European purchase

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doc - 04 Oct 2006 04:31 GMT

I have been told that Audi does not offer a european purchase plan like
BMW and Mercedes. Does anyone know or have experience with a factory
purchase in Europe and then Audi sshipping it to the states? thanks
rick

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Pete - 04 Oct 2006 15:44 GMT

>I have been told that Audi does not offer a european purchase plan like
> BMW and Mercedes. Does anyone know or have experience with a factory
> purchase in Europe and then Audi sshipping it to the states?

This wouldn't make any sense in case of Audi. Since they don't offer the
Euro-delivery, you'd end up buying a regular euro-spec car in Germany, which
would be quite costly to convert to US-spec before you could legally
register it in the US (different instrument cluster, lights, bumpers,
emission levels, etc.).

The only way it works for BMW is because they have an agreement to sell you
a car in Germany that is already US-spec'd. You are allowed to drive it in
Germany for a few days because you're not registering the car there - you're
basically transporting it to the shipping port. Audi will not sell you a
US-spec car in Germany, AFAIK.

Pete

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Peter Bell - 04 Oct 2006 17:14 GMT

> Audi will not sell you a US-spec car in Germany, AFAIK.

I wouldn't be quite so certain. It is certainly not unknown for Brits
to purchase a RHD car from Audi dealers in mainland Europe -
essentially, a UK-spec car.

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Peter Bell (Note Spamtrap - To reply, replace 'invalid' with 'bellfamily')

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Pete - 04 Oct 2006 18:58 GMT

> I wouldn't be quite so certain. It is certainly not unknown for Brits
> to purchase a RHD car from Audi dealers in mainland Europe -
> essentially, a UK-spec car.

Assuming you can get past the red tape (will the dealer have pricing for
such a car? will he not be held liable for selling a car that technically
doesn't meet some local road requirements such as symmetric headlights, red
turn signals, etc.), what about warranty? Will AoA honor the warranty on a
car that you imported on your own from Germany? Those are all issues that
are taken care of in a typical euro delivery program. Without it, I'm
afraid he'll face a lot of hassles.

Within Europe it's a little easier - same warranty covers all EU, technical
reqs. are similar (apart from the obvious RHD/LHD thing that you mentioned).

Pete

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Pete - 17 Oct 2006 02:41 GMT

>I have been told that Audi does not offer a european purchase plan like
> BMW and Mercedes.

It looks like they do now:

http://www.audiusa.com/audi/us/en2/experience/european_delivery.html

I haven't read the fine print (benefits), so I don't know if it makes
sense from a financial standpoint.

Pete

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