Would I do Euro Delivery again?
11-25-2007, 06:11 PM
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Would I do Euro Delivery again?
For the sake of others considering it, here are my reflections...
Pros.
Driving in Germany and on the autobahn is great. It's definitely something any self-respecting car guy or gal should do.
Europe is nice to visit. It's fair to consider that, if cost is listed as a con.
I saved (as near as makes no difference) $4,000 on the car, compared to just ordering it.
Audi Germany does a great job of treating you to a nice VIP day at the forum.
Extra allocation. If the dealer has no allocations on a limited production car, this is a way to bypass the waiting list.
Cons.
The biggest con is the wait. The waiting is horrendous. Audi does a good job of telling you the production schedule. The return shipment information is sparse. After repeated emails, the only thing I got is the ship name and scheduled arrival in port. No information is available via the Audi computer system, so your salesman can't help you. I happen to live in the same city as the port, and the transfer (halfway across town) took a week. And they never did deliver it. My dealer went down to the port and got it for me. I think they wanted to shut me up. Here's the total timeline, 4 months and a week:
7/12 Order car and place deposit
7/16 Order into computer due to software snafu
8/7 Received commission number and actual production date (9/24) from Audi
8/8 Received welcome package
8/15 Requested 10/15 delivery date (from Kathy)
8/17 Delivery date of 10/15 confirmed / ok'd (by Kathy) - ok to book travel.
9/27 Go pay the dealer and get bill of sale.
9/29 Received final paperwork for pick up.
10/15 Delivery
10/22 Dropoff
11/14 Ship arrives in the Port of Houston
11/20 Car arrives at dealership and delivery to me.
Regarding the wait, in all fairness, I have to say that ordering my car normally would have taken almost exactly the same amount of time. When I placed the order, they were configuring an order for their 1 allocation (which they did offer to me). When I picked up my car, they had just (2 days earlier) received that car. The VIN's were about 10 apart, it was the same color, and I'm guessing they were produced only hours apart. That would have been my car, and obviously the wait time would have been basically the same.
I spent $1,700 on costs for the trip, not including airfare (was on a business trip), hotel base room charges (Hilton points), or gifts. That was for 10 days, saturday...monday, inclusive. So I saved $2,300. If you really tried, you could go there, do a quick turnaround, and come home. If you had to buy airfare and hotels even for one, let alone 2, I can't see how you'd come out ahead, or even break even. That $4,000 is the 5% discount vs. MSRP on a relatively expensive car. For most people considering it, I'd say it's a small discount on a European vacation you're (hopefully) going to take anyway. For others, 5% minus a properly negotiated discount will be much less than $4,000.
No shipping protection. EH Harms (the shipping company if you drop off in Germany) does nothing to the car in the way of shipping preparation. No seat covers, no plastic over the paint, not even paper on the floor. If the ship drips saltwater on your car, it's on the finish. Definitely wash it before dropping off. If you want it pampered on the way over, order it here normally or buy from stock.
Tied up money. Audi gets your money for about 2 months during which you have the car for a week or so. For those leasing, the discount might just even out the two or three lease payments you'll make, not having a car here (as has been pointed out by others). Your dealer gets the 19% VAT in his bank account for the same 2 months. Buy it normally, and it's pay and drive.
No GPS. It kind of annoys me that even with a $4,000 nav-package, I can't use the in-car GPS in Europe. Other manufacturers make this work. The RNS-E DVD disks have firmware updates on the disc anyway. How hard would it be to have the disc update the firmware for use with it's own data? I'm thinking this is a problem that could be solved relatively easily.
Drive for a week and lose 1-2 months of warranty. They stamp the waranty book when you pick it up in Germany. During shipment, you are (statistically speaking) losing money, for me $200/month, basis the cost of extended warranties. Of course, I expect my warranty to expire by time, not mileage. I'd also SWAG 1 month of first-year depreciation at about $500.
Knowing what I know now...
I probably would do it again, only if I had the resources (points) to do it the same way. Me, personally, if I had to lease the car, or pay for the trip with all cash, in the same situation, I don't think I would do it.
In a different (very unique) situation,
where I was going to take a European vacation already,
going to buy a new Audi anyway,
was not leasing,
had the extra cash for VAT,
wasn't trading in or could be without the traded-in car for 2 months, and
wasn't concerned about the return shipping issues,
I'd consider it.
Pros.
Driving in Germany and on the autobahn is great. It's definitely something any self-respecting car guy or gal should do.
Europe is nice to visit. It's fair to consider that, if cost is listed as a con.
I saved (as near as makes no difference) $4,000 on the car, compared to just ordering it.
Audi Germany does a great job of treating you to a nice VIP day at the forum.
Extra allocation. If the dealer has no allocations on a limited production car, this is a way to bypass the waiting list.
Cons.
The biggest con is the wait. The waiting is horrendous. Audi does a good job of telling you the production schedule. The return shipment information is sparse. After repeated emails, the only thing I got is the ship name and scheduled arrival in port. No information is available via the Audi computer system, so your salesman can't help you. I happen to live in the same city as the port, and the transfer (halfway across town) took a week. And they never did deliver it. My dealer went down to the port and got it for me. I think they wanted to shut me up. Here's the total timeline, 4 months and a week:
7/12 Order car and place deposit
7/16 Order into computer due to software snafu
8/7 Received commission number and actual production date (9/24) from Audi
8/8 Received welcome package
8/15 Requested 10/15 delivery date (from Kathy)
8/17 Delivery date of 10/15 confirmed / ok'd (by Kathy) - ok to book travel.
9/27 Go pay the dealer and get bill of sale.
9/29 Received final paperwork for pick up.
10/15 Delivery
10/22 Dropoff
11/14 Ship arrives in the Port of Houston
11/20 Car arrives at dealership and delivery to me.
Regarding the wait, in all fairness, I have to say that ordering my car normally would have taken almost exactly the same amount of time. When I placed the order, they were configuring an order for their 1 allocation (which they did offer to me). When I picked up my car, they had just (2 days earlier) received that car. The VIN's were about 10 apart, it was the same color, and I'm guessing they were produced only hours apart. That would have been my car, and obviously the wait time would have been basically the same.
I spent $1,700 on costs for the trip, not including airfare (was on a business trip), hotel base room charges (Hilton points), or gifts. That was for 10 days, saturday...monday, inclusive. So I saved $2,300. If you really tried, you could go there, do a quick turnaround, and come home. If you had to buy airfare and hotels even for one, let alone 2, I can't see how you'd come out ahead, or even break even. That $4,000 is the 5% discount vs. MSRP on a relatively expensive car. For most people considering it, I'd say it's a small discount on a European vacation you're (hopefully) going to take anyway. For others, 5% minus a properly negotiated discount will be much less than $4,000.
No shipping protection. EH Harms (the shipping company if you drop off in Germany) does nothing to the car in the way of shipping preparation. No seat covers, no plastic over the paint, not even paper on the floor. If the ship drips saltwater on your car, it's on the finish. Definitely wash it before dropping off. If you want it pampered on the way over, order it here normally or buy from stock.
Tied up money. Audi gets your money for about 2 months during which you have the car for a week or so. For those leasing, the discount might just even out the two or three lease payments you'll make, not having a car here (as has been pointed out by others). Your dealer gets the 19% VAT in his bank account for the same 2 months. Buy it normally, and it's pay and drive.
No GPS. It kind of annoys me that even with a $4,000 nav-package, I can't use the in-car GPS in Europe. Other manufacturers make this work. The RNS-E DVD disks have firmware updates on the disc anyway. How hard would it be to have the disc update the firmware for use with it's own data? I'm thinking this is a problem that could be solved relatively easily.
Drive for a week and lose 1-2 months of warranty. They stamp the waranty book when you pick it up in Germany. During shipment, you are (statistically speaking) losing money, for me $200/month, basis the cost of extended warranties. Of course, I expect my warranty to expire by time, not mileage. I'd also SWAG 1 month of first-year depreciation at about $500.
Knowing what I know now...
I probably would do it again, only if I had the resources (points) to do it the same way. Me, personally, if I had to lease the car, or pay for the trip with all cash, in the same situation, I don't think I would do it.
In a different (very unique) situation,
where I was going to take a European vacation already,
going to buy a new Audi anyway,
was not leasing,
had the extra cash for VAT,
wasn't trading in or could be without the traded-in car for 2 months, and
wasn't concerned about the return shipping issues,
I'd consider it.
11-26-2007, 08:44 AM
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Very good info and write-up.
Good points, I agree with everything you said.
To add to your thread (my experiences)
I fall into the category where it was done in combination as a vacation and picking up the car. Unfortunately, I didn't have airline miles or business discounts to use against my personal expenses. My discount of 5% calculated to approx. $2900. In all fairness, the discount did not play a part in my decision to likely do (or) not do it again. In total, costs were about $5200 (for two people) on the entire trip, including airfair, lodging, food, Railpasses, etc. I enjoyed every part of the trip, and for the most part it went very smoothly. I would definitely visit Europe again. Any snags were my fault for not buying a GPS unit prior to arriving in Germany.
My concerns are with the shipping process and EH Harms. As citi1991 mentions, the car is not covered or protected in any way. Not only that, I did give my car a through washing prior to drop off, but it rained the next day anyway. I wasn't happy with EH Harms in that I dropped off the car on the 17th with a ship going out on the 18th and the 25th. My car made neither voyage and was instead put on a ship on the 31st. They gave me no explanation why it was not put on the ship leaving the 25th or why it sat in a shipping yard for two weeks. My previous talks with multiple EH Harms locations were that one only needed to drop off the vehicle three days prior to the ship leaving port. In my opinion, considering I dropped the car off early, made arrangements prior, and the already lengthy amount of time involved with the process, for it to arrive an additional two weeks late was unacceptable.
At the docks, the operation is slow at best. Even with a rushed/sold order placed, it for some reason, takes a great deal of time to sort the cars and to contact the dealership to pick up the car. They don't seem to place any priority on getting the car through the process at all. In fact, I watched the ship arrive and unload via SD Port webcam, which only took 6hrs before the ship was completely unloaded and departed. The car then sat for another week even with my dealership and salesmans attempts to pickup the car from them. The wait is indeed the largest single factor that is difficult to deal with, but when combined with all of the other shipping issues, it really is difficult to justify going through it again. If I had to do it again, I would really have to give it serious thought. Not a no-brainer like I initially thought. On the Audi European Delivery website, it does state 6-8 weeks, which makes the expectations clear. I think lesson learned is don't assume you will get it any earlier.
To add to your thread (my experiences)
I fall into the category where it was done in combination as a vacation and picking up the car. Unfortunately, I didn't have airline miles or business discounts to use against my personal expenses. My discount of 5% calculated to approx. $2900. In all fairness, the discount did not play a part in my decision to likely do (or) not do it again. In total, costs were about $5200 (for two people) on the entire trip, including airfair, lodging, food, Railpasses, etc. I enjoyed every part of the trip, and for the most part it went very smoothly. I would definitely visit Europe again. Any snags were my fault for not buying a GPS unit prior to arriving in Germany.
My concerns are with the shipping process and EH Harms. As citi1991 mentions, the car is not covered or protected in any way. Not only that, I did give my car a through washing prior to drop off, but it rained the next day anyway. I wasn't happy with EH Harms in that I dropped off the car on the 17th with a ship going out on the 18th and the 25th. My car made neither voyage and was instead put on a ship on the 31st. They gave me no explanation why it was not put on the ship leaving the 25th or why it sat in a shipping yard for two weeks. My previous talks with multiple EH Harms locations were that one only needed to drop off the vehicle three days prior to the ship leaving port. In my opinion, considering I dropped the car off early, made arrangements prior, and the already lengthy amount of time involved with the process, for it to arrive an additional two weeks late was unacceptable.
At the docks, the operation is slow at best. Even with a rushed/sold order placed, it for some reason, takes a great deal of time to sort the cars and to contact the dealership to pick up the car. They don't seem to place any priority on getting the car through the process at all. In fact, I watched the ship arrive and unload via SD Port webcam, which only took 6hrs before the ship was completely unloaded and departed. The car then sat for another week even with my dealership and salesmans attempts to pickup the car from them. The wait is indeed the largest single factor that is difficult to deal with, but when combined with all of the other shipping issues, it really is difficult to justify going through it again. If I had to do it again, I would really have to give it serious thought. Not a no-brainer like I initially thought. On the Audi European Delivery website, it does state 6-8 weeks, which makes the expectations clear. I think lesson learned is don't assume you will get it any earlier.
11-26-2007, 07:57 PM
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Re: Would I do Euro Delivery again?
All good and fair points, but I think there's one element in the equation that's missing: the savings of not renting a car.
What's the cost of renting something like an S4 or RS4 in Europe for a week (or in my case 3 weeks)? $2K per week? $3K? I don't know, but it would be ludicrous. Enough to swamp 8 weeks of depreciation / warranty coverage.
The autobahn is really fun, but doing ED for a weekend just to drive on the autobahn and see the factory tour and such? Wouldn't make sense to me.
The shipping time/issues are fixed "costs". The savings from not renting a car depends on the length of the trip. The longer the trip (and the more the trip involves driving), the more ED is worth it.
The tipping point is different for everyone, of course. But spending, let's say, 15 days driving an RS5 around the Alps in 2010 doesn't sound half bad to me...
Btw, if a car was dropped off at the factory, would the car go back through the normal channels? My dealer said that it would, but I have no idea if he's right.
What's the cost of renting something like an S4 or RS4 in Europe for a week (or in my case 3 weeks)? $2K per week? $3K? I don't know, but it would be ludicrous. Enough to swamp 8 weeks of depreciation / warranty coverage.
The autobahn is really fun, but doing ED for a weekend just to drive on the autobahn and see the factory tour and such? Wouldn't make sense to me.
The shipping time/issues are fixed "costs". The savings from not renting a car depends on the length of the trip. The longer the trip (and the more the trip involves driving), the more ED is worth it.
The tipping point is different for everyone, of course. But spending, let's say, 15 days driving an RS5 around the Alps in 2010 doesn't sound half bad to me...
Btw, if a car was dropped off at the factory, would the car go back through the normal channels? My dealer said that it would, but I have no idea if he's right.
11-27-2007, 09:18 AM
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True but hard to place a value on...
screaming down the autobahn from the Bavarian alps back to Munich doing 152 MPH (not KM) in your new S6...and that was not top speed. Part of being an "enthusiast" (used to denote the Audi crazies like me that troll this blog) is the thrill and joy in brief moments such as those.
my pix coming soon...tons of snow!
my pix coming soon...tons of snow!
11-29-2007, 06:08 PM
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I was pretty sold on doing this but I don't think I will ...
I've been to Europe lots of times and even though I'm planning on going again next year, I think I'll just rent an A3 Quattro w/GPS which you can get for $400/wk.
My reasons are 3 fold:
(1.) Cost. There's a significant price to driving your car in Europe. Forgetting the cost of trip itself I think it'll cost about $3000 to drive my car a week in Europe. An Audi Drivers day with an RS4 will probably be just fine for me.
(2.) Special order. I want to get a special color and given I can get an allocation there's a big risk with shipping.
(3.) Aggrevation. The shipping risk, wait time, extra payments, worry about damage in Europe will drive me nuts I'm thinking. I think I'd just rather go and enjoy my trip and then return and pick up my sweet new ride.
My reasons are 3 fold:
(1.) Cost. There's a significant price to driving your car in Europe. Forgetting the cost of trip itself I think it'll cost about $3000 to drive my car a week in Europe. An Audi Drivers day with an RS4 will probably be just fine for me.
(2.) Special order. I want to get a special color and given I can get an allocation there's a big risk with shipping.
(3.) Aggrevation. The shipping risk, wait time, extra payments, worry about damage in Europe will drive me nuts I'm thinking. I think I'd just rather go and enjoy my trip and then return and pick up my sweet new ride.
11-30-2007, 08:43 AM
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Good points...
True, you don't have to rent a car, and that's expensive.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVED driving the car around the alps and on the Autobahn. Like quattrings said, I went in thinging it was s slam dunk and in the end was more indifferent.
I have not read anything that indicates you can return the car to the factory for return shipment. All the locations are shipping companies.
Don't get me wrong. I LOVED driving the car around the alps and on the Autobahn. Like quattrings said, I went in thinging it was s slam dunk and in the end was more indifferent.
I have not read anything that indicates you can return the car to the factory for return shipment. All the locations are shipping companies.
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