[Consuldean]

I figure US prices as significantly lower than virtually anywhere else (particularly where I am).

I wonder if some people here have been able to order US car and get it exported to their country?

If so, how does it work:
- which dealer in the US is willing to do that?
- what's the process / how complicated is this?
- can we waive off the VAT?

Any idea, anyone?

[BigHunk]

Dealers WON'T sell you car if they know it's for export
Here in Canada, you have to sign one year non-export agreement.
So Chinese exporters use straw buyers to buy cars for them.
Legally Bmw is helpless, they can only black list straw buyer, so he can't buy another new car.

[TomCat6065]

I tried to buy a new C63 a month before coming to Germany...dealer couldn't do it. He said I had to keep the car in the states for 6 months.

[zhangyi17]

Originally Posted by BigHunk

Dealers WON'T sell you car if they know it's for export
Here in Canada, you have to sign one year non-export agreement.
So Chinese exporters use straw buyers to buy cars for them.
Legally Bmw is helpless, they can only black list straw buyer, so he can't buy another new car.

Yup, I had to sign a non-export agreement when purchasing my m50i.

There's special import channel called "parallel import" (legal in China), that luxury cars are imported without the heavy duty. It is significantly cheaper than the traditional import by for example BMW China. However, these won't have warranty covered by BMW China. Most of these cars are from U.S. / Canada / Middle East.

[Consuldean]

Interesting - thanks for sharing that information about the non-export.

Why do dealers decline to sell for export? Isn't it more business for them?

Anyone know a company that's specialized in that?

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

Interesting - thanks for sharing that information about the non-export.

Why do dealers decline to sell for export? Isn't it more business for them?

Anyone know a company that's specialized in that?

There are a slew of federal regulations to follow when exporting new cars and with them come stiff penalties for doing it wrong. In the few cases where it is permissible (yours would likely not be one of them) I'm sure a dealer would cooperate for the proper compensation.

[zhangyi17]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

Interesting - thanks for sharing that information about the non-export.

Why do dealers decline to sell for export? Isn't it more business for them?

Anyone know a company that's specialized in that?

I think there are multiple reasons why these cars are not supposed to be exported for sales.

1) different country has different regulations. For example, China is introducing new emission regulation that the N63 engine in the V8 won't pass.

2) Different countries may have different spec. For example, in DRL is not mandatory in China and it's not custom to have any lights on during day time (ppl will think you forgot to turn your lights off).

2) Most importantly, different markets (countries) has different prices. For example, again in China, official X5 MSRP starting about 700k RMB (about 134k CAD) and this is for a 2L inline 4 cylinder engine. For this price, you can have a X5M in Canada...So BMW China won't be happy if dealers in Canada are exporting to China and cannibalizing it's market. I imagine BMW HQ tells BMW Canada to regulate the dealers in Canada not to export their cars.

[JonnyCrash]

Originally Posted by zhangyi17

I think there are multiple reasons why these cars are not supposed to be exported for sales.

1) different country has different regulations. For example, China is introducing new emission regulation that the N63 engine in the V8 won't pass.

2) Different countries may have different spec. For example, in DRL is not mandatory in China and it's not custom to have any lights on during day time (ppl will think you forgot to turn your lights off).

2) Most importantly, different markets (countries) has different prices. For example, again in China, official X5 MSRP starting about 700k RMB (about 134k CAD) and this is for a 2L inline 4 cylinder engine. For this price, you can have a X5M in Canada...So BMW China won't be happy if dealers in Canada are exporting to China and cannibalizing it's market. I imagine BMW HQ tells BMW Canada to regulate the dealers in Canada not to export their cars.

#3 is the big one. A dealer principal can lose their dealership franchise if they are caught selling cars outside of their market. BMW — and all car companies — set their prices according to market forces, ie. what prices the market will bear. They also set prices according to currency exchange rates over an average amount of time and into which they lock themselves (which is why the price of a car does not fluctuate wildly with the variances of different currencies against whatever base currency the company uses.) These car companies are well aware that for many people it is cheaper to buy outside their home market, and therefore use every tool available to limit this possibility.

10-15 years or so ago (I lose track of time) it was possible for a Canadian to buy the same car, with all the same features, for 1/2 to 2/3 the price in the United States, including all import fees. At that time, all of the car companies in the US warned their dealers under pain of losing their license to sell cars not to sell to Canadians. Since it was difficult to actually stop this in practice (there being many dual citizens, straw buyers, the US being a free economy, etc.) many dealers started telling prospective customers things such as car warranties would not be honoured outside the country of purchase (untrue) in order to dissuade the practice. They did this to protect themselves, because they knew that if cars they sold were caught being exported they would be a step closer to having their livelihoods cut off by their corporate parents.

This is, of course, still the way of things. Having a completely free market for cars would throw off profit margins, play havoc with international vehicle allocations, including supply and demand pricing calculations, and make owning a dealership in more expensive markets a difficult proposition. The only happy people would be the ones buying the cars... until dealerships close and the company stopped selling cars altogether.

[Ukd X6]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

I figure US prices as significantly lower than virtually anywhere else (particularly where I am).

I wonder if some people here have been able to order US car and get it exported to their country?

If so, how does it work:
- which dealer in the US is willing to do that?
- what's the process / how complicated is this?
- can we waive off the VAT?

Any idea, anyone?

Originally Posted by Consuldean

I figure US prices as significantly lower than virtually anywhere else (particularly where I am).

I wonder if some people here have been able to order US car and get it exported to their country?

If so, how does it work:
- which dealer in the US is willing to do that?
- what's the process / how complicated is this?
- can we waive off the VAT?

Any idea, anyone?

I believe mostly all US dealers do require keeping the car for at least a year prior to export... (at least this applies in both Virginia and Arizona)..
another trick is to have a local car reseller buying the car and selling it to you as used with some mileage on it of course..

As I do recall these restrictions would only apply on new cars

Another solution is buying your car from the UAE , if this is an option for you !! They do have almost better specs with similar price tag, (very minor difference in terms of price) between $3k to $5k difference

Which part of the world are you trying to ship yours to ?

[Ukd X6]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

I figure US prices as significantly lower than virtually anywhere else (particularly where I am).

I wonder if some people here have been able to order US car and get it exported to their country?

If so, how does it work:
- which dealer in the US is willing to do that?
- what's the process / how complicated is this?
- can we waive off the VAT?

Any idea, anyone?

Oh an By the way

All cars come with two years international manufacturer warranty

You'd be able to add both extended warranty and maintenance programs in any country you import yours to .. and dealers would honor such cars with no issues ..

[Consuldean]

Originally Posted by JonnyCrash

#3 is the big one. A dealer principal can lose their dealership franchise if they are caught selling cars outside of their market. BMW — and all car companies — set their prices according to market forces, ie. what prices the market will bear. They also set prices according to currency exchange rates over an average amount of time and into which they lock themselves (which is why the price of a car does not fluctuate wildly with the variances of different currencies against whatever base currency the company uses.) These car companies are well aware that for many people it is cheaper to buy outside their home market, and therefore use every tool available to limit this possibility.

10-15 years or so ago (I lose track of time) it was possible for a Canadian to buy the same car, with all the same features, for 1/2 to 2/3 the price in the United States, including all import fees. At that time, all of the car companies in the US warned their dealers under pain of losing their license to sell cars not to sell to Canadians. Since it was difficult to actually stop this in practice (there being many dual citizens, straw buyers, the US being a free economy, etc.) many dealers started telling prospective customers things such as car warranties would not be honoured outside the country of purchase (untrue) in order to dissuade the practice. They did this to protect themselves, because they knew that if cars they sold were caught being exported they would be a step closer to having their livelihoods cut off by their corporate parents.

This is, of course, still the way of things. Having a completely free market for cars would throw off profit margins, play havoc with international vehicle allocations, including supply and demand pricing calculations, and make owning a dealership in more expensive markets a difficult proposition. The only happy people would be the ones buying the cars... until dealerships close and the company stopped selling cars altogether.

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

I do understand the rationale as to why a car should be bought in the place where it is used but still have a hard time understanding why are the rules so stringent in the selling country. If anything, the difficulty for the owner that is attempting to buy a car in a cheaper market and import it elsewhere should be during the import - not at the export.

The logic would be that the dealers/car maker/country authority in the the country of import would have to impose rules for this not to happen. I wonder why US is so strict.

Anyone know of US / Canada dealers that would sell BMWs as 'used'?

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

Thanks for the detailed explanation.

I do understand the rationale as to why a car should be bought in the place where it is used but still have a hard time understanding why are the rules so stringent in the selling country. If anything, the difficulty for the owner that is attempting to buy a car in a cheaper market and import it elsewhere should be during the import - not at the export.

The logic would be that the dealers/car maker/country authority in the the country of import would have to impose rules for this not to happen. I wonder why US is so strict.

Anyone know of US / Canada dealers that would sell BMWs as 'used'?

Tariff agreements and the main reason.

[Consuldean]

sounds like the conclusion to this is: it's not possible to even buy a brand new BMW from US as a non-resident (no SSN, not address, no green card).

Correct?

[zhangyi17]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

sounds like the conclusion to this is: it's not possible to even buy a brand new BMW from US as a non-resident (no SSN, not address, no green card).

Correct?

For most people, no, system has made it very difficult and/or not economically viable to buy a new BMW in Canada/US and export it (even between these two countries).

[GOLFFRR]

US BMW dealers can only sell to US registered residence. this is very strictly enforced by NA, we dont even consider it.

[Finito84]

To export the car, and bring to your country for example Europe. You have to buy the car in US with your American driving license or similar, keep it in US for six month or a year and then, ship it to Europe. If you hold your car in your name and you are bringing it back to your home country, then, there might be no sales tax or other taxes involved as it is already yours. You have the title to the car so there is no transaction to a third party and the title tells them that you got it for more six months or a year.

Keep in mind that each country is different but a number of my European friends have bought a car in US from the short term or long term working experience and then, shipped it back to Europe.

You can google "ship car us to xxx" and you will find all the details of documents required by the shipping company, port of departure and arrivals and cost depending on the type of shipping.

The main issue that the exporters deal with is making sure that the specs are legal in the destination country. One of my friends shipped two ford mustangs and to one of them, he had to change the arrow lights as there were red, but the country of destination required yellow or orange.

I haven't done it yet, but it is something that I might do in the future as the savings are significant. I have researched a lot and talked with people that have already done it. Maybe I will send a car to my family after I drive for a while.

For example, BMW X5 45e with all bells and whistles might be around $80k msrp (out the door $72k, less another $7.5 for Federal credit, around $65k). The similar configuration goes for €95k ($112k) in some European countries, but there might be other electric deductions in Europe.

[Consuldean]

what are the required documents to buy and register a car in the US? Do we need to be a resident ?

[Finito84]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

what are the required documents to buy and register a car in the US? Do we need to be a resident ?

It will depend on each State but from what I read online, you need:
- Driving license
- Proof of residency (in some places, the driving license serves as a proof of residency)
- Proof of insurance
- If you lease or finance, you will need the lease/finance documents

[solomonshv]

Originally Posted by Consuldean

sounds like the conclusion to this is: it's not possible to even buy a brand new BMW from US as a non-resident (no SSN, not address, no green card).

Correct?

you don't need SSN if you don't take out a loan and you don't have to be a citizen to buy a car in the US. the only thing you need is an address. so if you have a friend or relative with a US address, and enough money in your checking account, you should be set as long as you keep the car in the US

[ND40oz]

Originally Posted by TomCat6065

I tried to buy a new C63 a month before coming to Germany...dealer couldn't do it. He said I had to keep the car in the states for 6 months.

I exported my SQ5 less then 6 months after purchase to Germany, dealer knew I was shipping it as well when I picked it up. It was registered beforehand though, so I had paid state taxes and fees on it.

Originally Posted by solomonshv

you don't need SSN if you don't take out a loan and you don't have to be a citizen to buy a car in the US. the only thing you need is an address. so if you have a friend or relative with a US address, and enough money in your checking account, you should be set as long as you keep the car in the US

You still need a SSN because any purchase over $10k has to reported to the IRS.

[TurtleBoy]

Originally Posted by ND40oz

You still need a SSN because any purchase over $10k has to reported to the IRS.

This is not correct. Only cash transactions over $10,000 must be reported to the IRS.


https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small...dealership-qas

[ND40oz]

Originally Posted by TurtleBoy

This is not correct. Only cash transactions over $10,000 must be reported to the IRS.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small...dealership-qas

The bank will do the reporting with a CTR if you're not using using cash. The dealer will probably still give you the run around about the OFAC check especially if you're a foreign buyer.