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Smart Shopper European Delivery Experiences, Advice and Info
251 messages, Last post on Jul 13, 2008 at 5:01 PM
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| Glad to see you had a very positive experience with the MB factory delivery. As you may recall from my previous posts, my wife and I had a similar, very positive experience last Sept. with our 230 K. I have yet to hear a negative response from anyone taking advantage of the factory delivery program. | |
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| I just wanted to point out that you can have your car serviced by any Volvo dealer. Too bad you won't be able to see Scandanavia--somewhere I've always wanted to go. | |
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I just returned to the US from collecting my new Volvo V70AWD in Gothenburg and I thought I'd post a report. Overall it was a first-class experience. Volvo covered my plane ticket. I flew BA by choice, SEA-LHR-LGW-GOT. We arrived at Landvetter Airport, about 20km out of town, at 600pm. Volvo will pay for ONE ground transfer. If you land early in the day, they'll meet you at Landvetter and run you right up to the factory, but in my case I had to choose between the airport-hotel run or the hotel-factory run the following morning. I opted to hop the airport bus into town, to the Hotel Gothia, and let Volvo come get me the following morning. The airport bus is great. Departs every fifteen minutes. When you get out of Customs at Landvetter, walk outside, turn left, and there it is. Cost is SKR45 ($5.50). For the Hotel Gothia, ask for the SECOND scheduled stop. The ride takes about 20 minutes. The Hotel Gothia is a big, modern convention hotel. Lots of birch and glass. Rooms big by Euro standards. Great sauna, great free breakfast spread. Rooftop bar charges berserk drink prices. Volvo pays your room and tax, you pay for incidentals (including the local phone call you make to Volvo to request pickup). The hotel is a pleasant fifteen-minute walk from "downtown" -- lots of bars, cafes, bistros, and most everyone has some English. We had a nice evening incl. dinner in a sidewalk cafe. Volvo sent a taxi (not a Volvo limo  ) to get us the next morning. The Delivery Center is on the edge of the factory complex, clear the other side of Gothenburg -- about 30 minutes from the hotel. They knew we were coming and had all papers ready. A delivery officer (ours was named Leif) goes over all the paperwork with you and makes sure you understand your Swedish registration and temp insurance (from Zurich Direct, very comprehensive). Then your car is rolled out for you in a little ceremony. There is a glassed-in room at the end of the Delivery Center with a garage door at one end. The door rolls up and your car comes out, then you enter and inspect it under the lights. It's pretty nice. When you want to drive it, the glass door ahead of you slides up and out you go onto a very modest "test track" which is basically two 300-meter straightaways with a top speed of 50kph. After we'd driven the car around for about ten minutes we noticed a flaw in the front passenger seat: a shallow half-inch incision in the leatherwork. We called it to Leif's attention and his face darkened, he grabbed the keys back and whisked the car back to the workshop. When we returned from lunch a whole new seat had been installed. I doubt that would've happened at a Stateside dealer. The Delivery Center has luggage lockers for folks in transit, a children's playroom, and a (pretty modest) accessories shop with good prices. We bought locking lug nuts there and Leif had them installed at no charge. We spent about four hours there all told -- they offered us a facility tour which was interesting even though the assembly line was down (August industrial holiday). We saw the Special Vehicles shop where various craftsmen were doing police, hearse, & limo conversions. Lunch was on Volvo at the paint shop dining area -- very nice. Anything we wanted. Then in true Swedish-egalitarian fashion the cooks came around the counter and ate with us. A sweet, personable guide took us around. We had a chance to speak to many employees and ask them what they thought of the Ford takeover (mostly they think it's a job insurance policy). We were gone around 3pm and easily made Copenhagen by 6pm. Leif told us a morning delivery is best because things get busy at the Delivery Center in the afternoons, when the ferry arrives from Kiel and bunches of Germans arrive to pick up their cars. The staff there will make ferry arrangements, by the way, or help with maps and directions or whatever. Two weeks later we dropped the V70 at Harms, the shipping agent, across the road from Heathrow Airport in London. 2200 miles on the odo; flawless performance from the car, which averaged 24 mpg combining autobahn and London-gridlock driving. The dropoff procedure takes about an hour, and unless you're doing it in Gothenburg, Bremerhaven or Antwerp, there is a transport surcharge which they want in cash U.S. dollars --no credit cards. I checked on the fee before leaving home and packed $235 in a sealed envelope! We photographed the car all around before leaving it; it should be back in Seattle in six to eight weeks. That's the summary. It was a great experience. E-mail me if you have any further questions. |
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My wife picked up her MB SLK at the stateside dealer yesterday. It was 7-1/2 weeks from drop-off at EA Harms in Sindlefingen (Stuttgart). Interestingly, we were given a new set of floor mats (German floormats not flame-resistant enough). They let us keep the old ones. Also got a new owners manual. The prep center in Port Hueneme fixed a problem we had in Germany (instead of unscrewing the antenna, I managed to unscrew the mount (two pieces one inside, other outside the fender that screw together)). The inside piece fell into the fenderwell. You need a smog inspection for CA. Smythe European wants $70! But they are very acommodating, they paid sales tax & license fees and gave us the car, asking that we get $4,009 to them by Tuesday. One thing to mention, Germany traffic is as bad as anywhere in the US--make sure you allow plenty of time for traffic especially if travelling on Friday PM.
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I am planning on buying a Volvo S80 via their overseas delivery program. I am planning on going there with my wife, so I will need to purchase an airplane ticket in addition to the free one. I am curious about what Volvo is charging for a second ticket (I am going from Chicago to Gothenburg round trip). I have also heard of people negotiating a free one. Can anyone give me any input on this topic? |
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Volvo subcontracts its travel-arranging to an outfit in Norwood, MA called HMI Incentives. You could call 'em up and ask 'em, but I don't think they give out consolidator, charter, or other cheap-cheap tickets. The ticket Volvo just bought me was a straight, real-deal economy-class ticket, eligible for FF miles and all, showing a "street value" of about $1100. HMI would no doubt be pleased to sell you another on the same itinerary at the same cost. I have heard of DEALERS, not Volvo Cars USA, buying the customer a second ticket to Gothenburg to seal a deal. Getting seats together, seeing if the second ticket qualified to earn FF miles, etc. would probably be your problem. |
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HMI charged me $520 for my daughter SFO to Gotheborg via Frankfurt(Lufthansa and SAS). They were very accomodating. I basically picked the airline and the flight. Delivery was flawless. I would do it again. |
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| I am seriously considering the euro-delivery program for the Volvo S80. The way I want my 2.9 equipped would cost about 38,700. Has anyone already purchased one similar, if so, how much can I expect to save. Also, do you feel it was worth it, or could you have talked a dealer down to the price for which you finally paid. | |
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Has anyone arranged for a 2000 BMW or MERCEDES DELIVERY? If so any deals off the posted price? I read earlier that MERCEDES was not offering a discount for 2000..I hope not. |
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I am a Canadian who will be working in Europe for a few months before returning to Canada. I had been considering the purchase of a new BMW, MB or Audi, but had put off that decision because of my travel plans. I recently learned of the ED programs, and am looking into this possibility since I could have a car to drive while over in Europe and may be able to realize savings compared with a local purchase upon my return. Can anyone refer me to websites/phone numbers for information on the respective plans for these 3 manufacturers? In addition, is anyone familiar with the tax/duties savings available through these plans? After reading some posts in this topic, I get the sense that the buyer sets up the sale through a local dealership and is taxed as if the sale was a local one. The benefits to the buyer seem to be the savings off of car rentals for a European vacation, and possibly savings compared with the prices one would pay by buying the car locally. Am I missing something? |
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