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I did it last year in the Spring and it was great, but I loved spending 10 days driving around Europe (and, coincidentally, breaking the car in well with long drives at varying speeds). I assume you'd drop it off at Gothenburg, which is less than an hour drive from Trollhattan, if that's where you're picking the car up. You can contact the drop-off agent and ask them about their hours and the process. When I dropped mine off in Zurich, it took somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour to complete the inspection and paperwork. So your plan is doable, though it seems crazy not to at least drive around in your new car in Sweden for a day or two.
It took 7 weeks for the car to reach me in Los Angeles. Your time would depend on where you live, shipping schedules, and port congestion. By studying the paperwork and the shipping schedules, I figured out that those 7 weeks were consumed approximately as follows:
5/10 car dropped off at Zurich
5/11 car trucked overland to port (Bremerhaven)
5/27 car loaded onto ship Takasago in Bremerhaven [so it sat in port two weeks waiting for the ship]
6/12 Saab sends letter telling me vessel and estimating arrival at dealer by 7/8
6/24 car unloaded at Port Hueneme, California [approx. a month at sea, with stops in Halifax, possible somewhere on eastern seaboard, then through Panama canal and up to California]
the car then takes a few days to clear customs and be loaded onto a truck
7/2 I picked up car at dealer
The biggest surprise for me was the paperwork registering the car at DMV; because the car had been driven in Europe and I might have tampered with the equipment (!), California requires a smog check. But it was fun driving around with the red Swedish export plates in the meantime, and in the end it only took about an hour at the DMV. (Cal. gives you 20 days to get your new plates.)
I can't wait to do it again.
posted by 24.126.29...
, Mon, 10 Jan 2005 11:01:58, Tue, 11 Jan 2005 11:41:53, Tue, 11 Jan 2005 11:40:24
, Mon, 10 Jan 2005 05:53:09
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