Any dealers that can answer this question?

Contact BMWNA about this. I would suspect that it would take some coordination between the 2 dealers, but would not be impossible. This website,

, has info about the program that you may or may not already know about. You can call this number 866-868-7269 for info about factory tours in Germany. They may also be able to answer your questions about the delivery pick up points.

You don't need to register a car in the state it was purchased, only in the state where you live. I only know taxes in Massachusetts, where you pay taxes at the time of registration and Florida where you need to show that you have paid at least 6% sales tax wherever you purchased the car. Maine should be similar. Call your local city clerk or tax collector, they will be able to tell you for sure.

Try a different dealer. Dreher-Holloway in Stratham, NH was always helpful to me as was Tulley BMW in Nashua, NH.

Kyle.

98 740iL 97 M3

Thanks for your advice.

Unfortunately, my local dealer says that they can't arrange for me to purchase the car from them and have it shipped back from Europe to a different dealer on the west coast.

I guess I'll just need to find a BMW dealer on the west coast and purchase it from them. We'll want one in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

HBH

You might be making a very expensive decision. Sales tax and registration fees in California are among the highest in the nation.

Not if he's a resident of Maine. Unless CA has some weird laws, the car is registered in the state the that the owners lives and the taxes are paid to their taxing authority - state, county, local, etc.

Dan

If this can be done, fine. But just how does he get a temproary registration from Maine from a dealer in Cali?

The Dealer Can Issue you Thirty Day Dealer Tags. Meaning you have thirty days to register your vehicle in what ever state you have to register it in. Im sure its not going to take you thirty days to get to maine.

D>> Not if he's a resident of Maine. Unless CA has some weird laws, the car

You won't need to register it in CA if you are planning on leaving for ME in a few days. You shouldn't pay any taxes until you get home to Maine.

I agree. You don't want to be making your purchase in CA. I don't think you can purchase in CA, take delivery but not register until you get to ME.

I guess I am missing an important point. I see two transactions here with BMW. The first is your purchase from your home state with delivery in Europe. The second is your sending the car back to the states with the receiving dealer in CA. The third transaction does not involve BMW, and that is the registration in your home state. I don't know how the registration in Europe is handled, but my guess is that BMW knows all about this part.

Based on my experience of importing into Britain from Germany, the manufacturer provides temporary number plates and insurance (unless you arrange the latter yourself). You'll have to discuss with the supplier the period required.

In my case the temporary insurance lasted to a day or two after import as the UK insurer did not want to take the car on whilst it was outside the UK (and not registered here). I did it all myself, not participating in the manufacturer's Germany collection scheme (because that would have meant paying the higher UK price).

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

We live in Kentucky, and bought our Z3 across the river in Ohio. We had to get a temporary Ohio registration just to go the five miles from the dealer to the border, and we signed papers that said we were taking the car out of Ohio avoid the Ohio sales tax. Also, Kentucky recognized the

30 day Ohio dealer tag, even though they gave us a ten day deadline to register the car in Kentucky (and pay the Kentucky sales tax, of course.) It was pretty complicated, but it was a process that the dealer was used to handling, and I'll bet the California dealers are used to it also. But if you are in Maine, owuldn't New York City be a more convenient port of entry for the car?

Thank you for your comments.

New York WOULD be closer, but the point is that my wife and I want to enjoy a slow (2 week) cross country drive, but we don't want to drive BOTH ways.

This seemed like a nice way to enjoy a 1 week stay in Europe, then 2 months later, when the car is delivered to CA, enjoy a 2 week meander back from CA to Maine.

One additional question. I'll be switching from a Lexus LS430 to the BMW 5 series. I really like the navigation system on the Lexus. Any experience with how the BMW navigation system compares with the Lexus navigation system?

HBH

Sounds like a great idea.

Enjoy!

Perry