My wife and I are being offered a 2yr international assignment in Switzerland (we work for the same company)

I leased a MY08 in Feb of this year and need some advice.

The company will pay to ship my car over if I want--I won't have to pay import duties because I will have owned it over 6mos by then.

Options:
1. Get out of lease (will cost ~$8000 to cover lease remainder)
2. Transfer lease (Honda Finance requires I remain as a guarantor on the lease--scary!)
3. Continue to make payments and allow a trustworthy friend to drive it (company will cover costs).
4. Ship it over with me and cruise around Europe with the top down and ship it back when I return (company will cover costs)
5. Sell the car and pay the difference to cover lease remainder (will lose about $4000 depending on how much I can sell it for)
6. Ship it over, sell it there after 1yr, possibly pocketing a chunk of cash due to car prices there. No inport duties if I sell after 1 year.
7. Others?

I really love the car. My fear about shipping it over is the potential damage it will acquire in Europe. A lot harder to park safely to prevent door dings, broken side mirrors etc.. I'm still on the fence about buying at lease end--my friend who works for Honda dealer said I should be able to negotiate selling price down from $19k to probably $15 since dealer will have to sell and market is soft--likely softer 2 yrs from now.

Just curious if anyone has done something similar and had some advice.
What would you do?
I think it would be a ball to carve up Europe in that baby.

rcman

 

dude this shouldn't be a hard decision

watch this (starting around 1:30):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwz6vXyXwNA

then take your S over and

 

Take it with you. Get good insurance. Enjoy.

 

If the company is going to pay the import costs then I see no reason not to bring it over. Plus you'll have a rare USDM s2000

 

How is this even a decision - S on the Alps is a no brainer - what company do you work for?

 

ding ding ding....winner...end of thread.

 

the only question i would have is how much could you make if you took a z06 over and sold it after a year.

if that's not a fortune, take the S!

 

I didn't even read through your entire post. But I'm already saying "BRING IT OVER!" hehe

Unless you are driving on the wrong side of the car (i.e. Swiitzerland uses RHD), then it's a no brainer ...

 

Holy crap!! that's insane. I think I'll need to take that Skip Barber course afterall!!

I guess you're all correct.....I just have to ship it and run the fire out of it.

Thanks for the support.

rcman

 

Who cares if it gets dinged up, it's a lease!

Bring it over. If you can make a buck, sell it before you come back.