If you’re planning to order a new BMW and your passport is up to date, the most exciting option on the order form might be European delivery. Instead of just picking up the car at your local dealership, use European delivery to meet your BMW in its ancestral home. Think of it as a European vacation in your new car with BMW defraying some of the costs of the trip. I went there in October to pick up my 428i xDrive Gran Coupe, and I lived to tell the tale. Vehicle delivery occurs at the BMW Welt exhibition and delivery center, across the street from BMW’s headquarters in Munich. Located next to the Munich Olympic Park, BMW Welt (German for “world”) is a striking piece of cyclonic, space-station architecture that is a must-see for any Bimmerphile. After a snack of white sausage and brown pretzels in the customer lounge, I was ready for the auto show to begin. I walked out onto a large ­elevated platform and laid eyes upon my ­Estoril Blue 428i Gran Coupe, which was parked on a turntable.

A spotlight hit it, and a lump settled in my throat. A product specialist appeared to give me a thorough briefing on the car and its features. Even leaving is memorable: A 1-series M coupe dressed as a MotoGP Safety Car fired up and led me on a lap of the second floor before descending toward the exit. Depending on your level of enthusiasm, consider spending a full day at this BMW-Disney when you take delivery, visiting the museum and taking the factory tour to watch an M4 being assembled. A trip to Europe isn’t exactly cheap, and flights and hotels are the buyer’s responsibility, but picking up your car in Europe saves enough money to help offset those costs. European delivery knocks roughly 7 percent off a BMW’s base price. That’s a significant $2195 reduction on a base 228i coupe, and a sumptuous $9835 off the 760Li. Since the cars are not delivered here, BMW North America doesn’t need to kick back cash to a U.S. dealer. Instead, it passes this savings on to you, the buyer.

Place the order at your dealership—most incentives and rebates still apply, and the price is still very much negotiable. You can pick up your car in Europe even if you’re leasing it. It’s no surprise that the made-in-America X5 and X6 are not available for European delivery. BMW provides a temporary tourist registration and license plates and throws in insurance for 14 days (up to five months’ additional coverage may be purchased). T Shirt YeezyYou can cruise the Continent at your leisure and rip through a few unrestricted autobahn sections before dropping off your BMW at one of 12 European locations. Hang Curtains Over Wood BlindsAfter six to ten weeks, during which the vehicle sails across the Atlantic and passes through customs, your car finally arrives at your dealership. Best Buy Laptop President Day Sale

All transportation fees and shipping insurance are included in the vehicle’s price. First-hand experience bears out the claim that European delivery is the best no-cost option on a BMW. After the manual transmission, of course. • Audi’s euro delivery program offers a 5-percent savings off the Car’s MSRP, 15 days of insurance, shuttle service from the airport, free shipping, and a one-night hotel stay. • Mercedes-Benz lowers the cost of the car by 7 percent, throws in 15 days of insurance, free shipping, and a night at a hotel. • Porsche offers no discount but provides 16 days’ insurance, one night’s Hotel stay, Free shipping, and cab fare from the airport to the factory. • Volvo includes two AIR tickets to Sweden from the U.S., a 3- to 10-percent discount off the vehicle’s MSRP, 15 days of insurance, free shipping, and accommodations for one night.Companies deciding where to locate their manufacturing activities, or whether to source their products in the United States or from overseas, should carefully consider the total costs of shipping.

Shipping costs include both the direct and indirect costs of transporting products from their point of origin to their destination market. Expected gains from offshoring can often be erased by long shipping times, rising or fluctuating shipping costs, regulatory fees, and unexpected delays. Shipping costs occur in both directions. They are a cost to U.S. firms that import, and they also are a cost to firms that purchase exported U.S. products. As this website emphasizes, firms worldwide must take into account numerous costs, including and in addition to shipping, when assessing where to produce or make their purchases. The resurgence in U.S. exports over the past several years provides strong evidence that many foreign customers recognize the value of products with the "Made in the U.S.A." label. Most goods imported into the United States travel by land or sea – less than one percent of the total imports by weight arrive by air. This is due in large part to the substantial cost of air freight, which the World Bank estimates is 12 to 16 times more expensive than ocean freight.

Whatever the mode of transportation shipping involves multiple costs, including container fees, packaging, terminal handling, and broker fees. In order to get a complete picture of shipping costs, each of these factors should be taken into account. In addition to financial costs, shipping goods internationally takes time. For example, goods shipped from China, on average, take around 14 days to reach the West Coast or 30 days to reach the East Coast.[i] If there are any problems with the final goods delivered to the United States, or if a fast resupply becomes necessary, it can be difficult or impossible to receive a new shipment in time. In order to save on fuel costs, many ocean shipping lines use slow steaming on many of their routes. Pioneered by Maersk Line, slow steaming involves ships sailing at low speeds to reduce the amount of fuel consumed. This reduces costs for the shipping companies, but it increases the amount of time it takes to move goods from one place to another.

steaming has quickly become the preferred method used by ocean shipping lines, both for economic and environmental reasons. recent study published in the Journal of Maritime Economics and Logistics estimates that “extra slow steaming” is the most beneficial vessel speed, reducing costs for the transport company by 20 percent (which can pass those savings on to the manufacturers whose goods they carry) and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 43 percent. However, extra slow steaming reduces speed by 25 to 40 percent from normal speeds. Slow steaming adds as many as ten extra days in shipping from China to the UnitedWhile reduced shipping costs might be attractive, they come with a price—even longer shipping times. Long shipping times also play a role in product returns. Any items that must be returned to the factory or point of origin must again travel the two to four weeks required to get there or be shipped by air, which is considerably more expensive than shipping by sea.

If a customer requires a new or replacement item right away, this will almost always require costly air freight. Before being loaded on a freighter or airplane, goods must travel from the factory to the port. The overall quality of the foreign transportation infrastructure, which includes roads, railroads, ports, and air transportation networks, varies across countries and has a direct bearing on the total time and cost of shipping. To help gauge the relative differences in individual countries' infrastructure it is worthwhile to consult the World Economic Forum's latest Global Competitiveness Report. The report provides data on 144 countries. The chart below shows the infrastructure scores for the United States and several important countries in the international manufacturing sector. These scores include ratings of countries' transportation infrastructure, in addition to electricity generation and telecommunications. The overall quality of infrastructure in the United States is shown to be more competitive than the infrastructure in emerging markets like Brazil, China, and Mexico, and comparable to, albeit often ranked lower than, the infrastructure of other major trading partners.

Global Competitiveness Index Infrastructure Score, 2015-2016(1 to 7, with 7 being most desirable) Source: Economics and Statistics Administration analysis using data from the World Economic Forum, Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016. It is important to understand that these numbers are averages, and companies usually locate in the parts of countries that have good infrastructure. Furthermore, holding an infrastructure advantage at any given moment does not guarantee a continued advantage in the future. Many countries, in order to increase the competitiveness of their markets, are engaged in infrastructure improvement projects. Goods moving across borders also incur fees and require regulatory paperwork, which are easy to overlook when calculating shipping costs. Time matters when getting products to market. According  to the World Bank's Doing Business project, the time required to export goods, including documentary and border compliance, can vary dramatically from country to country.

[ii] The following table illustrates these differences by showing the time and cost required to export from each major region, with the United States shown for comparison. It is relatively quick, easy, and inexpensive to export from the United States—with the steady growth in goods exports providing the best evidence that it often makes great business sense to build in the United States and sell worldwide. Cost to export  (US$) East Asia & Pacific Eastern Europe & Central Asia Latin America & Caribbean Middle East & North Africa OECD High Income Countries Source: Economics and Statistics Administration analysis using data from the World Bank, Doing Business project. Time Required for Documentary and Border Compliance to Export Goods by Country Cost Associated with Documentary and Border Compliance Required to Export Goods by Country Rates of duty on imported goods vary according to the country of origin. These rates can be obtained from the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States.

An annotated loose-leaf edition of the schedule may be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing Office bookstore. The schedule is also available on the website of the U.S. International Trade Commission. Imports from most countries are dutiable at the normal trade relations rates under the General header in Column 1 of the tariff schedule. Goods from countries that do not have normal trade relations with the United States are dutiable at the full rates in Column 2 of the tariff schedule. Goods from some countries enjoy duty-free status. They are shown under the Special header in Column 1 of the tariff schedule. Currently, several countries, including Cuba and North Korea, do not have normal trade relations with the United States. The U.S. Department of the Treasury maintains a list of all countries under U.S. sanctions.  For more information, contact the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Shipping costs include both direct and indirect costs. When assessing the costs of manufacturing or sourcing overseas, firms should take into account freight costs, shipping time, infrastructure, duties, and regulatory costs and delays when assessing where to produce or make their purchases.