Tracking Your Audi from Germany (At least to Rhode Island)

[cha777]

Ok....so you're excited. You ordered your new car that is coming from Ingolstadt or Neckarslum and coming to the Northeast/Midwest/Southeastern US. If you've done this with BMW before you know it's pretty simple but Audi make it a little harder. This is a guide based on my own experiences on how I was able to track delivery of my Audi S5 Cabriolet all the way to the dealership. Here are the steps: 1. Get the ETA "loaded on ship date" from your dealership. I haven't found resources to track between factory and Emden but it really doesn't matter. 2. Go to http://www.pwl.de, click on the English flag for English language. Click on "schedules" on the left and scroll to the bottom to Volkswagen Logistics. Click on the PDF file associated with Volkswagen Logistics. This brings-up a file that has the current schedule. Note the ship that corresponds with your loaded on ship date. Download the document because it changes regularly. 3. If, for the current example right now, the ETA is for your car to be loaded at Emden and arrive at Davisville port on August 10 and 22 respectively, you're car will travel on the Cougar Ace. My car came in on this ship. Follow this like and search Google for more amazing stories about what this ship went through in 2006. 4. Once you know which ship you're on, go to either marine traffic or vesseltracker. 5. Find out from your dealership when the car was loaded on the ship. Ensure that the dates have not changed (I was originally on the Cougar Ace, changed to Neptune Ace, and then changed back to Cougar Ace which is the ship that my car got sent on). 6. Start tracking the ship. You can track it until it's off the Irish coast or through the North Sea depending on its destination track. You can see the ship "reappear" again around Halifax. It will disappear between Halifax and Quonset Port in Davisville, RI. Remember, unless you pay mucho $$, you will get delayed positions so don't pound your head against the wall if you don't see the ship there the day that it is supposed to be there. 7. The ships can get delayed. Cougar Ace got delayed at Zeebruge and Halifax for a total of 3 days. Many of the RO-RO carries are owned by either Wallenius-Wilhelmsen, Hoegh Lines, or Mitsui OSK lines to name a few. WW lets you track by VIN number so you can actually track your car by VIN for free. The Cougar Ace is owned by Mitsui OSK which does not allow public VIN tracking, but if you know which ship you are on, you can track the schedule here. 8. Once the ship leaves Davisville, your car has (most likely....hopefully) been offloaded. Your car is now with Norad, Inc being processed at the port. All port-installed accessories are being installed, checks are being made, and it's getting loaded on truck or rail to get to the dealership. (I'll regret it everyday to Sunday, but a little birdie gave me a number to talk with somebody at the port office and track the car at this point by VIN for ETA to dealership but I was sworn to secrecy. If you can figure it out, you've done so on your own). 9. If your car is going to the Western side of the US, it's going to Houston or San Diego (from what I've gathered...not sure for certain). I have nothing else to say about that. So for all you OCD people like me, you know how to track your car from Germany to the eastern US. Please feel free to add to the thread or ask questions.

[3space]

Originally Posted by cha777

Ok....so you're excited. You ordered your new car that is coming from Ingolstadt or Neckarslum and coming to the Northeast/Midwest/Southeastern US. If you've done this with BMW before you know it's pretty simple but Audi make it a little harder. This is a guide based on my own experiences on how I was able to track delivery of my Audi S5 Cabriolet all the way to the dealership. Here are the steps:
...

Thanks so much for this - YOU.TOTALLY.ROCK.!

[cha777]

Originally Posted by 3space

Thanks so much for this - YOU.TOTALLY.ROCK.!

My pleasure....I guess this guide applies to Eastern Canada as well for those cars that arrive Halifax from Emden. The Port of Halifax publishes a daily status report so you can see when the ship arrives at the berth and when it is leaving.

[a5_fanatic]

Where were you two months ago?

That's very helpful information I wish I would have known. I found out from my dealership what the name of the ship was and used Marinetraffic and Vesseltracker to track it. The nice thing about Vesseltracker is that you can set it up to send you e-mail notices once it leaves a tracking range, appears in a tracking range, leaves a port, arrives at port etc.

When I called Autoport at Halifax and gave them my VIN, they were able to tell me when it left the port by train.

[Limestonedan]

Originally Posted by cha777

Ok....so you're excited. You ordered your new car that is coming from Ingolstadt or Neckarslum and coming to the Northeast/Midwest/Southeastern US. If you've done this with BMW before you know it's pretty simple but Audi make it a little harder. This is a guide based on my own experiences on how I was able to track delivery of my Audi S5 Cabriolet all the way to the dealership. Here are the steps:

1. Get the ETA "loaded on ship date" from your dealership. I haven't found resources to track between factory and Emden but it really doesn't matter.

2. Go to http://www.pwl.de, click on the English flag for English language. Click on "schedules" on the left and scroll to the bottom to Volkswagen Logistics. Click on the PDF file associated with Volkswagen Logistics. This brings-up a file that has the current schedule. Note the ship that corresponds with your loaded on ship date. Download the document because it changes regularly.

3. If, for the current example right now, the ETA is for your car to be loaded at Emden and arrive at Davisville port on August 10 and 22 respectively, you're car will travel on the Cougar Ace. My car came in on this ship. Follow this like and search Google for more amazing stories about what this ship went through in 2006.

4. Once you know which ship you're on, go to either marine traffic or vesseltracker.

5. Find out from your dealership when the car was loaded on the ship. Ensure that the dates have not changed (I was originally on the Cougar Ace, changed to Neptune Ace, and then changed back to Cougar Ace which is the ship that my car got sent on).

6. Start tracking the ship. You can track it until it's off the Irish coast or through the North Sea depending on its destination track. You can see the ship "reappear" again around Halifax. It will disappear between Halifax and Quonset Port in Davisville, RI. Remember, unless you pay mucho $$, you will get delayed positions so don't pound your head against the wall if you don't see the ship there the day that it is supposed to be there.

7. The ships can get delayed. Cougar Ace got delayed at Zeebruge and Halifax for a total of 3 days. Many of the RO-RO carries are owned by either Wallenius-Wilhelmsen, Hoegh Lines, or Mitsui OSK lines to name a few. WW lets you track by VIN number so you can actually track your car by VIN for free. The Cougar Ace is owned by Mitsui OSK which does not allow public VIN tracking, but if you know which ship you are on, you can track the schedule here.

8. Once the ship leaves Davisville, your car has (most likely....hopefully) been offloaded. Your car is now with Norad, Inc being processed at the port. All port-installed accessories are being installed, checks are being made, and it's getting loaded on truck or rail to get to the dealership. (I'll regret it everyday to Sunday, but a little birdie gave me a number to talk with somebody at the port office and track the car at this point by VIN for ETA to dealership but I was sworn to secrecy. If you can figure it out, you've done so on your own).

9. If your car is going to the Western side of the US, it's going to Houston or San Diego (from what I've gathered...not sure for certain). I have nothing else to say about that.

So for all you OCD people like me, you know how to track your car from Germany to the eastern US. Please feel free to add to the thread or ask questions.

Terrific info. I tracked my S5 Cab and another car as well. Fun doing it.

For what it's worth, regarding delivery on the home stretch, the only thing I'd add is if you buy new from a dealer it's one timetable from Davisville if you pick up at the factory it's another.

Most brand new Audi's go to the dealerships "relatively" quickly from the port of Davisville, RI. I think within a week or so. However, if you take delivery in Ingolstadt, as I did, and drive around Europe your car is considered "used" when it arrives in Davisville and undergoes some scrutiny. I surmise they look for contraband and other things hidden in the car. Anyway, it can be time consuming and for me frustrating.. It was 3 1/2 weeks before I finally picked up my car at the dealer in Burlington, Massachusetts. Been happy though since.

[cha777]

Originally Posted by Limestonedan

Terrific info. I tracked my S5 Cab and another car as well. Fun doing it.

For what it's worth, regarding delivery on the home stretch, the only thing I'd add is if you buy new from a dealer it's one timetable from Davisville if you pick up at the factory it's another.

Most brand new Audi's go to the dealerships "relatively" quickly from the port of Davisville, RI. I think within a week or so. However, if you take delivery in Ingolstadt, as I did, and drive around Europe your car is considered "used" when it arrives in Davisville and undergoes some scrutiny. I surmise they look for contraband and other things hidden in the car. Anyway, it can be time consuming and for me frustrating.. It was 3 1/2 weeks before I finally picked up my car at the dealer in Burlington, Massachusetts. Been happy though since.

Yes, I went through the same thing when I did ED for my BMW 5 series. As far as I can tell, the car (Audi) is handled by E.H. Harms in Europe. If it ends-up in Davisville, it must be re-entering the VW Logistics shipping chain at some point. The car is subject to U.S. Customs inspection to ensure that there is no contraband or dutiable items. This can take from a few days to a few weeks depending on whether it has to go through secondary inspection where they basically parts of the car apart (per what I've read on the BMW forums). The VDC (Norad) is responsible then for making sure that the vehicle is in factory condition prior to transport. In addition, the computers are changed to reflect being in North America (Nav, etc) and the First Aid kits are swapped out as some of the European First Aid kits contain mercurochrome which is banned in the US.

[Limestonedan]

Originally Posted by cha777

Yes, I went through the same thing when I did ED for my BMW 5 series. As far as I can tell, the car (Audi) is handled by E.H. Harms in Europe. If it ends-up in Davisville, it must be re-entering the VW Logistics shipping chain at some point. The car is subject to U.S. Customs inspection to ensure that there is no contraband or dutiable items. This can take from a few days to a few weeks depending on whether it has to go through secondary inspection where they basically parts of the car apart (per what I've read on the BMW forums). The VDC (Norad) is responsible then for making sure that the vehicle is in factory condition prior to transport. In addition, the computers are changed to reflect being in North America (Nav, etc) and the First Aid kits are swapped out as some of the European First Aid kits contain mercurochrome which is banned in the US.

Yes, correct, E.H. Harms handled the car. Gosh, hate to think they took my car apart! Some things I'd rather not know.. But I'd do it again. Euro delivery is so much fun.

[jericks]

To the OP... Thank you so much for making this thread! I've been traking my new Audi (also happens to be on the Cougar Ace) since it left port 1 1/2 weeks ago. Should come in time for a belated christmas present

[PeterJay]

I've always thought that tracking your shipped car leads to nothing but anxiety and worry. Why buy that ??

Sit back and quietly wait for what will be the best car of your life. Relax.

Worth waiting for...................no worries.

Best of luck with your great new Audi !!

[jericks]

Originally Posted by PeterJay

I've always thought that tracking your shipped car leads to nothing but anxiety and worry. Why buy that ??

Sit back and quietly wait for what will be the best car of your life. Relax.

Worth waiting for...................no worries.

Best of luck with your great new Audi !!

I couldn't disagree more. I'm not doing it out of worry; I'm doing it because it’s fun and exciting!