Questions about moving to Italy

loki_racer

loki_racer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2005
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
My wife finds out in the first part of December if she has a job in Pisa, Italy (ya, the place with the leaning tower). It's not a military move, but it is a contractor position for DoD, so I guess they handle the vehicle shipping from what I can gather.

Anyone ever shipped a vehicle internationally? Anyone ever wheeling in Europe? If we are going to be there for three years, would it be worth taking the XJ.

DoD will ship one vehicle (wife insists our MINI Clubman S goes to Italy), but can we pay for a second to be shipped along with the first?

On another note, does anyone know any professional car storage facilities near Charlotte. I located one in Concord, but would like to be able to compare prices, location, etc. I have to put the Charger in to storage somewhere.
 
Put the Charger in my driveway or sell it. In all seriousness, I'll take out for a spin once or twice a month, keep it washed and waxed, and change the oil once a year unless it needs it sooner. Call me if you'd like to discuss in detail.
 
I wouldn't put a relatively new car in storage for three years. You would be better off just selling it before you go.
 
We shipped our VW Rabbit to Iceland back in the early nineties. We had to remove the catalytic converter and add a daytime running light relay system. Otherwise, it was pretty straight froward, just had to get it to Norfolk and wait a couple of weeks on the other end.
I'm sure things have probably changed by now but things were pretty easy in my experience.
 
I wouldn't want to go through the hassle to get the XJ over there. Spend your free time visiting countries throughout Europe, you can wheel when you get home.
 
spykosshow said:
I wouldn't want to go through the hassle to get the XJ over there. Spend your free time visiting countries throughout Europe, you can wheel when you get home.
Click to expand...

X2. Take advantage of the situation. Once you get over there, you can find people to hang out with and ride with if the itch gets that bad.
 
jeepinmatt said:
Put the Charger in my driveway or sell it. In all seriousness, I'll take out for a spin once or twice a month, keep it washed and waxed, and change the oil once a year unless it needs it sooner. Call me if you'd like to discuss in detail.
Click to expand...

Haha. You're such a good buddy. I have no doubt you'd be capable of taking care of the Charger, however, considering 0.0001% of the wheel time in it is from people other than myself, I might have a hard time handing over the keys.

Some people mentioned not bothering storing the Charger, and just selling it outright. Should I have any concerns about storing it, other than costs associated with storage?

I forgot to mention, I'm not worried about the move itself. My parents have been overseas for the most part of the last 8 years as well as various other family members living overseas for years at a time. I'm more worried about missing an opportunity to wheel my own rig in some foreign locations. One of the bonuses of the location is the base just had their auto shop redone with $1.8M in funds. Renting a lift costs about $5/day from what my parents have told me about the shop on their base.
 
loki_racer said:
I'm more worried about missing an opportunity to wheel my own rig in some foreign locations. One of the bonuses of the location is the base just had their auto shop redone with $1.8M in funds. Renting a lift costs about $5/day from what my parents have told me about the shop on their base.
Click to expand...

those are cool factors right there enough to bring the jeep over :driver:
 
I did the opposite and moved here to the States from Estonia (Norther Europe). It is ALOT easier to sell your XJ here and move to Italy and buy a used one there, AND the XJ's in Europe got the 2.1 turbo diesel engines (earlyer models) and the newer models got the 2.5TD motors. My father and I also export vehicles and almost anything you want to Europe (mostly in the NE Europe area like Finnland,Estonia,Sweden etc...) Its not that bad of a process to go through, costwise it is about $1500-2000 US dollars depending on shape and size of the vehicle. Then you just wait about a month for the container to arrive at the port. Then you drive to the port and pay some other fees/taxes, and get your vehicle. You do have to watch out for the lights/windows(E with a circle around it)/and lift height to be able to legally register your vehicle overseas. Good luck with your move tho... its been tons of fun and learning new things here for me. -Kaarel-
 
I'm stoked about being able to check out some diesel XJs. Even if I take my XJ, I will likely return to the states with at least one diesel engine in tow. Do you have a company you would recommend for shipping cars to Europe?
 
Bump of an old thread, but I didn't want to start a new one.

My wife received a job offer a few days ago. She is off to Italy April 1 and I will be following shortly after, once she locates a place to live over there.

At this point I have a couple options and wanted to get everyone's thoughts on them. We are allowed to ship one vehicle for free.

My four options are:
1. Sell the XJ with all the mods on it (I would have to take a huge loss as I just started a build up).
2. Ship the XJ as is and hope it can pass inspection (I have a family friend that is Italian trying to figure out what will pass inspection, but he doesn't think a lifted XJ on 35's will). If I take this route, I run the risk of having to pay to put it back to stock once it gets there.
3. Strip everything off the XJ that I want to keep, have it shipped (no cost to me) and rebuild an XJ (diesel anyone?) once I get there. I would have to sell an XJ, with no axles or wheels once I stripped them.
4. Put the XJ back to stock, put all the aftermarket parts (wheels, tires, lift) in the XJ and ship it on stock tires. Reinstall lift once it passes Italian inspection.

We will be in Italy for at least three years. I know the cost of gas, but only drive about 2000 miles a year and can do most of those on a scooter or public transportation.

Thoughts?
 
have you been to Pisa, yet ?

I have and from what I saw it is a poop hole..especially near the tower..

of course you are only about 1 hr from cinque terre and those 5 villages are awesome
 
Bite the bullet...

I suspect the loss you take selling it, is probably right about the cost of shipping it overseas, and you won't have all the hassle. Buy a diesel Xj once you get overseas to put around, in a few years when you can come back, bring the diesel xj and start the build over again.

It sucks, but its the best option IMO.
 
loki_racer said:
You missed the part where I said it's free to ship.
Click to expand...

I thought you said you could only ship one vehicle for free and that would be the mini?

Oh well, tough call then.
 
I did say that initially, but since this all started, we've decided to sell the Mini.

I like the idea of just shipping all my parts and parting out the XJ that I currently have. If we find a diesel XJ there, we can have it shipped back stateside for free once we move back. I hate the idea of having to rebuild an XJ though.
 
Back
Top