BUYING A VEHICLE FROM GERMANY

How I managed a German import without knowing any German

The plan wasn't to import a vehicle originally. I had been looking at switching to a van for quite some time, but had not seen anything I was ready to actually purchase. I know Mercedes Sprinter vans are easy to handle, but the fuel economy and cost had me skeptical that it was a good idea. Mercedes made some pretty cool vans that never made it to the United States, and it wasn't until I saw one sitting on the side of the road in September that it dawned on me that there might be one already here. I started my search for an old Transporter van in the US, but it became clear early in the process that very few existed here, and none of them were for sale. I lucked out a couple weeks in, and someone was selling a 207D fairly close to where I am. The van was not the right one for me, but it was great to drive one and check it out in person before fully committing to the idea of importing my own.

The Process of Buying a vehicle from Germany

I do not know any German. Languages come fairly easy to me, but German feels like it is a completely different animal. I was daunted by the idea of purchasing from a country I couldn't speak the language, but I started my search just to see what was available and how much my dream van costs. There are a few websites you can purchase used vehicles from. The one I had the best luck with is www.mobile.de Google translates the website into English, and you can save your searches. The search criteria is also incredibly detailed so you can narrow down what you are looking for fairly well. Turns out old Mercedes Transporter vans are on the market fairly often in Germany and the price point was much better than the Sprinter here. I also lucked out that the Euro was almost equal to the Dollar.

I scanned the site every couple of days until I found the one that seemed perfect. Listed for 8500 euro, it had the least amount of visible rust and incredibly low miles. I had the one picked out, but the dealer that was selling it made it clear on all their info that they wanted a German speaking conversation to happen over the phone. So now what?

I am lucky to have a friend who lives in Switzerland and can speak German that got me to the next phase of my purchase, but it isn't necessary to be able to set up a conversation. Most of the dealers and individuals who are selling have a number that you can send a text via whatsapp or signal. For some reason the dealer selling my van did not have the information visible on their site, so my friend called them to check and see if they would be willing to sell to someone out of the country and communicate via text. Know that some dealers and individuals do not want to deal with the process of exporting a vehicle, so it's important to be honest about where you are and what your plan is. The dealer my friend spoke with said he was fine selling to export, so we were good to go!

I'll say one thing: thank goodness for internet translating apps. This purchase would have been much more complicated if I didn't have the ability to easily translate my questions and inquiries. The entire process was done via texting, with me quickly translating every message I received and translating all of my responses. It felt silly, but it worked well. There was only one response that did not make sense and I had to clarify with my friend. Since I could not see the vehicle in person I had to make sure I was thorough in my questions. Below is a list that is a good starting point

• Vehicle history: Was it ever in an accident? Do you have all the paperwork? Number of owners?

• Detailed Photos: I asked to look at the under carriage, the engine bay, the dash (odometer) and cargo space. All other photos were in the original ad

• Rust: I asked about rust on spots that were weird in the photos, but I should have blatantly asked if there were any serious rust issues and to send pictures

• Cold start: It's good to hear the engine cold start, specially for a diesel engine.

I was able to haggle a bit on the price, which I have heard is not very easy in Germany. Usually the price listed is the price you will pay..but I think the fact that it was in an accident that damaged the engine mount gave me a bit more leverage. Once we agreed on a price the process got a bit weird. I didn't have an import company lined up because the import details would depend on the specific van. From my research I learned that buying a car in Germany from a dealership usually takes a week or two of paperwork before you can drive it home, so the dealer was not bothered by it sitting while I gathered port details. I suggest speaking with a few import companies and seeing which one you want to work with before purchasing so you can easily move forward on the next steps. I also asked the dealer if he could transport to the port, which saved me $500 compared to the estimate from the import company.

Many import companies work with a third party person..so the information can be confusing to suss out. I can write an entire blog post on this process (and probably will) but the short version is this: I found a company, approved the quote, and had the company contact the dealer about when it needed to get to the port. Once my payments went through I was mailed the German Title and was sent confirmation photos of the vehicle at the port. Voila! A vehicle was on its way.