I am wondering what would be the reasons not to import your new car from US, given the difference in price the weak dollar creates.

For instance, a Porsche Boxster or Cayenne, costs 45.000 in the US compared to the ~80.000 price in Switzerland.
Taxes are only 12% and with the European delivery programs I quess the car never has to leave the European continent.

In any case, price differences are at least 40% which I quess is a lot by any standard.

What happens to the warranty when bringing a new car from the US?

I am in Greece right now finishing my studies and wishing to continue in Switzerland. Buying a Porsche for Golf GTI money (in Greece) is a nice thing to dream on!

Answer: it's still probably more hassle than it's worth otherwise everyone would be doing it.

Nice first post by the way. You're a good dreamer

Rules are on customs.admin.ch check the importing a vehicle for private use PDF.
There are grey importers or if u go to the porsche museum/factory in Stuttgart they'll provide details.

Buying a new car in the US is possible and there are hassles...first, the US dealer would have to agree to sell you a car...then there is all the export and import paperwork to carry out and some minor modifications to the car itself may be necessary to bring the car to European specification; there would still be substantial savings if you don't mind the hassle - the guarantee would not be honoured here in Europe, but if one is buying a Porsche one would hope that very little if anything would go wrong in one year...you can of course purchase such a car from a 'grey' importer who usually would provide their own guarantee - savings may be less but so would be the hassles.

I find no reason why the dealer wouldn't agree to sell the car. I am sure he would be more than happy given that he makes quite a few thousand $ when selling at MSRP price and will not be bothered in the future (for warranty claims etc.)

Having said that, I would have second thoughts knowing that the warranty would not be honoured in Europe.
Porsche is a a sports car and alot of things can brake in a sports car plus the cost of repairs is high (sic). It can easily whipe out any gains on the original purchase price.

What possibly would be difficult is making the arangements so that the car doesn't leave Europe, which would save a lot of money and hassle.
This may not be possible and the US dealer may be relactant to help.

Finally Porsche on the original question was not a random choise. Other than me being a 20something dreaming, Porsche seems to sell at a generous discount in the US compared to Europe, even when rulling out the weak dollar. For instance, Audi R8 sells in Europe for 911 4S money and in USA for 911 Turbo money.

i'll take a boxster - you sort it out for me and i'll give you the cash

cheers

Not true. Not only is the North American guarantee longer, it is honored in Europe (or anywhere, for that matter).

Also not true. Many dealers are not allowed to sell to foreign countries. European delivery programmes are not designed for Europeans and you would have a pretty tough time getting one of the dealers that still offer this to agree to sell you a Euro delivery car unless you had a N.A. address. As for "not being bothered with service in the future", where do you think dealerships make a lot, if not most, of their money?? One of the reasons they do not want to sell it to you is that you will not come back to them for the really high margin thingys like oil changes.

Regardless, used cars are equally "cheap" and getting one into Switzerland is not that difficult, especially one that was European in the first instance (Audi, BMW, Porsche, etc.). Shipping is not a big challenge, although not something to be taken lightly. Another issue to consider is resale. If you ever plan on selling the Porsche, you will be saddled with a somewhat undesirable car. Swiss want Swiss delivery vehicles, Germans want German delivery, and so on. Count on AT LEAST a 10% discount when you go to sell and, in many cases, many buyers will not even consider the car, at any price.

More or less true. If you do not have good contacts on both end and the ability to crawl through the bureaucracy in both languages, forget it and buy something local.

just looked on the porsche website and those boxsters are indeed cheap though 45k us brand new!

I'm not sure about Switzerland, but for example in Poland this is a very common practice to import a car from US. Price differences are sometimes huge. There are brokers specialising in arranging all the paperwork/insurance/technical inspection for a fee. When buying the car you can see what kind of warranty you get - is it worldwide or bound to specific area.

And as for Switzerland I know many D permit holders (mentioning D, because for B/C it might be different) who have bought the car from US and it was a real bargain. The only problem was the time for the car to arrive.

It is important to check what has to be altered in order to get a registration in Europe (typical examples - lights). And it's almost always worth to import from US (the more expensive the car is, the more you gain).

Added: And I think the only reasons why not many people use this approach is because:
- they don't know about such possibility
- they are affraid of paperwork/hassle (go to a broker, don't do it yourself)

If the car doesn't leave Europe you probably run into immediate problems with the porsche factory for reasons as described above (US dealers are not allowed to sell in Europe).

Furthermore, it will be a paper nightmare for the US dealer. For instance, he needs to register for German tax (VAT) purposes, not very likely that he would like that....

If that's D permits as in holders of legitimation cards (as opposed to work permits, because there's no such thing as a D work permit...) there's another reason why they import, which the common mortal doesn't get to benefit from.

Yes, by D permit I mean a legitimation card.

I think that the only benefit is the possibility of once-in-a-lifetime import without TVA/zoll. But even if you add these, the difference in price makes it a bargain.

If you need to go that route then go to Amag and buy a Swiss car. Having imported several cars from N.A. to Germany, let me assure you that if you cannot do everything yourself it is not worth the headache. That includes (as you mention) things like having a "spare" pair of compliant headlamps to swap in for the inspection, knowing which inspectors to avoid, knowing which ports to use, having a trustworthy shipper on the other end as well as locally... and so on.

Correct. In Germany, where tax + Zoll is almost 30% before you even get to the registration issues (of which there are many), it is not really feasible. In Sweitzerland it is very attractive right now, which will soon be reflected in an increase of "grey market" imports.

my brotyher who lives in Canada told me that US dealers make it difficult for them to buy...Audi has had to reduce prices in Canada...all cars in the USA are much cheaper than anywhere else simply becuase that's what the market is used to; as long as the parity of USD vs EUR was 1.2 - 1.35 things were OK but now that its above 1.57 the Europeans would kill thier market overnight if they hiked their prices to compensate. A person in the US can pick up thier car in Europe but they have export papers attached meaning they have to go to the USA...

Nickola,
pare ena GTI kai isixase...i, ene metaxirismeno Porsche...
sorry, English translation...
get a GTI and be happy...or a used Porsche

I was thinking about this today. When you buy a car Euro delivery, you get it at the factory with red German plates. They have a special red section that has a date stamp by which time the car has to be out of Germany - after which it is no longer insured, etc. I would be interested to know if it was possible to ship the car to, for example, Switzerland rather than N.A. If so, well,

The key is that you need to organize it on the other end. I, coincidentally, will be in NYC in two weeks. Perhaps I'll visit the Porsche boyze in Manhattan.

Wherever you go there is always a greek onboard!

Right now I am a student living on my parents money. I've got an Opel (Vauxhall) Corsa and am really thankfull for it.
No possibility for Golf GTI or used Porsche in Greece for me.
I am a med student and there is a HUGE waiting list for internship here.
No internship, no money, no honey.
Looking abroad and Switzerland is the top option.

Currencies play interesting games from time to time. Dollar is back to the lowest levels since the second world war. That is quite an occasion and as such interesting possibilities arise that can be exploited.
But I quess as mentioned above, the average person is both unaware and not bothered.

the trend of grey imports is bound to increase now that the dollar is so weak and quite frankly I would have done it if I were in the market for an expensive car - one could get an Audi RS6 in the US for A4 money or a BMW550 for the price of a 330...but then I am happy with my current Italian car...which one can't buy in the US anyway...good luck with the internship search!