I recently purchased a new 530i from my US dealer for European delivery. The process went well, although with a few bumps along the way. Rather than bore the user with all the details, I will leave this thread open for anyone with questions. If you are considering a European delivery I will be happy to tell you my experiences.
European Delivery for US buyers
- Thread starter wdb44
- Start date
Thanks! It really is a super car. We only had about two weeks, but we started by going down into Italy to see friends near Milano, then back through Switzerland and on to Dresden. It was our first visit to Dresden, and we were very impressed with the renovations, especially the Frauenkirke. On the way up we spent two nights at Rothenburg ob der Tauber, our favorite walled city in the world. We finished back through Munich for our flight home.
Verify this with BMW, but as far as I know the lease works pretty much like the purchase. Your liabibility begins before you leave your home country. All paperwork must be done at that time, and deposits/initial payments, etc. are due then. At that point, the car is effectively yours, while it is waiting at the factory, while you are driving it in Europe and while it is on the ship back. This is one of the reasons they can offer a discount on the purchase price - you do not have access to the car for the whole peiod of your "legal" possession. I still think it is a good deal, however (assuming they fix my blasted computer!).
One further caveat: check the fine print about how long you can keep the car in Europe under a lease. I believe you are limited to one month, whereas on a purchase it can be there up to 6 months. The latter being the limit when VAT liability begins, unless you'd like to pay an extra 20% to the Deutsche BundesRepublik!
One further caveat: check the fine print about how long you can keep the car in Europe under a lease. I believe you are limited to one month, whereas on a purchase it can be there up to 6 months. The latter being the limit when VAT liability begins, unless you'd like to pay an extra 20% to the Deutsche BundesRepublik!