Shipside European Delivery

Has anyone heard of or tried Shipside (shipside.com) to order a European auto? They advertise that they will obtain the vehicle you want and ship it to the U.S. while avoiding VAT taxes at the same time.
Thanks in advance.

They also state you MAY get the car with the specs you require.

When you place your order with Shipside we will see to it (depending on availability) that the required specifications are factory installed.

Originally Posted by tharwood

They advertise that they will obtain the vehicle you want and ship it to the U.S. while avoiding VAT taxes at the same time.
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The service does not really seem designed to ship cars to the U.S. based on my quick reading of the site.

Why use Shipside? If you want to gamble with $50,000, just go to Vegas. BMW Euro Delivery is awesome and is incredibly dependable with great pricing if you can negotiate. A vacation in Europe is spectacular. Plus you have the fine folks here as a resource.

Thanks Jonathan and pharding. I did partake of the EDP last summer (335d). I was recently reading an automotive online magazine article and this company was mentioned as providing transatlantic transport of a variety of European vehicles back to the states. Just wondered if anyone had any experience with them.

To suggest that buying from Shipside is like gambling in Las Vegas is completely without foundation. Unless I am mistaken, Shipside have been supplying tax-free cars at their showroom outside Schipol Airport to people all over the World far longer than anybody else. I bought several cars from them back in the 1980's (all Mercedes-Benz and delivered with exactly the specification I ordered) and even then they had been operating for over 20 years. Today, as then, they enjoy an excellent reputation.

As I understand it, Shipside's success resulted in most major manufacturers refusing to supply them with any US-specification cars any more (although some US-spec Volvos and Mercedes are still offered). These same manufacturers then set up their own European Delivery programs.

Originally Posted by john lance

To suggest that buying from Shipside is like gambling in Las Vegas is completely without foundation. Unless I am mistaken, Shipside have been supplying tax-free cars at their showroom outside Schipol Airport to people all over the World far longer than anybody else. I bought several cars from them back in the 1980's (all Mercedes-Benz and delivered with exactly the specification I ordered) and even then they had been operating for over 20 years. Today, as then, they enjoy an excellent reputation.
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John, if you are referring to my post, read what I quoted from the company's Web site.

Originally Posted by tharwood

Has anyone heard of or tried Shipside (shipside.com) to order a European auto? They advertise that they will obtain the vehicle you want and ship it to the U.S. while avoiding VAT taxes at the same time.
Thanks in advance.

BMW's program also avoids VAT and ships to the US. I'm not sure why you'd use an alternative--it's not like 30 years ago with gray market cars and what not.

May be Shipside trying to lure business with price somehow even lower than ED Price?? Just guessing. May be it can ship you cars that are sold in US. I think that can be a better draw on business.

Originally Posted by mason

May be Shipside trying to lure business with price somehow even lower than ED Price?? Just guessing. May be it can ship you cars that are sold in US. I think that can be a better draw on business.

How would they do that? Does BMW offer a third party better wholesale prices than its own dealers?

I think the answer is that this service is not designed as a substitute for a euro-delivery program of the type BMW (and Audi, MB, Volvo, etc.) offer.

Take a look at BMW prices on the German website and translate to dollars...you'll find there's no chance you can get a good deal by purchasing there. This type of service is designed to work with people from countries that have a more favorable exchange rate and for countries where BMW prices are very high. We neither have high prices here nor a favorable exchange rate.

Originally Posted by john lance

To suggest that buying from Shipside is like gambling in Las Vegas is completely without foundation. Unless I am mistaken, Shipside have been supplying tax-free cars at their showroom outside Schipol Airport to people all over the World far longer than anybody else. I bought several cars from them back in the 1980's (all Mercedes-Benz and delivered with exactly the specification I ordered) and even then they had been operating for over 20 years. Today, as then, they enjoy an excellent reputation.

As I understand it, Shipside's success resulted in most major manufacturers refusing to supply them with any US-specification cars any more (although some US-spec Volvos and Mercedes are still offered). These same manufacturers then set up their own European Delivery programs.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Although I never purchased a car using Shipside I did acquire all the paperwork and looked into it as an option before deciding to go with European Delivery from the manufacturer. I have not heard of them for decades and did not know they were still in operation.

Originally Posted by JSpira

John, if you are referring to my post, read what I quoted from the company's Web site.

Jonathan, no I was not referring to your post but rather that of pharding.

Answering subsequent posts: Shipside is definitely not a substitute for BMW's European Delivery Program as far as US buyers are concerned because they do not supply US-specification BMWs.

Originally Posted by TGray5

Take a look at BMW prices on the German website and translate to dollars...you'll find there's no chance you can get a good deal by purchasing there. This type of service is designed to work with people from countries that have a more favorable exchange rate and for countries where BMW prices are very high. We neither have high prices here nor a favorable exchange rate.

Did you reduce it by 19% of VAT?

Originally Posted by mason

Did you reduce it by 19% of VAT?

The VAT is an adder to the Price. So a car in Europe costs more by the difference of dollars to euros, plus the VAT.

Originally Posted by M FUNF

The VAT is an adder to the Price. So a car in Europe costs more by the difference of dollars to euros, plus the VAT.

I see, I have always assumed the price is VAT inclusive.

Originally Posted by mason

I see, I have always assumed the price is VAT inclusive.

It is in the UK. Prices advertised on bmw.co.uk are "on the road" and include VAT as well as first year's road tax.