I have been looking at the S5's for some time and have actually been trying to buy one. I am in the US Army and deployed to Iraq. Additionally I am stationed in Germany and would like to purchase one through the dealer recommended by Audi (autoexchangeonline.com). This would ensure shipping to my address in Germany plus I wont have to pay taxes on it. I have filled out all the information requesting a quote 3 times now and have heard nothing back from them! Are there any suggestions? Has anyone else heard of a problem with them?Should I just purchase from a stateside dealer and have it shipped over? Any info on this matter would be great.

Here's their contact info:


Auto Exchange Online
Gorxheimer Strasse 9 - 13
(Behind Mannheim PX)
68309 Mannheim
Germany
Tel: +(0049) 0621 7 18 87 58
Fax: +(0049) 0621 72 44 337
Email: online@mcs-autoexchange.com
Customer Service/Warranty Liaison: +(0049) 0631 351 8736

Go to AudiUSA.com and send them an email with your questions. Seems to me the tax issue is the main thing to worry about. Also the exchange rate is a concern on where you order. But having a German car shipped to Germany is easy once you figure out the legalities and paperwork, I should think.

I bought mine through autoexchangeonline here in Germany, overall it was a good experience and a good price, and the whole process felt professional. I do not know of any other places in Germany that sell Audi's to the military, at least not in my area of Stuttgart. I agree, try calling them up, or emailing them directly. If I remember correctly I did not necessarily get a response from my quote request; my guess is they get a lot of quotes request. I went through the online process as opposed to going directly in the store to purchase the car. The person I dealt with was David Sweeney. I've interacted with several of their reps while I was shopping around at different bases before I got serious about the car, and all seemed really helpful.

PM me if you have more questions. But once again, the quickest and sure fire way would be to call someone there directly.

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2009 A5 3.2 quattro Tiptronic | Brilliant Black | Premium | S-Line | Nav | Technology

Kelton,

Understand you're going to take delivery in Germany and if you plan on selling the car before you PCS back to the US, you're correct in thinking that you will not have to pay sales tax but if you are planning on shipping it home, you'll have to pay the tax when you register it state side. Depending on the state, some will call it sales tax and other will call it 'use' tax but the tax man will get his money.

I'm talking to them now but they will not allow me to pick it up at the factory in Ingolstadt. They are telling me that they have to take it to Bremerhaven and take it through customs which is telling that they are ‘reselling’ me the car, they are buying it and as they are a German company and it’s a US spec car, they have to export it. I’m thinking they take it out through customs and then, bring it back in on my orders…

Thoughts?

Did you get Nav? Does it work?

Any issues with having it serviced by a local dealer?

I've got the NAV, it came with the US maps on it. From what I understand people (military with US spec A5's) in Germany have gone to German AUDI dealers, bought the European NAV DVD and most likely some software changes as well and it works. I will probably go to the local AUDI dealer and pay for this to be done in the next week or two when I switch my winter tires and rims back to the summer ones.

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2009 A5 3.2 quattro Tiptronic | Brilliant Black | Premium | S-Line | Nav | Technology

Thanks for the help guys. I have emailed Audi and autoexchange directly. Also, does anyone know the advantages of using them vs using a US dealer? If I have to pay the tax when I get back to the states, why not use my trusted Audi dealer? I have not shipped a car over to Germany and understand that I can still do it on the Army's dime. Am I mistaken here? Again, thanks guys.

...well, by buying it in Germany, you get to defer paying the tax and I believe they will assess the tax based on the value of the car at the time you register it so you'll likely pay less tax.

You could check with your dealer in the US to see if they would do European Delivery, some times they will won’t as they loose an allocation but in the present economic climate, I'm willing to be they'll do anything to sell a car.

I thought the rule was that you could ship one POV per PCS ‘order’ and that you could ship it at any time up until 1 year prior to your DEROS. I can't find that in the JFTR but I did find this:

JFTR, Chapter 5, Para U5457 C says "Incident to PCS: Unless otherwise prescribed in this Volume or in Service Regulations, transportation of a POV for an eligible member may be initiated any time while the PCS authorization/order remains in effect and prior to receipt of another PCS authorization/order, as long as the POV transportation is incident to the member's PCS rather than for personal reasons"

Your best bet is to talk to your TMO office as being able to read the JFTR and being able to understand the JFTR are two different things!

Foxe, I just searched for this thread because I am preparing to deal with this same exact problem. Did it work for you and what year is your car?


I've got the NAV, it came with the US maps on it. From what I understand people (military with US spec A5's) in Germany have gone to German AUDI dealers, bought the European NAV DVD and most likely some software changes as well and it works. I will probably go to the local AUDI dealer and pay for this to be done in the next week or two when I switch my winter tires and rims back to the summer ones.

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2009 A5 3.2 quattro Tiptronic | Brilliant Black | Premium | S-Line | Nav | Technology

My understanding is No, the US spec 3G Nav will not work in Europe. I believe if you buy the European disk and load it, it might show the map and maybe where you are but it will not give you directions or bring up address or POI information.

Suggest you contact AoA customer service to be sure.

I plan on keeping the car in Europe for the next four years so I'm thinking it's a deal breaker for me

The 3G MMI in US spec will not accept the Europe maps just like you said. I think there is a $1400 fee to change it over to accept the Euro map set. Not sure what the cost will be when you change it back to the North America map set. Good luck

My understanding is No, the US spec 3G Nav will not work in Europe. I believe if you buy the European disk and load it, it might show the map and maybe where you are but it will not give you directions or bring up address or POI information.

Suggest you contact AoA customer service to be sure.

I plan on keeping the car in Europe for the next four years so I'm thinking it's a deal breaker for me

What I'd like to know is why Audi go to the trouble of designing and manufacturing two different systems to do the same thing?

I have a TomTom which I bought on the economy (vs. on base) in Germany which has taken me all over Europe. I went to DC last June for 10 days, took the TomTom, download the North America map and it took me everywhere I wanted to go. When I got back, I reloaded my European map and I was back in business.

You would think the big Auto manufactures would subcontract the Nav out to companies who set the standard in this area.

One thing I found interesting was that initially, I had the TomTom set to MPH when in the US but I had to reset it to KPH. It would tell me I needed to turn in 0.8 of a mile (or whatever) and we (wife and I) had trouble with just how far away that was. Once we put it to 'Clicks', we are good to go...too many years driving over here I guess.

My understanding is No, the US spec 3G Nav will not work in Europe. I believe if you buy the European disk and load it, it might show the map and maybe where you are but it will not give you directions or bring up address or POI information.

Suggest you contact AoA customer service to be sure.

I plan on keeping the car in Europe for the next four years so I'm thinking it's a deal breaker for me

If gunfighter is correct 1400 bucks for the switch isn't bad IMO. I cannot stand having a $50K car with factory NAV that is unusable, already played that game with Infiniti.

Gunfighter do have any specific POC info to do the switch and was that 1400 euro or dollars?

Thanks,

J

Has anyone gotten any resolution on fixing the navigation issue? I am being quoted 400 euro from autoexchange to allow the car to use european maps. I am wondering if this is just a VAG setting change.

Jason

Blackhawk 878,

I'm in the same boat as you. I just bought a new S5 from Auto Exchange. The person I was dealing with said they were not sure if it work, but they would look into it...

I decided to buy the car anyway.

So for now, I can't help you at all.

Once I get to Germany, and I get the car in a couple months. It's going to be my top priority to get this **** fixed.

I don't believe it when people say it can't be done. I think it's just a matter of how much it will cost.