European Vacation with 911

[whiterabbit]

Has anyone taken their car to Europe to drive while on vacation? I am thinking of spending 6 months in Europe and would really enjoy taking my 911 rather than getting a boring rental car. Thinking of shipping from East coast to UK and then driving on US plates and buying European insurance to remain legal.

Anyone done this? Or am I crazy to even consider

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

This sounds like a great idea, depending where you are there may be a registration process (if I remember hearing correctly) - all in all, no real headaches to do this. Make sure to post a lot of photos!

[swade]

Shipping to Europe is not expensive. I think that I paid US $700 to ship my car from Houston to Norway, it might be cheaper now. Having a 911 in Europe is a blast, the roads are much more fun than freeways once you get off the main roads and into the mountains or along rivers.

Sounds like a great idea. I'll be interested to see how his goes for you.

[swade]

Shipping was cheapest to Rotterdam by a big amount.

[proporsche]

yup sounds like very nice idea ..you would love the German autobahns...but the price is round trip right?

Ivan

got me thinking about lending my 911 for good drivers in Europe's visits;-) maybe new business for me?;-)

[Jameel]

Originally Posted by swade

Shipping to Europe is not expensive. I think that I paid US $700 to ship my car from Houston to Norway, it might be cheaper now. Having a 911 in Europe is a blast, the roads are much more fun than freeways once you get off the main roads and into the mountains or along rivers.

More info needed! I thought it was like $5000 to ship a car to Europe. Dream trip of mine is to drive around Germany in my 911. $700 seems way too cheap.

[proporsche]

When i shipped my to Europa in 2009 i payed $1200 one way from LA....

Ivan

[swade]

From east coast to Rotterdam via a roll on roll off car carrier is usually the cheapest. Not many cars get shipped to Europe from the US, most ships go back empty.

[SalParadise]

Originally Posted by Jameel

More info needed! I thought it was like $5000 to ship a car to Europe. Dream trip of mine is to drive around Germany in my 911. $700 seems way too cheap.

$5k? Yeah, no way. Maybe in the 1930s when you were sending over your Bugatti by steamer to get fixed. In the '80s it was $1500. Now it's half that. There are a lot of empty cargo ships heading east. You can either ship by driving it on/off or in a container.

[proporsche]

yah...sometimes they go empty into Europe too...

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by whiterabbit

Has anyone taken their car to Europe to drive while on vacation? I am thinking of spending 6 months in Europe and would really enjoy taking my 911 rather than getting a boring rental car. Thinking of shipping from East coast to UK and then driving on US plates and buying European insurance to remain legal.

Anyone done this? Or am I crazy to even consider

You should probably look into the insurance first. I took my car to the UK 12 years ago, and happily insured it on US plates as a "temporary import" through GEICO's UK office. Entirely legal; so long as I kept my state tabs up to date, road-worthy vehicle, converted headlight lens to appropriate for traffic pattern etc.

Looked into it again a couple of years ago, they wouldn't touch it. Said their underwriters now insisted that only UK-registered vehicles could be insured.

Which left the dozen or so companies that'll insure an imported, non-UK registered vehicle against a VIN for 10 days (but no longer) - intended to be long enough to drive to a converter's workshop and onto an MOT testing station to get the paperwork necessary to register. No other scenarios were anticipated or catered for...

Now, if you can find a European insurer prepared to write a cover note for Europe, it should be trivial to get the required additional coverage for the UK - if not already included. UK was full of EU-registered cars when I was there last.

I think the stumbling block may be that the insurance companies want the VIN number - but if they had no record of it (e.g. 30 yo US VIN), they don't want to play...

So, there's all these laws saying it's perfectly fine to do this so long as you comply with a, b & c - but the reality is that finding someone prepared to write the insurance you need to do this legally is a major stumbling block...

Do please post what you find out...

As others have said; it's worth considerable effort to drive a 911 in its natural habitat - they were built for those roads...

[Nux]

Some of us actually live in Europe

Shipping is about 1.2k from SoCal to the Nederlands incl insurance. You'll find the roads over here very nice - especially in Switzerland (lots of famous mountain passes), Italy (Northern), Austria and of course das Autobahn in Germany. South France and Northern Spain is not bad either.

I highly recommend a round trip in Europe in an old Porsche. You'll meet thumps up and good vibes everywhere. And you'll be surpriced just how much space you have for good wine in your 911

[proporsche]

Nux.+1.........

[wildthing]

1200 one way. Anybody pay for the return?

[anglophone1]

Ask Auto Shipping Specialist | Kingstown Shipping for a quote- they do this all the time!

[Quicksilver]

It is easy to get the car shipped (especially from the East Coast) but the real trick is getting it done with no issues. Rotterdam is an obvious choice (probably from Charleston) but the real issue is protecting the car. With a "roll on, roll off" you have to have complete trust in who is receiving the car. You aren't going to be there to receive the vehicle yourself and it has to go through customs.
I'd talk to someone who has experience with shipping cars for very anal owners where issues just aren't allowed to happen. I personally would talk to Alois Ruf. He regularly deals with US customer's cars being shipped over for work plus he has customers bring cars over for the road trips he puts together. He has to have a process someone he trusts a lot.

I have been exploring the idea of taking a small group of people and their cars over for a European road trip (Targa Europa?) and one of the big details I've had trouble answering is about what it takes to get the car back into the country. I generally run a B&B exhaust and would there be an issue at customs with re-entry of a modified car? I never got a call back from the specialist at LA customs that would know exactly what is involved and I haven't tried again since then.
Also you will want insurance and seeing that the car isn't registered over there it will help to have your same US insurance company cover you. As far as I know the only US company that can cover like that is Geico. Their name stands for Government Employees Insurance Company so they cover government employees overseas. I haven't confirmed this personally and I haven't discussed this with my buddy who is a Hagerty agent to see what can be done.
European countries will want a serious assurance that once the car is in Europe the car won't be sold there. Otherwise they will want you to pay VAT. I believe there is a time limit you can stay and avoid VAT too.
The last thing I can think of is making sure it costs the same quantity to ship it back as it did to ship it over. I'd guess that we don't ship as much to Europe as they ship to us so it could be cheaper shipping to Europe.

And if you have success I want to know about it!

[Carrera911RSR]

There was a member on here, RS America, that did this. IIRC, he shipped his 964 RSA to Europe and did exactly what you are planning to do.

Edit: found the link:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-964-993-technical-forum/737826-1-1-2-years-touring-europe-rs-america.html

[DLK]

A lot, and I mean a LOT of cars are shipped from the US to the EU every day. There are countless company's that will arrange shipping for you.

I would strongly advise you to ship it in an enclosed container and not RoRo.

The big freight ships that carry freight containers are always on the move. Just like on a bus they pick up cargo at one point and take it to the next. Not a point to point journey but the same round over and over again. Getting the car back should not be a problem.

I live in The Hague, 30km from the port of Rotterdam. If you need any assistance over here, give me a shout :-)

[H-viken]

Originally Posted by DLK

I would strongly advise you to ship it in an enclosed container and not RoRo.

I would think this is safer as well