As someone who has exclusively purchased cheap, used Volvo wagons, the concept of European delivery wasn’t something I’d given much thought. All the Volvos I’ve acquired were delivered in a parking lot of a CVS. My assumption was this was one of those things where you pay a little extra and get to pick up your car. I was wrong. You pay less money and get an amazing adventure.
Yup. That’s right. You get a free trip to Europe for two, you get a car built to your exact specs, you get an extremely coveted license plate, and all you have to pay is something like 4-5% less than what you’d pay for it if you bought it at the dealer down the street. There’s a reason why it makes economic sense for Volvo, and it obviously makes economic sense for anyone who has the time to do it.
I learned about this because one of our members, Eric, reached out and asked me how it worked:
I don’t need a new car. As a matter of fact, I’ve been proudly telling friends and family that I will actually hold on to my trusty 2020 RAV4 hybrid for as long as I can. I almost have them and myself convinced but now I’ve stumbled on the Volvo overseas delivery program and I’m thinking “maybe…maybe?”
In no way would it make sense to do this instead of just booking a trip…right?
Is this a thing the Autopian team has experience with already? Could someone write about this and convince me to stop looking?
Not only can I not talk you out of it, Eric, I think I’ve maybe talked myself into it.
How Volvo’s Overseas Delivery Works
Because our co-founders have a Volvo dealership, they knew exactly where to direct me for answers. Eric Felder is a sales consultant and the European delivery specialist at Galpin Volvo, and he’s been sending people on trips to Volvo’s home in Gothenburg, Sweden for years. He does about half a dozen deliveries through the Overseas Delivery (OSD) program annually, and was game to explain the process.
It starts with picking a vehicle that’s built in Europe (and not the Volvo facility in South Carolina). The current list of cars includes the XC60/XC60 PHEV, the EX60, and the XC90/XC90 PHEV. The program used to require buying a car outright, but now you can finance the vehicle so long as you put down a $6,000 non-refundable deposit that will be subtracted from the price of the car when you make your purchase (which is how deposits work).
You can either build the car you want online and show a salesperson like Eric F., or you can work with him to build out the car together. This is where the fun starts. First, the car is automatically around 4% cheaper than the MSRP (depending on model) because you’re technically buying the car in Sweden and then shipping it here, even though it’s fully legalized for the United States. Because Eric, our reader, asked about an XC90 PHEV, Eric F. and I went through the whole process together of ordering what I think is an ideal car (Cardamom Nordico interior, Plus package, better speakers, and six-seat layout).
When ordered online, through Volvo’s site, that’s a roughly $81,935 vehicle. Here are the discounts we got for Eric’s Volvo: there’s currently 5% off MSRP for the car, plus a bonus for previously owning any Volvo (I used the VIN from an old 240, but Eric has an XC60), and a special deal for ordering in the summer. When you put it all together, the XC90 was around $10,000 under MSRP. While it’s maybe possible to get a better deal on various Volvo models and book your own cheap flight, that’s a pretty good price and they don’t come with all the other stuff Volvo throws in for OSD.
This is where the first catch comes in, and that’s timing. You need to assume eight weeks for your slot to open up, and you need to take delivery when they’re open.
“In Sweden they have ‘holiday’ and there’s no delivery during that time,” explains Eric F. “And there are certain holidays [we don’t have]; like we don’t celebrate the King of Sweden.”
Fair point!
“I find that a lot of educators have done it because they’ll order a car in February and travel in May to pick it up whenever school lets out. They were going to go on vacation and need a car, [so] this is the perfect scenario,” says Eric F.
Once your date is picked, Volvo’s travel agency will reach out to you for the start of your adventure. This is where it starts to become an even better deal. Volvo will pay for a pair of ‘Premium Economy’ seats to bring to the company’s headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, so you can bring your kid or your spouse. If you’re like me, and you’ve got some points burning a hole in your pocket, you can work with Volvo to upgrade your flight. Then, when you fly over, you’ll get picked up by Volvo and taken to a fancy hotel where two nights are included (three if you’re a Volvo owner).
When you’re ready, a car will pick you up and bring you to the World of Volvo where they do a whole ceremony of unveiling the car, and you can get a factory tour and eat lunch at Ceno, the building’s fancy restaurant. Who’s up for Helstekt flankstek with a side of grönpepparsås, potatisgratäng, and haricots verts? It doesn’t stop there! You’ll also get dinner for two at an even fancier restaurant in the city, like the Michelin-starred SK Mat. How does veal tartare with dill, flowering dill, aquavit, and spiced crispbread sound?
If I’m really selling the food portion, it might be because I’m writing this before lunch.
The Real Adventure Begins
One of the low-key best parts of this deal is that you’re granted 15 days of temporary registration and insurance. This means you can pick up your car in Gothenburg and drive as far as your wheels can take you. If you’re an experienced hand at traveling in Europe, you know that getting from Sweden to the continent isn’t particularly hard and that you can cover a lot of ground quickly. You can also pay to extend your insurance out for up to two months.
If you’re in the mood for a little help, the company has three pre-planned Scandinavian journeys they’ll happily plan for you. I especially like the idea of the Archipelago Tour of Stockholm on a boat built in 1906! Because your vehicle is only temporarily registered, it actually gets a special red plate. I didn’t realize this, but it’s prized by Volvo owners.
“[Customers] love getting that Red European license plate,” said Eric F., “That’s like a badge of honor.”
In theory, driving down to, say, Baden Baden, and having to turn around and come back to Sweden is not a super efficient way to travel. From the spa in Baden Baden to World of Volvo is like 15 hours of travel and includes a ferry. The advantage of that trip is you get charged $0 to ship the car to the United States (or, another way to think of it is that your destination fee is identical to what you’d pay in the US). Volvo has thought about this, and for a few extra Kroner you can set your itinerary so you depart from a different airport and have your car shipped from there.
The price currently ranges from about $1,000 to ship from most of Germany or Belgium to $1,600 if you want to drop your car in Madrid. Those are extremely competitive prices given global shipping costs. Of course, this is where the second catch comes in, as your car isn’t going to be back in the United States when you arrive. If you’ve ever shipped a car from anywhere to the United States you know that timing can vary a lot based on when the boat is full and ready to return.
People Seem To Love This
“I haven’t had one person who even mentioned a bad experience,” Eric F. told me, noting that people are fans of “Everything from the food to the accommodations to [the ability] be able to travel throughout Europe in your car, and not have to pay exorbitant fees on rental cars.”
That tracks with me, but just to check, I went over to the Volvo subreddit to see if there was anything that trips people up, and the responses are mostly positive there as well:
Best experience ever. We wished we’d done it sooner. We were going to do it again for my 2021 xc40 recharge, but it was covid and Europe was still closed to travelers. We added two additional weeks of insurance and drove all over Europe for a month…put on 4000 miles. Paid a tiny bit more to drop it in Amsterdam and flew home. Got the car about 6-7 weeks later (live on west coast which takes a bit longer). Highly recommend.
The biggest complaint I saw was that the external travel agency Volvo worked with was slow for one customer as their specific agent left the company in the middle of their trip planning, but that appears to be the extent of it. Otherwise, both on Reddit and on forums, people seem to really dig this.
I Might Have Built A Car For The Reader
No pressure, Eric, but I did work with the other Eric to build you a car, and our deal with Galpin is that, for readers, there’s a little something in it for you if you buy a car there. For existing Autopian members (like Eric), purchasing a car from a Galpin dealer includes an upgrade to Velour. If you’re not a member, you’ll get the first year of Velour membership on us, as well as some fun Autopian kit. I’ll even get David to install the Autopian Member Badge on the car if that’s something you want.
Not only am I still considering this but I’m asking friends that might have leases with Audi to also consider it and then maybe we get a group discount. Maybe.
Audi doesn’t do European Delivery – They stopped their program in 2018.
even better. when their leases end, they have no choice and must also purchase the volvo spec from matt.
AUTOPIAN SPEC ALL THE VOLVOS!!!! (gonna have to order some more badges).
I suggest a special color for Autopian Spec Volvos:
Autopian Green
Like so?
https://dailyturismo.com/5k-minty-turquoise-1972-volvo-142e/
Yes please!
Autopian color would be brown, based on recent articles
And the poop
fetishfascinationFrom the site headers, dark teal with red stripe accents.
Though, Polestar Blue was such a great color. I wonder how Polestar Blue with dark teal accents would look. Maybe not.
One of my favorite color combos is green w/ Red leather and/or vinyl interior.
Hmmm, interiors, good idea. How about full Polestar Blue exterior, and the interior is Autopianized with dark teal with red stitching or piping, and and red carpet. On the higher trim, the seats are two tone between the Autopian mid- and dark teal, and the carpet dark teal.
That sounds like a plan.
Not quite the same, but I had a friend whose dad custom ordered a 1968 Buick Sport Wagon (the one with the same skylights as the Olds Vista Cruiser) with a three on the tree manual and they picked it up wherever it was built in Michigan and drove it back to Northern California with my friend and his three siblings in the back. His mother was very proficient with the manual and clutch.
My parents did Euro delivery in 1973 to pick up their green 240 wagon. I was not born yet, so they went over with their BFF’s (soon to be my God-Parents), picked it up and drove all over Europe for 6 weeks before ending in Hamburg where the car was dropped off and shipped to NJ. It was neither diesel nor manual but my father LOVED that car which meant that it was replaced with another 240 wagon in 1982, this one being the requisite brown color but also was neither a diesel nor manual. I have the euro delivery plate from the green car.
Love all the color in that top shot /s
Could you make it look any less exciting? “No! Only beige and white!”
My friend did this when they were still making the V90 and he keeps that plate on his car behind his NYS plate. That was a great ride.
It’s a terrific idea. I’d actually do this in a heartbeat, had it not been for the sad fact that Volvo doesn’t build the cars I want anymore. They look good, but they’re essentially all electric or hybrid SUV’s which in my opinion makes them household appliances on wheels. I’d genuinely consider it if a manual petrol powered estate was on offer…
Mom and dad bought a new ’67 Mercedes 250 and mom, her two sisters and their mom went to Germany, picked it up, drove it around Europe for three months and shipped it home.
When dad was with the OSS in Germany during the Korea “event” acting as a spy, he was driving around in a ’51 VW bug with ’49 running gear (as he said), and shipped it back home to San Farncisco in probably 1955. When he drove to the VW dealer to get it all cleaned up, somewhere along the journey on the ship, a bumper was twisted and poked up into the air. When he got to the dealer, they immediately asked him to drive around back as they didn’t want this raggedy looking bug out front scaring off customers!
This sound tremendous. I’ve been to the Volvo HQ and their museum is pretty cool.
Also, Gothenburg is a lovely city. Highly recommend.
My uncle used to go to stuttgart to pick up a Porsche, put about 5000 miles on it an a couple of weeks, take it back to the factory where they would do some work on it then drive it to the port.
Somehow this enabled him to import it as a used car.
Usually the cars ended up as race cars so maybe that had something to do with it.
My wife and I did this for her C30 back in 2009. Great experience. I had no idea the red plates are coveted. Mine are sitting in a drawer somewhere. I recall the last three digits are 777. So even luckier?
I sent this post to my wife. Maybe she’ll take the bait and I’ll get to tag along?
The last Volvo my family (meaning my parents) bought was a Volvo 745T in 1986. I retrospectively wish I’d thought of European delivery back then, when I was about 12. It was peak grey-market and European delivery was big then, so I knew about it, but I would have lobbied *so hard* to convince my parents to do this and take me with them.
I’m sad BMW ended their program in 2020. Kid me used to fantasize about taking delivery of an M car, hitting the autobahn and Nurburgring on the way to a wider European vacation.
I’m late to the party, but my family and I did this in 2017 for our 2018 XC90 and it was AWESOME. We toured Sweden, Germany and Denmark. Taking the XC90 on the Nurburgring was a bucket list highlight (despite the vehicle). We would do it again in a heartbeat. My understanding about the % off MSRP is that, through OSD, they essentially sell the car as “used” (once it hits the U.S.) vs. “new”. AMA.
I always wanted to do this but since Volvo isn’t going to offer wagons (or manual transmissions) any more I have given up on the dream.
Wow, that’s freaking cool! I don’t quite have new Volvo money yet, but maybe someday!
I once encountered a guy at the warehouse that did my company’s shipping.
He had been working for his company in France, where any average real person with the funds can buy a new Ferrari. He was going to be working there for two years, so placed his order. Before he took delivery, he was called back to the US.
When his Ferrari was ready, he had to go back to France, drive it around to gather the required mileage to not be a new car anymore and then arrange to ship it to the US.
I met him while he was trying to figure out how to get into his F360 as it sat in a shipping container. As if he didn’t have enough complications, the key was tied to the steering wheel. Nobody untied it, so the key snapped off in the ignition as soon as the car was rolled out of the container and they needed to turn.
do tariffs factor in? (that may be an ignorant question)
Looks like I’m buying a Volvo now, taking delivery at World of Volvo, and driving to Billund, Denmark to visit Lego House. I’ll even visit the IKEA Museum on my way back to Gothenburg.
If I spring for the two-month insurance upgrade, I could explore quite a bit of Europe before the clock ran out. Unless I get totally sidetracked in Amsterdam. 😉
Now, where’d I put that Powerball ticket?
I can’t help but notice Beau is particularly absent in a story that supposedly would be a great purchase experience.
Things that make you go hmmm?.