a4ep:
I am moving from Charlotte, NC to Hanover Germany in April for a three year stint as an Expat. I have decided that I am going to bring my 2004 Boxster S with me but want the process to be as guided as possible. Has anyone used a good import service that will handle all of the modifications and TUV approvals in Northern Germany before? Does anyone know what the big modifications will need to be? I received a quote from a company my Relo group has delt with before but they are in Frankfurt and I would like something in Northern Germany to reduce the travel costs on the car. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Frankfurt and Hannover are only about 350km / 220 miles apart, so the location of the import service should not be a major cost factor.
I'm guessing (but I do not actually know) that the major mod item might be replacing the instrument cluster (mph to km/h speedo), unless the TÜV will accept the fact that digital speedo and odometer can be switched from mph and miles respectively to km/h and km using the control stalk anyway.
Changing front side marker lights to Euro version would cost peanuts and I believe that I've read that a dealer could use PIWIS to reprogramme from USA side-marker mode to Euro turn-signal mode.
I doubt that the TÜV would insist on the US-market rear impact protectors being removed. You see plenty of US-spec re-imports of various brands with extended bumpers running around on our roads.
You could contact PCNA in Atlanta for advice and support. Since you have a "legitimate" reason to ship your car to Germany and are not just doing a "gray market" re-import, they may be helpful with technical information and even contact addresses
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fritz
