaper than the best price I had been able to find domestically. Volvo also provided two round-trip tickets on SAS, a night in a Radisson near the factory, lunch and a factory tour, European insurance and tags for up to 60 days, and free shipping home. I called the 800 number on their website and with a lot of help from them and my local dealer, in a few months I was on my way to pick up my new car.
As it turned out, our trip to Sweden to pick up our new car was as great as it sounded in the brochure. We had a choice of 12 locations to pick up our and 18 locations throughout Europe that we could drop the car to be shipped back. We chose to fly into Stockholm, spent a few days there, took a beautiful train ride across Sweden to Gothenburg where the factory is located, picked up our car, drove 600 miles throughout Sweden and returned the car to the port in Gothenburg a week later.
Six automakers currently offer Americans European delivery: Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche and Saab. Of course, if you’re buying at the top of the luxury car market, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and Bentley will also cater to your desire to drive your new car on the autobahn. As a side note, much of the autobahn is speed controlled and there are hefty fines.
I can’t say enough great things about Volvo’s program. I hope to buy my next car the same way. I am also not affiliated with Volvo in any way.
There are a few minor sticking points.
Under the terms of all manufacturers delivery programs, you must pay for the car before it is built. Banks and credit unions are pretty leery of loaning money for cars that don’t exist yet, so you can be stuck paying cash. My local dealer, Volvo of Charlottesville, very generously worked with me and I was able to then easily finance the car through USAA, who is used to doing this for members of the military.
You have to pick the car up in Europe, you can’t send someone at the last minute to do it for you. All Volvo models are available for delivery, but many BMWs (the second most popular delivery program), Mercedes and some Saabs are manufactured stateside. All European delivery models are 100% North American vehicles equipped with U.S. spec lights and emissions control systems. You can’t ship Euro-only models back to the states, I would have loved to have Volvo’s SUV in the diesel model.
You must return the car to the port within 60 days, or you have to pay 25% in tax. Two months should be plenty of time for most of us to have a great European vacation. These programs are very popular with retirees, who can spend months driving all through Europe.
It does take 6-14 weeks to receive your car back in the states depending on where you live. It is about 6 weeks to the east coast and longer to the west coast, Hawaii and Alaska. I dropped my car off on September 24th, it was loaded on the ship October 4th and I can expect it at my local dealer November 4th. You also have to have your car fairly clean before you deliver it at the port, or you run the risk of having to pay the EPA to steam clean it for you. I had a little trouble finding a “Biltvätt”, or car wash.
Being the geek that I am, I loved the factory tour part of my trip, unfortunately you cannot take any photos. Even if you can’t make it to Europe, here are tours offered here in the states-
Ford Rouge Factory Tour Dearborn, MI
The Corvette Museum & Factory Tour Bowling Green, KY
BMW Factory Tour Spartanburg, SC
Mercedes Benz US Factory Tour Tuscaloosa County, AL
