[james]

I have a job prospect that would have me living in Switzerland for a couple of years. Naturally, I don't want to give up my Insight, and I've heard that they can be hard to come by in Europe. Anyone have experience shipping cars across the Atlantic?

Also a major off-topic: how about transporting dogs? I'd hate to stuff her in a cargo compartment for a flight that length.

 

[Rick]

Not sure on shipping the car to Europe. I think technically you'd have to update it to euro specs which means new headlights and a few other things. I think some of our members across the pond can give more details on this.

As far as the dogs I heard something about you might be able to get a flight on some of the few seats that they have on a transport plane like Fed Ex which allows you to bring animals on the plane with you. I'm not 100% on this, but thats what I heard.

 

[jsanford]

Another option?

I condo-sat a few years ago for an English gentleman who had to return to the UK to wait on his Visa processing. Part of it was also car sitting: once a month I'd start up his car, back it out of the garage, then roll it back in. I usually turned it a bit when I backed it out to be sure it wasn't sitting on the same spot on the tires.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

James - If the job is soon, please feel free to buy one of my Insights - my Citrus one is currently up for sale or perhaps rent it from me for two years?

 

[ElectricTroy]

I tried for a couple years to import a VW Lupo from Europe, but the DOT/EPA regulations require ~$30,000 worth of modifications/tests to be performed. I'm not that rich.

No doubt the situation is similar moving from the US to the EU.

 

[Delta Flyer]

This might help on the pets part > http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6418191/

HTH

 

[No. 166]

The Insight IS rare in Europe but still easy to come by. As it isn't very common in Germany and every one who wants to be hip drives a diesel, they will depreciate very quickly. It'd be much easier to buy one here.
Check "mobile.de" for instance......

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

I agree with No.166. Another afterthought I had is that UK cars are right hand drive, European cars are left hand drive. Germany is next door to Switzerland so probably best to get an Insight there. Good luck with shipping your dog if you take the job.

 

[james]

Thanks for the link, Delta. Most of it seems geared towards small dogs, while mine's about 100 lbs. (Most eople say she's a big dog, but since my ex had a couple of Akitas, my standards are different

I would probably not be there permanently until next June or so, though I'd be spending a couple of months there before. (Timing sort of depends on how fast IBM puts their new computer together...) So much as I'd like a citrus Insight, I may have to pass on it. But I'll check back with people when it gets closer to date.

As far as regs & mods go, if I'm reading the web sites right, I could keep it registered here, since it's my permanent residence, and drive on US plates.