Hi Werner -
Very informative post -
I seem to recall something about a one-time exemption for the import of a
grey-market car - but the car is not to be resold for 5 or 10 years. There
was mention of this a while back on the Ferrari list IIRC - seems like the
emissions reqmts were waived but not the safety items. Which means the
things you mentioned << window glass, lights, safety items, pollution
control>> still need to be installed - although the not-insignificant work
to get a working pollution control system would be dropped.
Is this still in place? Or, are there more restrictions than I recall?
I'll have to do some research as my memory is a tad faulty.
Larry T (67 MGB, 74 911, 78 240D, 91 300D)
www.youroil.net for Oil Analysis and Weber Parts
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.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Werner Fehlauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Mercedes Discussion List" <mercedes@okiebenz.com>
Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 8:17 AM
Subject: Re: [MBZ] M-B Diesels/Big Brother/Big Industry
To bring one of those Euro cars into the states is where the "conspiracy"
comes in. First, D-C goes to some lengths to encourage their dealers in
Germany NOT to sell to a USA customer. If you manage to get around that,
the next discourager is that the USA 4-year/50K warranty doesn't not
apply:
rather, its 1 year. Then you need to do your best to get as much of the
USA
content into that car, such as window glass, lights, safety items,
pollution
control. Whatever you don't get into the car will cost BIG $$$ for a US
conversion shop to do, assuming you get it by the customs people to start
with. There's usually a hefty bond required to get it out of impound, and
then you have a finite time to get it either DOT and EPA certified, or you
make arrangements to get it back out of the USA. Of course, as a tourist
from outside of the USA, a foreigner could bring in a car for one year,
then
have to ship it out.
There are rumored ways to get a car in via Canada, which has its own
restrictions but can get certain models that we in the USA can't, such as
the Smart car - but you would still have the hassle of getting parts and
service.
Bottom line is that its just not practical to try and get around both
MBUSA
AND the USA Government. Sorry!
[SNIP]
