Europeans Go to U.S. Dealers to buy Cars

The weak dollar is drawing a new group of Europeans to shop in the U.S. -- for European cars.

More Europeans are turning to the U.S. to buy luxury cars, from Porsche 911s to Volvo 4x4s, and then shipping them back home. The cheap dollar and competitive pricing in the slow U.S. market can yield savings of as much as 30% of the cost of similar models in Europe, even after costs of transporting the cars and complying with different emissions standards.



Because cash-strapped Americans are shunning car showrooms, new clients should be good news for U.S. dealers. But the car makers, anxious to protect European margins that are often much fatter than those in the U.S., are fighting the trend, enforcing nonexport agreements in place for decades.

Reimports of used cars have surged the most. It is still hard to bring a new European car back to Europe. Approved U.S. dealers for most European brands that are caught selling new cars to be shipped back can face penalties or fines by the auto makers. And many European customers are reluctant to buy new cars from the U.S. because modifications needed to meet European road-safety and emissions requirements invalidate the U.S. warranties. The fact that cars were first registered overseas can also affect resale values in Europe, the companies

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Peyton18Peyton18 - 6/12/2008 3:52:43 PM
+3 Boost
Because the dollar is weak and they are already...cheaper!! surprise!


09CTSVforMe09CTSVforMe - 6/12/2008 3:54:32 PM
+3 Boost
Send me your Euros!

Anyone over there want an early production Solstice? ; )


euromaneuroman - 6/17/2008 10:20:08 PM
+1 Boost
Are you seriously interested in trying to sell your early Solistice model, 09CTSV? I am not a buyer, but live in Europe and might be able to help you do it for a small fee or percentage of your profit. Let me know if you are interested on this post board and we will figure out how we could contact each other...


Batman219Batman219 - 6/12/2008 3:56:47 PM
+2 Boost
Wanna trade a euro for my dollar?


_43LE_43LE - 6/12/2008 4:24:33 PM
+2 Boost
Same thing with Canadians, they're buying cars in the US like never before.


sectorsector - 6/12/2008 6:44:19 PM
-4 Boost
yeah but those Canadians can cross MB and BMW off their list... last I heard, the warranty expires soon as you cross the border :)

also, our good friends at MB and BMW USA will charge close to $10,000 to equip those vehicles to Canadian specs (daytime running lights, metric readouts on dash etc,)

so the moral of the story? Canadians should boycott both MB and BMW and buy Lexus :) it'll be a win-win for them.


JRobUSCJRobUSC - 6/13/2008 8:58:08 AM
+1 Boost
Auto001, last I heard, you were wrong, as usual. The original warranties are still valid in Canada and the retrofitting of things like a speedometer that reads KM in larger numbers than MILES is Canadian law that has nothing to do with BMW or Benz. You'd have to retrofit your beloved Lexus too.

Listen, if you at least TRY to hide the fact that you a blind hater of all things German and PRETEND that you're actually openminded, people might occassionally listen to you on here. If you don't you're just going to become another EL34, AmazinBimmer, GermanNut, or MichaelTaylor. And if that's what you want you might as well just stop bothering to post at all.


sectorsector - 6/13/2008 1:46:39 PM
+2 Boost
I'm not dreaming this up by the way... I even looked it up (you're right about the warranty, BMW will honor it minus the free scheduled maintenace, and likewise for MB minus the corrosion warranty)

For modifications, they demand you go to authorized MB, BMW dealers. Costs include:

$2200 - Cluster and programming installed.
$400 - DRL programming installed.
$350 - letter of admissibility.
$500 - for a letter saying the vehicle has been repaired under any recall orders.

Extras:

For US vehicles they’re making you wait 90 days to get servicing at the dealership :)

Since BMW maintenance is "built in" already in the MSRP, Canadians have to fork over $200-$400 and thousand for any major maintenance work.

What does Lexus do to help? they have lowered their pricing already to reflect the currency rates, so Canadians don't have buy from US:

Lexus
ES series / equals $42,900 / equals $39,900
IS series (manual) / equals $36,550 / equals $31,900
LS series / equals $92,400 / equals $85,800
SC series / equals $93,250 / equals $86,100
RX series ('09) / NA / equals $44,350
GX series / equals $76,600 / equals $68,500

Model / equals Reduction

Lexus
ES series / equals $3,000
IS series (manual) / equals $4,650
LS series / equals $6,600
SC series / equals $7,150
RX series ('09) / equals $7,200
GX series / equals $8,100




MercedesBenz00ZMercedesBenz00Z - 6/12/2008 5:35:51 PM
+1 Boost
Give us Euro, we will give you good stuff. Because honestly, American dollar is as cheap as a paper trash these days. All thanks to the elites of the U.S. government and the US corporations.


BMW4me4everBMW4me4ever - 6/12/2008 8:26:23 PM
+1 Boost
BMW is penalizing its dealers severly if caught exporting vehilces to Europe. 1st offense is a fine .. 2nd time caught will have the dealer lose its CSI money and get a small reduction in allocation ... 3rd time is basically potentially losing your franchise.


charlik05charlik05 - 6/13/2008 1:58:44 AM
+1 Boost
all dealers that have franchises overseas are being penalized for the exports. generally the cars get caught when the end user takes the car into service. also the domestic dealers lose allocation for cars.


EL34EL34 - 6/12/2008 9:20:28 PM
+3 Boost
It's the same thing with real estate.

I want all you Euro's and Canuck's to get your a$$e$ over here and buy the homes I have listed.

Bring tons of money and spend it here in the USA :-/


RupertRupert - 6/13/2008 9:20:41 AM
+1 Boost
It's funny, because the dollar is so weak there are amazing houses in the US that look such good value to me.


RupertRupert - 6/13/2008 9:21:34 AM
+1 Boost
To put it in perspective, the average house (including flats) price in Britain is over 350000 dollars.


Htay7500Htay7500 - 6/13/2008 8:21:48 PM
+1 Boost
$450,000+ is how much it is here in the DC metro area, including condos, which go for at least $500k. its much higher when you go further south through the county into DC and in DC itself, most europeans will love the condos that are widely available in say, Georgetown for example. and when moving there, make sure you have a guard dog, a shotgun, and maybe lessons on self-defense as being alone, at night, in DC, where local crime is always 1st on the headlines on sat. and sun. mornings.


RupertRupert - 6/14/2008 7:14:14 PM
+1 Boost
What is a condo? It's a word I hear a lot on American TV but have little idea of what it is. Is it like an apartment?


Htay7500Htay7500 - 6/15/2008 1:17:56 PM
+1 Boost
rupert: yes. think privately-owned apt.
TheSailor: houses in my area are just about expensive as yours in denmark. the DC metro area (including DC, Maryland and Virginia) are the 5th most expensive place to live in america. the 1st was either LA and somewhere else in CA or in NY.


1000rrRider1000rrRider - 6/13/2008 2:03:03 PM
+1 Boost
Moving from Toronto to Florida with all the third world immigration in Canada, living in Toronto feels like living in Baghdad or Bombay. Bought a house in Florida for $300,000 the house was worth $500,000 4 years ago, sold my small two bedroom condo in Toronto for $550,000.


VISOVISO - 6/13/2008 9:49:02 PM
+2 Boost
I actually saw this in person. While doing an oil change at the dealer, a German family walked into the dealership and said they wanted this RS4 right off the showroom. They would drive it in the States for 3 months while here giving an American address, paid cash to the dealer for the RS4, and drove it off and will ship back to Germany in 3 months. That is how they are getting around it. Pay cash, list an American residence, and what you do after that is your business.
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