German Used car Market .......

[racerjay88]

So I find my self here in Germany, homeland of the car manufacture I love. I see many affordably priced E36's and E30's with sweet Diesel engines and desirable euro bumpers.
My question to R3Vers is why are we not importing these?
I did some quick googling and discovered the existence of ICI's and the evil EPA. Does this import process make the €600 E30 touring 1.9l diesel cost upwards of $10,000?
Someone with experience in this please comment.

P.S. ( I'm an Arizonian)


Jeff

[Kershaw]

Because it's a hassle, but people definitely do.

It depends on your state. Here in Maryland, cars 25+ years old are exempt from all bullshit. Message roguetoaster on here, he imported 3 tourings and then sold them all. Including a 324td. I don't think he spent more than $4k a car including shipping.

[Dagamus(NM)]

Damn, that would be a solid hustle. $4k for a 324td? I wonder how much he sold it for.

If only my brother would get stationed in Germany. The hardest part would be selling them, not the actual sale part but letting them go.

[roguetoaster]

Well, for one, I had a hell of a time selling it as people seem afraid of the totally awesome turbo diesel for some reason. Two, you can in theory register them in CA without doing smog as they are pre 1998 cars. Three, they all have high mileage, and when you do get a problem with one it's hard to diagnose as the DDE management isn't covered well in English. If you want the opinion of folks who drove one in the US just ask in the College Park meet thread in the Mid-Atlantic section as a few people at the meet drove it.

Also, there are no 1.9 diesels in E30s, only 2.4tds in E30 tourings. However, you might find one with an even more modern engine installed, which shouldn't be a problem to import either.

Budget 7k for a nice one brought stateside.

[BlackbirdM3]

Well, for one, I had a hell of a time selling it as people seem afraid of the totally awesome turbo diesel for some reason. Two, you can in theory register them in CA without doing smog as they are pre 1998 cars. Three, they all have high mileage, and when you do get a problem with one it's hard to diagnose as the DDE management isn't covered well in English. If you want the opinion of folks who drove one in the US just ask in the College Park meet thread in the Mid-Atlantic section as a few people at the meet drove it.

Also, there are no 1.9 diesels in E30s, only 2.4tds in E30 tourings. However, you might find one with an even more modern engine installed, which shouldn't be a problem to import either.

Budget 7k for a nice one brought stateside.

In California, you have just about zero chance of registering a car that was never brought to the US, let alone into CA. If I have read the law correctly, in order to register a car in CA, it must have the factory installed emissions equipment, and be the right parts for CA smog.

The safety stuff is nothing big, as long as its older than 25 years old. That is why you can now import a Nissan R32 Skyline to any state that has smog regulations that will allow it to be registered. (Most states other than CA.)

I bought my M3 in Canada, drove it across the border with two forms. Took all of 15 min to have the guy come out and look at the car, verify the VIN and send me on my way. The hard part was getting the CA DMV to accept that my car was first sold in Los Angeles and was indeed a CA car. (They kept insisting that it was a Canadian car even though they could see it was first sold in LA.) It took them 6 months and my being stopped for having no plates (I had the paper temp registration in the rear window) before they pulled their heads out and issued my plates.

In short, importing and registering euro cars that are 25+ years old isn't that big of deal, the trick is getting them registered in whatever state they might be going to.

Will

[nando]

E30 diesels are awful. I'd rather have an eta..

[Wschnitz]

I think one of the bigger factors is rust, Those cars might look great there, but US buyers are super stingy about rust most of the time. I don't know the extent that MOT in Germany grades rust on cars road worthiness, but most of the dirt cheap euro cars dont pass MOT, thats why they are on sale for cheap.

[racerjay88]

After reading the same ad and having Google translate, most tds cars here are 2.4l or a 1.8l. It seems. There are lots of mid 90's E36's with a select few of the E36.
$7k seems like a reasonable price when a M5X swapped E30 is going for that ballpark figure.


Jeff

[TimeMachinE30]

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

[crash n' burn]

So I find my self here in Germany, homeland of the car manufacture I love. I see many affordably priced E36's and E30's with sweet Diesel engines and desirable euro bumpers.
My question to R3Vers is why are we not importing these?
I did some quick googling and discovered the existence of ICI's and the evil EPA. Does this import process make the €600 E30 touring 1.9l diesel cost upwards of $10,000?
Someone with experience in this please comment.

P.S. ( I'm an Arizonian)


Jeff

That's because that cheap ass touring is about to fall the fuck apart. Any decent condition touring that's been properly winterized, maintained, and you know..generally taken care of..will cost no where near that number.

You should be looking in the 3-4000 range for 320iT 5spd with decent options. Conversion rate to about $4800, factor in shipping rates around $2500, and your pushing near $7300. Then..yes..the seller gets greedy and tries to squeeze $10k+ out of a fucking automatic 4cyl that they overpaid for in the first place.

[cory58]

You should be looking in the 3-4000 range for 320iT 5spd with decent options. Conversion rate to about $4800, factor in shipping rates around $2500, and your pushing near $7300. Then..yes..the seller gets greedy and tries to squeeze $10k+ out of a fucking automatic 4cyl that they overpaid for in the first place.

The 320iT that I overpaid for has a 6 cyl engine....

[roguetoaster]

In California, you have just about zero chance of registering a car that was never brought to the US, let alone into CA. If I have read the law correctly, in order to register a car in CA, it must have the factory installed emissions equipment, and be the right parts for CA smog.

The safety stuff is nothing big, as long as its older than 25 years old. That is why you can now import a Nissan R32 Skyline to any state that has smog regulations that will allow it to be registered. (Most states other than CA.)

Has anyone actually tried to register an overseas delivered diesel car in CA? In theory, pre 1998 cars are exempt from smog checks, not sure about visual.

[Garage30]

I think one of the bigger factors is rust, Those cars might look great there, but US buyers are super stingy about rust most of the time. I don't know the extent that MOT in Germany grades rust on cars road worthiness, but most of the dirt cheap euro cars dont pass MOT, thats why they are on sale for cheap.

True, it is getting hard to find rust free e30's over here. If they are cheap they almost always have substantial rust. Rust is tolerated in MOT/Tuv as long as it is no threat to safety/strength of car. But that is kind of a grey area.

[Styleprojekt]

I Imported a 89 touring and what was said in here is correct. Under 3000 and the cars will have a lot of rust and not be worth the repairs you need to put into them. So the second one I bought I spent more on and all said and done the car will cost you another 2k to get over here. The biggest challege is to find people willing to work with you because to them it just sounds like "I am magic prince want to buy this to you worthless POS car for import to USA, I wil buy sight unseen and make transfer" so a lot of them dont want to waste their time. Plus when they do agree to wait around you need to figure out a way to get the car picked up again sight unseen and shipped to you. Loads of paperwork and bck and forth emails and its done.
Utah will not pass 25 year old cars and fail em for emissions AND safety. So depends on your state too whether or not you can register the car.

[djjerme]

I am magic prince want to buy this to you worthless POS car for import to USA, I wil buy sight unseen and make transfer

So spammy spam!

I haven't dealt with a whole car yet, but just getting parts from Germany/UK/The moon, I tend to get the feeling that many people view it this way.

That being said, once you get someone to work with, treat them like gold!

..or you can go the route of my friend, and just plan a vacation to German and bring a bag of cash to buy everything you see and have it shipped back.