Re: European delivery

[George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>]

Thanks for the update. I was totally unaware that not only could this 
still be done, but that it still saved one some change in the process. 
During the 1970's this practice almost completely died out because of 
the poor dollar vs European currency. The cars ended up costing quite a 
bit more in Europe than they did in the USA. I'm curious, though. Did 
the $2K savings INCLUDE transporting the car to the USA? If it did, 
then its still might be worth it. While $2K won't exactly pay for a two 
week European trip for two, it can cover the air fare. Not exactly like 
those halcyon days of the '60's, but not bad. Not bad at all.

George Graves
'86 GTV-6


On Friday, October 11, 2002, at 11:04  PM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 18:16:49 -0700
> From: Greg Steinke <GSTEINKE@domain.elided>
> Subject: European delivery
>
> Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 12:46:42 -0700
> From: George Graves <gmgraves@domain.elided>
>
> > Back in the '50's  and '60's buying a foreign car FOB at the factory
> > and driving it all over Europe and then shipping it back was THE thing
> > to do. The pages of magazines like Road & Track (which used to be a
> > real sports car magazine, by the way) always had several ads from 
> > firms
> > who would arrange the deal for you. The big attraction was that you
> > could pay for the car, pay for shipping, pay your round-trip airfare
> > and your lodging and expenses for a two week tour of Europe for about
> > the same price as it would cost to buy the same auto Stateside. As I
> > recall, the automobile brands most often associated with this scheme
> > were Porsche Mercedes Benz and yep, Alfa Romeo. It likely wouldn't 
> > work
> > these days, however.
> >
> > George Graves
> I just purchased a new BMW 325iT via BMW's European delivery program. 
> This
> is all done through the dealer. We ordered through the dealer, picked 
> up in
> Munich, drove around Germany and Austria, then dropped off in Hamburg. 
> It's
> a full US spec car, just that we picked it up in Munich instead of 
> USA. It
> is now on the boat to CA, fortunately the west coast lockout is 
> stopped.
> And, we saved about $2k compared to USA delivery. So, such EU 
> deliveries are
> available, even now. Porsche has such a program, but they charge about 
> $1k
> for the privilege. Saab and Mercedes also have such programs. That 
> would be
> a good way for Alfa to reintroduce to the USA if such a happy thing 
> came to
> be.
>
> Regards,
> Greg
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