Bent Spoons from the Pudding Guy

Column No. 3, 9/22/00

Fly Coach to Sweden for only $35,000

By David Phillips, a.k.a. "The Pudding Guy"

September 22, 2000

Sweden in December, and it’s only going to cost me $35,000 to get there. But for this price, I’ll get to take something home a little better than a bag of pretzels: a new Volvo.

We were a day away from buying our new car locally when I found out about ’Volvos Overseas Delivery program . Surprise, surprise, it was the promise of a “free” ticket to Europe that caught my eye. After reading through all the details, I knew this was the deal for us. First, the price is about $900 below the US dealers’ invoice. Second, did I mention the free airline ticket?

If you want to buy a Volvo and you’re up for a trip to Europe, you might want to check this out. Here’s how it works:

You go to your local Volvo dealer and tell them what you want. We bought ours from a Swede named Jorgen, whose accent added a lot to the whole Volvo-buying experience. Because they make your car to order, you tell them exactly how you want it. In California, it’s just about impossible to find a new wagon without the $1,200 sunroof. We Californians love our sunroofs. But a sunroof on a station wagon seems a little schizophrenic to me, so we passed on this option. Snow wipers for the headlights? Another pass, given that we rarely venture out to elevations above 1,000 feet. Heated seats? Silly, but we took them anyway. After Jorgen finished filling in the order form, we gave him a small deposit (charged to my credit card of course to earn miles), then started planning our holiday trip to Sweden. It takes about 12 weeks to build the car, and you have to pay the full balance one month before you leave.

The purchase price is set by Volvo and includes profit for the dealer plus transport of the car across the Atlantic all the way to the local dealership. We checked the appropriate box on the order form to make sure our car meets California’s air pollution emission requirements. Jorge said he orders about 20 to 30 cars per year through the program. He said it’s not terribly popular because most people don’t want to wait months to get their new car home, and most people don’t want “the hassle” of going to Europe to sign for the car. Further proof that I’m not like “most people.” I don’t need much reason to fly 12,000 miles.

Volvo includes one round trip airline ticket from 22 US cities to any of 27 European destinations. We’re using frequent flyer miles to cover my wife Cindy’s ticket. We’ll pick up our wagon at the factory in Gothenburg, but you can opt to take delivery in 16 other cities, like London or Rome. This adds several hundred dollars on to the price, but this could be a good choice if you want to take a driving tour of Europe and you have some place other than Scandinavia in mind. At Gothenburg they also throw in a tour of the factory, a complimentary meal from the cafeteria, and a free night in a local hotel.

Once you arrive at the delivery point, you present your identification, and they hand over the keys. You can drive the car around the continent as long as you want, or immediately turn it back over to the Volvo people for shipment back to the US. You must purchase insurance through Volvo to cover the period you’ll be driving your car in Europe.

When you’re done driving the car, you drop it off to one of 22 cities across Europe. Again, there’s an additional fee if you chose some place outside of Sweden, but the prices are pretty reasonable. For example, Paris would be an extra $180.

This deal is especially appealing if you pick up the car during warmer weather and can take some time driving around. Renting a car in the Scandinavian countries tends to be quite expensive, so having your own wheels makes for a less expensive tour. Given that we’re talking December in Sweden, I don’t plan on driving around much. We’ll make our way to Copenhagen and Stockholm using non-Volvo transport. After turning the car in at the factory, it’ll take three to six weeks to transport our car back to Sacramento. So I’ve got until February to clear all that pudding out of the garage.

Postscript

Have you bought a car through this or a similar program? I’d like to hear about your experiences. I’d also love to hear from you if you have any suggestions about what to see & do on our trip. Send e-mail to puddingguy@johnnyjet.com.

David Phillips