znod

IrvRobinson

rodybmw and joseyu answered the question very well.

and it's true, a while ago the M3 was part of the discount program and it would be really nice if they would bring it back. A lot of my customers wanted to go to Europe, drive their M3 but get the discount as well. I think that by briging back the discounts, a lot of business could be gained.

ronald_adi

Very interesting proposition. As correctly mentioned before, the 6 months is for tax in the eu. BUT does anyone know if this applies to the UK? What I do know for sure is that when you pick up your car, the EU keeps track of it to KNOW in which country in europe it will be finally registered at. - unless of course it leaves the EU then they dont care.

But wait. The loop hole may be the UK. A friend bought a BMW in germany last month and took it to the UK to be registered. registration went very fast and he didnt pay any extra taxes except VAT. Now if the UK does not follow the EU rules on cars - which they very probnably dont - then one could buy a car on ED (except the M5 unfortunately) - and register it in the UK - then bring it back again to the EU.

Long process perhaps - requires 2 weeks of holiday - but u could save 10 to 15000 euros : thats got to be worth more than 2 weeks of not working !

Problem though is that i suspect ED doesnt have Diesel cars? And many of us europeans want these Truck pullers ! When diesels get onto the ED i may just try it.

rodybmw

Here's an interesting FAQ page on Military Sales for US military and civilians working for the military. It does not mention anything about whether one absolutely has to ship the car to the US or not (although that is the assumption). It seems like someone buying through this program may be able to sell the car in Europe without any problems, but I an not 100% sure.

I guess if anyone wants more info they can contact Kris (Kigerka) who got his E60 a couple of years ago while stationed in Germany and just moved to the US a couple of weeks ago. His car is on it's way to the US now.

Here's the FAQ page for Military sales directly from BMW AG:

BMW Military Sales FAQ

clarence

The tax issue applies to UK as well, cos BMW UK does a tourist delivery programme for foreigners in the UK. The car can remain in the UK for up to 6 mths w/o the need to pay VAT.
In ur friend's case, AFAIK, the taxes were probably paid in Germany already, so there's no need to pay VAT again on entry into UK, if the German tax has not been refunded upon exit. Back in the late 90's, when cars in EU are much cheaper than UK, magazines ran article after article on importing cars from EU or Japan. The rules then were to pay MwSt (German VAT) when u pay for the car in Germany, & when u leave Germany, the tax will be refunded. So when u register the car in UK, u have to pay VAT as the car was essentially tax unpaid upon entering UK. Rules may have changed now, as SVA rules are more stringent compared to 1998.
In fact, like for like, list prices of UK BMWs is very similar to prices of German or Italian BMWs when converted back to GBP. There are savings to be made of course, if assuming no RHD surcharge when ordering UK spec from continental dealers or brokers. For example, if u manage to get 10% off the list price of a Italian 5er, u'll then get a another 20% Italian VAT refund when u take the car out. Back in UK, u then only have to pay 17.5% VAT, so there's a 2.5% difference. German MwSt is 16%, so ur friend may have saved 1.5% in taxes.
Regarding ED, of course u can pull a fast one & do what u mentioned, but the biggest hurdle is getting the dealer to accept ur order. In case of warranty, I think u can get insurance based policies (in UK at least).

The Shrike

There is a very nice ongoing discussion as people try to find loopholes in the myriad of (contradicting) tax regulations in different countries and the EU. The latest is to start up a company in Luxemburg, buy a car, register this to the Luxemburg company (no taxes at all) and lease it back to yourself in any country in the EU. After 2 years of leasing you can buy it w/o any tax!
There are now companies in Luxembourg that will lease that car to you using this loophole, so you do not even have to start up a company anymore.

Off course the governments are trying to block this frantically (3 billion Euro tax p.a. in Holland alone).

luxembourg

Just my 3cts to confirm that, yeah - there are many nice tax-loopholes in Luxembourg for those who search...
And in part that's the reason why even though it's a small country, it is yet the largest banking market in EU...
And the cheapest gas in the EU-zone...
and few other things...

ronald_adi

haha excellent! Yes i heard of this deal via luxemburg, but i didnt know the full details of it. I live in holland but i opened a branch of my company in poland and registered my car there. Paid only 8.5% tax and no VAT.

So european delivery will work in Luxemburg at US dollar prices?

PoleApart

How did you manage to reclaim the VAT via this Polish branch? Even if you register a car as a company that pays VAT you still cannot deduct VAT over, I think, 9000 EURO of the net price of a car and the VAT rate is 22%.

--
Przemek

clarence

Btw, does anybody know which country in EU has the cheapest BMW pre-tax?