Buying abroad? (EU)

[flango]

I've specced a couple of Mercs up on the .de website and even at 1.4 fx rate they still work out more than UK prices when brought up to standard UK specification.

What was the £35K VW you bought available for via a UK broker? Or was the 35K the broker price?

The prices on the German websites are for German spec cars so on the face of it, it doesn't look as there are much savings to be made. What you have to do is spec the car exactly as you would want it in the UK right down to the finest detail. Then contact the dealer in Germany or if B2B the manufacturer direct and request a price. They will come back if any compromises have to be made on spec and give you a price in Euro's. Now this Is where more discount can be gained as you haggle the final price but you really need a German speaker to help you here and you want the transaction and shipping to go smoothly so its a bit of a trade off.

The car I wanted was not available through brokers not one of them could even give me a price as its being produced in limited numbers, and the VW dealers in the UK were not discounting at all which I why I started looking at the German option.

What I have effectively done is cut the UK dealer out of the equation and bought a UK spec vehicle production slot in Germany and got the saving by a decent discount on purchase price and playing the exchange rate, and of course a lower purchase price means a lower VAT bill and further savings.

 

[HotJambalaya]

very interesting all round.

The idea of ending up with a G63 for G350 prices is rather appealing...

Will have to get the spec sheets out later! -In the meantime I'll ask my friend to call his local dealers and sound them out re RHD supply...

 

[S-class]

Does all this just apply to new cars or is there a saving for used too? I normally buy 3-5 years old.

 

[gIzzE]

I doubt it as used prices in Europe are usually much higher than UK prices and you have the big issue of 'who specs a new car as RHD in Europe anyway?'

 

[gIzzE]

Even with the exchange rate back at 1.40, most cars are still cheaper in the UK when specced identically.

 

[S-class]

Thanks, to avoid depreciation used always seems the cheapest way to buy, can never get the figures to work on leasing or PCP, even if it was a bit more I'd go for it because of the convenience but it always seem to work out more over the period.