So You Want to Import an E30 Touring, Part II: The Follow-up

"atk09" (albino09)
11/10/2013 at 12:52 • Filed to: E30, Touring, Deutschland, Germany, export

I am an American abroad, living in Germany, and have successfully purchased a 1988 BMW 320i Touring for future export back to the United States.

Good News, Everyone! The '88 Touring is officially registered and insured! If you're new to this series you should read !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! for a little background. What comes next is a summary of the first week of ownership, from the issues that may arise from an Ausländer's point of view.

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To keep you interested, recent photos of the car will be inserted throughout the article. The high-res originals can be found on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Day 1

The car is still registered and insured via the Verkaufer (the seller), while I hold in my hands the contract agreement, vehicle title, and other assorted paperwork. After work I head down to the local ADAC, whom I have previously consulted on the steps required for this all to work smoothly (Part I details...). With the vehicle title and Verkaufer-Kaufer (Buyer) information, I pay a sum total of €480 to cover the vehicle for 3 months prior to Export. Unfortunately my timing was off, as I plan to ship the car in mid-december and you can only buy the insurance in monthly increments. I receive my insurance information and head home to organize all of my information for the "DMV" in the morning.

Day 2

Since I work during the day, and the Kfz-Zulassungsbehörde (DMV) closes mid-afternoon, I have no choice but to head in when they open at 8:00am. After a brief wait I am seated at a desk with a much older woman likely in her 60's. As I suspect, she does not speak english. I use my passable German to explain it is not my first language and hope she can bear with me. I tell her I need an Ausfuhrkennzeichen (Export Plates) and hand her the title, insurance information and TÜV (Inspection) documents. Within 20 minutes or so she has taken care of it and hands me a small slip of paper with my license plate information.

With this slip you must walk across the parking lot to the Plate maker. That's right, it's a totally separate business. Hand them the information and they stamp out a quick pair of plates in about 5 minutes. After mounting these to the car, you drive it up to the DMV building where another employee verifies the VIN matches the paperwork and applies the appropriate registration stickers to your plate. That's it! Now you are officially O.K. to drive your car.

Day 3

Dang, pulled over. That's right, nary a day since registering my car and I've had a run in with the Polizei . Lines and writing on the roads themselves are far more utilized in this country. What I thought was the correct lane to go straight, was in fact only for parking lot entry. Little did I know this, but there was also a Polizei Passat wagon directly behind. My eyes are only conditioned to the lights of Panther platforms and Chargers I'm afraid...

As it turns out, they had read my plate and noticed it was already expired. You see, the numbers in the red portion tell you when the export insurance is up, and the plate makers must have forgotten to change their "year" stamp. My insurance appeared to have expired about 8 months prior. At first I didn't understand what the trouble was, other than " Es geht nichts" which means "It doesn't go," or "this is not allowed," in this case. The second officer (yep, two) must have noticed my panic-stricken German was not native and stepped in with the English version. Great, now I have to go to work with wet trousers only to find it is not a big deal.

Anyway, the next day I returned to the "DMV" early and the problem was fixed in less time than it took me to stammer with the Police the day before. I drove the car everyday that first week (convenient public transit be damned) and enjoyed a beautiful Saturday afternoon to take the nice photos you see before you.

I know what you're thinking. "Where is this going?" you may ask or, "What the heck is the point?" Well I'm here to tell you I'm listening, and by listening, I mean I've realized that it all sounds like a bit of rambling and I want to fix it. At first, these posts were about the trials and tribulations one might face when they mean to attempt a similar endeavor. My personal experiences can only help you so you may avoid any uncomfortable entanglements with the Fuzz as I did.

I've enjoyed the benefits of living with a car in Deutschland , and I'll be finishing up this little trilogy with a trip to the venerable Nurburgring in Part III. Hopefully mein neues Auto can handle it.

DISCUSSION (24)

Dsscats > atk09
11/10/2013 at 13:07

I can not wait till you get it stateside!

scoob > atk09
11/10/2013 at 13:30

Kinja'd!!!

E30Joe drives a Subaru > atk09
11/10/2013 at 14:13

Want.

LeadfootYT > atk09
11/10/2013 at 14:34

Amazing articles and write up. Are there any services that do this that can be trusted, or is the only reliable way to import a vehicle to have a contact in the country who can export and transport the vehicle to the port?

BullManUGA > atk09
11/10/2013 at 14:47

The car looks absolutely fantastic. I'd love to have one of those. Are you going to swap the gauge cluster for a US-spec model?

Also, how much is it going to cost to ship it to the US? *makes plans to go to Germany on vacation and buy a car*

LeadfootYT > atk09
11/10/2013 at 14:54

Also, just found this completely by accident on YouTube. Shame the M20s never had the throaty sound of the M30 (one of the main reasons I love my E24), but it sounds good nonetheless.

A3R0 > atk09
11/10/2013 at 15:11

Could you do this again and ship it to me?

Burrito de EJ25 > atk09
11/10/2013 at 15:43

Great. Now I can't get up until this thing goes back into its slumber (my penis). Thanks.

atk09 > BullManUGA
11/11/2013 at 02:05

No the cluster will remain, it's all part of the charm right? It will take 6-8 weeks, shipped via container and it will cost roughly $2000 USD.

atk09 > LeadfootYT
11/11/2013 at 02:06

You're killing me smalls! I was going to save this for the Part 3!

atk09 > LeadfootYT
11/11/2013 at 02:08

As for shipping, I am using a company native to NJ. The hardest part is having a contact who will go and buy the car for you and get it straight to the port. Admittedly, it would be much cheaper to insure it on a temp basis (1 week or so, 41 Euros) and get it straight to port after the purchase. I won't be shipping this for another month so I wanted to actually use it.

Stef Schrader > atk09
11/11/2013 at 02:17

It's...it's BEAUTIFUL!

SpencerE30 > atk09
11/12/2013 at 23:52

Great article! Looks like my 88' ix but with even more to love! Plus I'd love to get a set of those seats too!

duurtlang > atk09
11/15/2013 at 17:24

Great write up! I can't believe I missed it before, luckily DasWauto included it in his ' best of Oppo ' post. I hope everything goes well for you. The car looks very clean too! Have you looked at many E30 Tourings before buying this one? I'm told many have some rust problems at the hatch and rear wheel wells.

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As you might remember I'm currently in the process of, possibly, shipping one of these to the US as well. The other guy only has time starting in February, so it'll have to wait a little.

Alex87f > atk09
11/15/2013 at 17:58

Kinja'd!!!

Nürburgring!

Josh McCullough > atk09
11/15/2013 at 19:40

That thing is fucking gorgeous!

FASTER345 > atk09
11/15/2013 at 20:01

I haven't read part one but that looks alot like an M3 cluster due to those red needles.

photosbyjohnwiley > atk09
11/15/2013 at 20:53

That interior looks great.

Shilzy > atk09
11/16/2013 at 11:36

i would SO take one of these over an e30 m3 simply for its rarity (and total fucking awesomeness too!!). from this write up it sounds like it might be cheaper too!

cabarne4 > atk09
11/16/2013 at 19:06

Screw you! Seriously!

I've been planning for over a year now to buy and import E30 Tourings as a side business. I've got contacts in Germany, Austria, Ireland, and the UK (in case I want a few with the steering wheel on the wrong side). Just waiting to save up money.

To share some of my findings with my fellow Jalops:

It's about $2000 to cross the pond, with taxes. About $3000 if you want it trucked door-to-door. Expect taxes and paperwork (mostly insurance documents).

Over 25 years, and you're in the clear. Younger, and they won't even give it to you at the docks (unless you bring a trailer, and have it registered for "show").

Clean examples can be had for around $2000. Most Europeans view the wagon as a cheap family car, not "sporty" like its 2-door brother.

Clean examples, with a big-6 swap, can sell state-side for $12,000 and up if you're willing to sit a while.

atk09 > cabarne4
11/17/2013 at 03:41

You should read my part I along with this article and we're on the same page :)

cabarne4 > atk09
11/17/2013 at 09:41

Yeah went back and read part 1 before reading this one. Great posts, btw! I'd post more, but all I have is a fancy phone, and typing on it is a pain...

Actually about a week ago I met someone while at work who's from Austria, and imports American cars to sell in Europe. While the Canadians are clear to import after 15 years, Europe's regulations make our 25 year rule seem like nothing. Oh, and he's got a Chrysler LaBaron for sale for 10,000€ (if you saw the post of the Dutch LaBaron on the flatbed — I had a good laugh). There's definitely a market for our stuff over there.

ZeeeeCar > atk09
01/06/2014 at 04:13

Where are you located in Germany? I ask because I'd like help in finding an e30 touring of my own to drive while I live here and then bring back to the US. I'm a BMW n00b and owning a 25 year old car in a foreign country is a little scary...

vr6dan > atk09
02/14/2014 at 10:32

IFantastic write-up so far. You've hit the nail on the head describing all the trials of buying / owning a car here. am also an Ami living in Germany. I'm here until April 2015 and I'm starting to investigate bringing something back with me. Have you investigated the process for getting it registered in the US when you come back? I used a German company (uscars24.de) to naturalize my '05 GTI that I brought with me from the US. But I haven't been able to find a US equivalent that can handle all the paperwork for me.