John & Angela wrote:
sell you the rig, keep it in their name as well as yours, look after the insurance, have it all prepped for you and give you a guaranteed buy back price (based on condition of course). They have a variety of units at a variety of prices. They also have a good reputation. If you are interested I will dig it up for you. We have already been in contact with them.
Cheers. Happy planning.
John & Angela,
Thanks for the info. I speak English only - some Spanish. Yes, this will be a fun challenge.
I haven't given up on a viable option to buy a vehicle in Germany and sell it before leaving the country. I have friends in Frankfurt and could use their address (maybe if it doesn't screw them up) to get residency, then insurance, registration, etc. I could get an export tag good for 6 months and extend that to a full year. I would not have to pay the 19% VAT tax, BUT when I sell the car in Germany before leaving, I'd have to sell the vehicle unregistered within a year(cuz it would have been deleted from the registry) and the German buyer would have to pay VAT, which is ok, cuz I didn't pay it. This "one year/ import tag option" could still work, but this option is a lot of bureaucratic brain damage. I haven't looked closely at it. If I got serious, I'd get a lawyer in Frankfurt to confirm matters of personal injury liability exposure, etc. Legally sufficient insurance is a real big problem.
If I did this option, it would be to minimize the vehicle cost on the trip. As a proxy for cost, I'm using the hire rate for about 10 months or 20,000 euros. If acquisition/disposition were timed right and I didn't damage the vehicle, maybe cost could be reduced by 15,000 to about only 5,000 (e.g., I sell the vehicle for only 5,000 less than I bought it for). Who knows, lot's to drill down on.
I've seen the buy back programs, but don't know how they work yet. One I saw offered 65% of acquisition buy-back. So if I buy a vehicle for say 60,000, they'd buy it back for 39.5, so a 20.5 spread. Of that spread, if 5,000 were the same depreciation as above, then 15,500 is the value surrendered/ forfeited under the buy back, in theory. If this lost equity, under a buy back option, were near the amount to hire (rental) the vehicle, I'd be better off hiring cuz it's less risk and brain damage.
What I don't know is if the buyback is a contractual floor price, which is what I must sell the car for. Or, is this just a "put option" in my favor, that I may elect to exercise, or not, depending on what price I'm able to achieve selling the car myself. If I sold the car for 55,000, I eat the depreciation, but only spend 5,000 all in. I don't know.
I'll look into buying under any scenario that makes sense. I have no problem putting up the equity as long as the outcome is economically viable on a risk adjusted basis. Some of the ownership issues involve legal risks, which are hard to measure under German statute.
Oh boy, how boring is this post!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS: The other option is to buy a campervan in the US and spend $4,000 to ship it back and forth, ultimately disposing of it back in the US. I want a "campervan" no longer than 6mm (20 feet), which is a poor market in the US, compared to Europe. I'd hate to have to buy a US campervan cuz the market sucks (very poor selection, ridiculous prices), but "buy US and ship" remains an option. Also, American vehicles are likely a pain were the electrical standards are different.
