Not to mention that it's really a bad idea to buy a car sight unseen...

Here is a good link:state fees on new car Click on the "State Fees on That New Car: Here's What You'll Pay"
It seems that New Hampshire, being on the east coast, is the best option.
0 sales tax, but quite heavy ownership taxation that a non US resident will never have to pay. That is if i didn't misunderstood.

I think it is actually pretty simple. If you want a new car, there are states and/or countries that will refund your taxes upon export or not charge them at all. If you want a used car, in most states and countries, there is less tax to be paid than on new cars and, once again, they will usually be refunded upon export. Anyone who buys a car for export and then pays tax on it in two countries is, well, probably not cut out for the whole process and should see my posts above.

Texas only charges sales tax on vehicles when they are titled.

Therefore if you purchase a vehicle in Texas but do not title it, no sales tax is charged. So buy your car at the dealer after negotiating like a carpet sales man at the Istanbukl bazaar.

You then hire a car hauling company and pay them $300 or so to get the car to the Houston port.

Then it goes into a container (or if you are cheap it goes RORO) and after 12 days or so it arrives in Bremerhaven. Cost around $2,000.

Then you have to figure out how to get it transported transit-ed (not a word, made that one up) through Germany / EU and imported into Switzerland. Import tax and duty apply. Well covered on various Swiss gov't Web sites. Customs guys here are pretty easy to deal with.

Some small mods might be required (lights mainly), so make friends with a shop / garage that knows US import cars.

Been there, done that, with a Ford GT. Not mine though.

and what were the tangible savings on a ford gt?

Hi, immediately interested in your post by the USD=CHF and buying cars in the US....

I have found a company in Florida on www.uscarexport.com, have spoken to them and all sounds very straightforward. Does anyone have any experience of dealing with them?

Incidentally, I have also found a company in Zurich to pick up the car at the port and they have given me a couple of names who will quote for the homologation (to get final registration).

hi i have been looking into this buying the car and exporting it from the us isnt the problem does anyone know someone is switzerland geneva montreux area who can do SVA and take care of the import?

I though about bringing the car throught the UK then claiming the VAT back when exporting it to switzerland

An additional reason is that the dealer is guaranteed to sell a car, which he never had to take into inventory. Unlike many European countries where many people still have a car made-to-order, in the U.S. the vast majority of car sales are showroom sales of vehicles already in stock. Thus, the dealer has to 'guess' the customer preferences beforehand, which can make resale difficult (e.g. less profitable) if the dealer picks unpopular extras, colors etc. The European Delivery program gets around this problem.

My father is about to buy a 2008 Yamaha FJR1300 in Ohio for $12600 out the door. That's about half as much as it is here iirc. He plans to drive it 600 miles to New Jersey on the temporary plates, get it its first service in New Jersey then ship it to himself here. I'll let you know how it goes. He's confident that he's saving tons of money by doing this.

About USD / CHF 50,000 at the time.

that would appear to make it worthwhile!

Heck yeah. Especially when the new owner in Germany took it into the shop (Schwabengarage, Germany's largest Ford dealer) that didn't wanna sell him one in the first place and got the first free service.

however, as i have just bought a new car from france i dont want to hear anymore about how much money i could/should have saved!!

Hi there, seems like a lot of people are thinking in the same direction these days. Have you by any chance already have experience you could share?
Just starting my research and all hints welcome!

I am hoping not to get beat up too bad with this question.

What modifications are allowed on a car and how does one go about getting them "approved"? I see tons of swiss tuners so some modifications must be allowed. Is there a place that anyone knows of where I can find more information about what is allowed?

-Dana

Check with the Strassenverkehrsamt website.

As 'modifications' is so broad - ranging from adding bolt on superchargers and turbochargers, sticking a V12 engine in a 4-cylinder car, adding a roll cage, to just putting a baby seat on the rear set, perhaps it would be a lot easier to answer your question by you telling us what non-factory extras you have added to your car.

I think some optical things like stickers, or changing your stereo, might be allowed :-)

Well. There is sticker and different stereo.

The list of what is not original.
Turbocharger, Suspension (spring, shocks, anti-roll bars, etc), Wheels, tires, Engine Management, Wastegate, Blowoff valve, Brakes, Wheels, Roll Bar, Seats, and few misc other things that they may notice.

I am afraid that the car wouldnt make it in....

The real problem is now they have offered me a position. Withing 10 days I will get the written offer with the actual compensation.

If I have to buy a car, that makes the whole ordeal more expensive. I know everyone says to just buy a car in CH, but I am not sure that is smart with the weak dollar. For $20K I can buy a nice car that is used in the US. I found a very nice Boxster at $19K with low miles. The economy is soft and there are good deals to be had. I was looking at swiss site and the cheapest comparable boxster I found was CHF37000.

May be smarter to just buy a car that is not modified and ship it. FWIW the company said they would pay shipping on a car.

-Dana

MFK will definitely want to see engineering certificates that all the work was done, or approved, by an Swiss-approved authorised engineering company that can state that the vehicle including modifications still meets Swiss vehicle laws.

They will also want certificates from all of the parts manufacturers stating that the items are OK for your car.

I get the feeling that your car is not yet in Switzerland, and that you are considering importing it here.

With that quantity of modifications to critical vehicle safety systems, I am afraid the chances of your car being outright rejected and banned from Swiss roads are very high.

So I would discourage you from importing such a car. The Swiss have tough rules on what can be done to a car - a friend of mine was failed because he had non-original wheels fitted, and couldn't provide an engineering certificate to show that they were OK for his car.


I'm not an expert - so please counter my advice with advice from other parties to get a full picture.

Even though the Porsche is made by a European manufacturer, it will be a USA-spec Porsche and made to comply with USA regulations. It will have to go through a full MFK homologation process, and there will always be something that has to be modified. Often it is the headlights....

You can often expect to pay somewhere between 1000 and ??? for full compliance, subject to modification costs and costs of parts. eg: with Xenon headlights, it is not unusual to pay 3,000 to change the headlights...

So get the company to cover compliance as well as shipping....


A lot of people find that importing a non-compliant car is not worth the hassle, and buying a CH car, built for CH, is much much much easier, and often not dissimilar in costs once time, effort, shipping, insurance and compilance costs are taken into account

Do you know if its the headlights that need changed or if it just the switch? I think that the Euro lights require a "burn-out" bulb that the US does not. Also amber side lights are not allowed and must be clear I think.

From what I can find that is the majority of mods.

I think from what I am finding out, leave the modified car at home. There will be no way that I could get is not banned.

I know, I know, I know. Buy the car in CH. But the USD is so weak right now, there are killer deals. I am shipping my friends Cayenne to him next week to CH. It would cost him CHF30000 more in CH for the same car. That is lots of money.

I am not always known to do things the easy way.

-Dana