jennsean

I'm thinking of ordering a Volvo through their European Delivery Program, which offers the opportunity take delivery of the car in Sweden (this fall) and drive it around Europe for a few weeks before shipping it back to the US. Has anyone used a program (for any car) like this? Any advice/recommendations?

I have traveled a bit in Europe, but am thinking of possible destinations including around Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Ireland. Also was considering Prague, Budapest, and Vienna. Maybe Croatia? I really haven't made any decisions yet. Any advice on roads, stops (cities and good towns along the roads for lunch, etc), sites to see, etc. would be very much appreciated.

Also, in particular, any recommendations on how to get the car to Ireland - particular ferries?

Thanks!

alya

No experience myself but there are old post here on Fodors try:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1

alya

BTW - I found this information by typing "volvo" in the search box.

Try it there's lots of info - good luck

Budman

We did the BMW European Delivery Program, and it's a wonderful experience.

I highly recommend that you <b>do your homework.</b> BMW has a European Delivery (ED) MSRP which most dealers will only sell you the car for, but there is a margin between ED MSRP and ED COST that you can negotiate with some other high-volume dealers. You can save much more than the advertised price.

I looked into Volvo, but they were asking much more that I wanted to pay for the type of car I wanted to purchase.

Go for it!! The only downfall is having to drop the car off and waiting 6-8 weeks for it to be delivered in the States.

Elan

A secretary and her husband where I work did that and were sent two free round trip tickets, picked up the car, drove it around Scandinavia, had the car sent to the US and spent less than the sticker price of the car.

Gardyloo

We've picked up a new Snaab overseas, but our plans a couple of years ago to do a Volvo ED fell through. We then thought about a BMW ED, since the costs were so favorable (like Budman describes, lots of wiggle room in BMW pricing) but it, too, went away, more for the time requirement rather than anything wrong with the deal. (Instead of ED for my wife's Bimmer, we took delivery of her car in a far-away corner of the world where we negotiated a better deal even than ED... Nebraska.)

The Volvo deal, especially if it includes the free air tickets, is very attractive, so we may resurrect the idea next time the wheels are up for replacing (around Hillary's second administration I think.)

From the Saab experience, what I can say is it's a blast. Great car (way better than most people could afford to rent), fun experience, no complaints.

I'd certainly resist the temptation to take it to a drive-on-the-left country; instead I'd put it on the boat before heading go off into less new-car-friendly stops in the trip after it's sailed.

I will say that our Saab came with the recognizable Swedish export plates, which attracted a lot of attention as we drove around (mostly Germany and France in our case) including some attention from vandals in a Paris garage one night, which then led us into an exploration of the insurance coverage one obtains in such transactions. Not a happy exploration, but everything turned out okay in the end.

Watch the drop fees - they seem quite high in Volvo's case - but otherwise may you have green lights and open roads.

Robespierre

I've done ED numerous times, starting a long time ago when you had to arrange your own transport and customs brokerage. Things have changed. Nowadays, it's easier than renting a car.

But do keep a spreadsheet open to calculate the cost differential between dropping it off at point X as opposed to driving it back to point Y and taking a train to point Z.

(Some knowledge of differential calculus is helpful when you get into the fuel computations.)

Budman

I did notice on the Volvo website about the drop-off charges -- some were pretty steep. The one thing about BMW, whether you dropped off the car in Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, or Germany, there was no extra fee involved.

jennsean

Thanks everyone for the great responses so far. I have indeed looked at the old volvo-related posts, just wanted to see if anyone had more recent experiences, etc. I will do my homework, promise, hopefully I'll more than pay for the trip with the savings over buying the car in the states. I am a bit hesitant about taking it to the UK, but with the area we intend to cover seeing various friends and distant relatives, we'd be renting a car over there if not taking mine, so either way I'd have to get used to driving on the other side. Plus, in the UK, I'll be picking up 2-3 more passengers just for that leg (in addition to me and my fiance) and all of us in the Volvo SUV sounds more appealing than a rental car (or 2). Too bad about the export plates causing such a stir, is there anywhere in particular you'd worry about the car? Although we want to see a lot of the cities, we were hoping to either splurge on safe hotels (with good parking) or stay outside the cities at night and drive or take public transport in... I know nowhere is perfectly safe of course. I will have to figure out the gas vs. drop off charges and also how much time the trip back is worth. Perhaps even one of the cheap flights within europe if i drop off the car outside Sweden. Also, has anyone had experience with the Malmo bridge to the continent? Sounds like a good option over the ferries, but a pretty long bridge too Can you all tell that this is my first new car and I've got a lot of concerns? Thanks again!

Budman

You shouldn't encounter any problems driving in Europe -- basically very similar to the States with the exception of the UK. You are at a great disadvantage driving in the UK with a U.S. Spec automobile because the steering wheel is on the left side and you will be driving on the left side of the road. It makes it very difficult for seeing and passing on 2-lane roads. Brits who bring their cars onto the European mainland experience the same difficulties.

Having said all that, I've done it.

Enjoy your experience.

Gardyloo

I just looked up some typical ferry fares, France&gt;UK&gt;Ireland and return, and for driver and 3 pax I'm coming up with something in the area of &pound;500. Not knowing how long you'd be renting a RHD car for comparison, that would be a baseline calculation I'd make. There are so many budget airline alternatives in the continent right now that flying on a low cost carrier then renting locally may well make more economic sense, in addition to the difficulties of driving a SUV through narrow UK and Irish roads with the driver not being able to see well enough to overtake. Pretty nerve-wracking on the shotgun passenger, too, although, like Budman, many of us have done it and lived to tell the tale .

Driving from Scandinavia to Croatia is certainly doable, depending on your time and route; combining Scandinavia, Croatia, France and Ireland in a driving route sounds on the surface quite ambitious, but of course it's your call. I'd check the Volvo insurance coverage to make sure the former Yugoslavia and other eastern European countries are fully covered.

Happy planning.

jennsean

Thanks guys. I do realize this all be overly ambitious, I'll narrow it down a bit more soon. The UK driving does scare me, but perhaps I'll convince my aunt (UK citizen, spent much of her life there) to drive. Maybe the rental car will win out.

Anyone have good or bad experiences with the discount European air services? maybe I'll fly from Sweden to the UK, rent a car, then fly back to pick up mine...

The Volvo insurance covers pretty much everything but Russia and former USSR from what they tell me, I'll be sure to check when I get my packet.

My mom wants me to meet her in the UK for about 9 days, and I'm thinking of a total of about a month in Europe, so maybe flying to the UK would be better anyway due to time constraints.

Thanks so much for everything so far, I really appreciate it!

Robespierre

I traveled Europe in the '63 VW I picked up at <i>Volkswagenwerk Wolfsburg</i> with a Scottish professor I did some research with.

He lived in the U.S. and was used to driving a left-hand car on the right <u>or</u> a right-hand car on the left, but was completely boggled by driving my car in England. Your aunt may not be able to cope either.

I wouldn't take the car to England. Just drop it off and get a headstart on shipping it.

Colorado17

We're picking up our Volvo next Wednesday in Sweden....we'll let you know how it all works out. We bought the V50, T5 AWD....the planning has been flawless, we'll be back in the states on 8/17, i'll check back then!! We're flying into Sweden and out of Austria....picking up and dropping the car off in Gothenburg (didn't feel like spending 8.00 a gallon on gas!)...=0.

Budman

Colorado17, that's the fun of the European Delivery Program -- driving your new car around Europe. Even at $5 a gallon, still cheaper than getting around and the inconvenience of using public transportation. I'm not a train/bus person. I want to get up and go when I want to get up and go.

Heck, we're almost paying 1/2 that amount now.

jennsean

Great Colorado17, please do let me know how it goes.

Did you have any difficulties arranging the car pickup and flights? I think I've had too many incidents with restricted frequent flier travel, etc. and have this fear that I'll order the car and then not be able to schedule a flight through volvo to go pick it up.

Any info you have now or upon your return about the process, your trip, destinations, routes, etc. would be wonderful.

Did the Volvo corporate travel company help arrange all the flights or just to Sweden? We have thought of flying to Ireland for part of the trip, or perhaps some kind of open jaw trip...

Has anyone taken the bridge to the continent from Malmo?

Any recommendations on a European travel atlas?

Also, I'm ordering the Volvo XC90 AWD, so I figured I can handle the weather in October as long as I don't go too far north - anyone disagree? Should I get chains?

sprin2

We picked up a Volvo V70 wagon two years ago. We got the two free tickets and also purchased three additional tickets through the travel agency that you use to arrange the free travel. Their rates were the same as I could find elsewhere. There was no problem booking the dates we wanted, although we flew mid-March - early April (not high season).

We were met at the airport and provided transportation to the hotel in Gothenburg. The next day we were again picked up and taken to the factory. Our only surprise was that breakfast was not included with the hotel room. I had not asked, merely assumed it was.

As I've reported on other posts, our pickup lasted a couple of hours, we had the free lunch but opted out of the factory tour. We drove to Stockholm that afternoon. We then spent two weeks working our way from Stockholm down the coast to Kalmar, across the bridge to Denmark and to northern Denmark where we caught the ferry back to Gothenburg. Taking the bridge was fine. It was foggy so we couldn't see much. We took the car on three ferries and had no problems.

During our time in Stockholm we parked the car in a garage recommended by the owner of the apartment we rented. It was safe and we didn't need it in the city. Otherwise we parked at our hotels and had no problems, I don't think anyone even noticed the export plates. It is very easy to drive in Sweden and Denmark, not too much traffic.

We dropped off the car at the factory and were provided with transportation back to downtown Gothenburg. Our car arrived in the states in 23 days and our experience was fabulous. We've talked about doing it again.

jennsean

wonderful sprin2, I hope you're enjoying your volvo. Glad to hear from everyone that the volvo process is easy - I'm having enough trouble planning my vacation

Thanks to everyone so far, still appreciate any further recommendations of course.

Robespierre

Speaking of driving on the left side of the road: ask some Swedish old-timers about September 3, 1967.

AnselmAdorne

I keep coming back to this post wondering whether to push it slightly off topic and to ask about where Volvos are built.

I drive a 2005 S40, which I leased last July (the '05s were out early because of the new model). I had assumed that it was manufactured in Sweden, but I have a recollection of the salesman telling me it was being shipped from Belgium. Not that it matters a great deal, but is anyone aware of whether Volvo assembles some vehicles outside Sweden?

On a related note, I had a spot of trouble with that car ... one month after delivery it was immobilized for three weeks at a dealership 1500 kms from where I live. They had to replace the main computer (as it was described to me) and then struggled to load its software. On the plus side, I can vouch for the incredible performance of the Volvo roadside assistance program and excellent support from the repairing dealer and my own dealer back home.

Anselm