my son’s going to germany and taking the car. he is required to have two sets of tires (one snow, steel rims; one summer, any rims.) does any one know where i can find the info on exactly what tires meet the German specs?
and why can’t US dealers give any technical info on emissions and requirements to repatriate this audi?
I am not a German resident, but live in the Netherlands, the country next to it. I also own a set of winter tires (for driving in Germany).
There are no ‘German specs’ for winter tires. Any respectable tire manufacturer’s winter tires will do (Continental, Michelin, Dunlop, to name a few). What you can look for is that they have the ‘M&S’ and the snowflake/iceflake on it.
Also, winter tires can be on any rim. It does not have to be metal. Mine are on alloys too, as do many.
Is he really sure he wants to take his car? With all the expense and bother, chances are he would be better off leaving it here and getting what he needs there over there. I may mean selling and buying or storing and leasing, but for almost all cases it is more practical to not ship the car.
i wish i knew more about that. he is getting a one year contract, with options for 5.
we talked about trading the audi in, and buying something over there. the audi is worth 24k here. the exact same audi there is going for 38k!!
sort of sounds dumb to trade one in, and pay through the nose for another one.
the first price he got was for $2200 US to get a 20’ container, so he could ship all he wants over, plus the car including all the expensive stuff he already owns.
i just don’t have any advice about the emissions. although i am not sure, but it does seem likely that european emissions may equal california emissions, if this gets really expensive, it may be the deal breaker over shipping the audi back over there.
do all four need to be snow tires? or just the front two?
If he decides to sell it in Europe, will he be able to? Many foreign countries will not let you sell a foreign vehicle that does not meet their safety and emissions requirements. It might be worth checking on.
All four tires should be snow tires. Having 2 snows on the front and 2 summer on the rear is going to be dangerous, due to the difference in characteristic.
I think you can import your Audi (what is German car to begin with) back into Germany. You bring it to a T?V-station for a safety check-up and you will probably have to pay (20% or so) tax on the book-value of the car. We love taxes in Europe. Your son’s car would cost >50k over here in the Netherlands.
I think you should rather ask your son to bring some gas. With prices around $9/gallon, does he have room in his container for a barrel or two? 