Recently I was in Sweden as part of an initiative cosponsored by Volvo, Visit Sweden, West Sweden Tourism and Skåne Tourism. The goal was to bring more attention to a cool program Volvo runs for overseas car buyers. They sent me over there on a brief trip to show you some of the highlights of West Sweden for when you decide to take advantage of the Volvo Overseas Delivery program. Warning, I’m going to gush a bit in this post and it’s not just because they paid for my trip; I have no problems with being honest. I’m going to gush because this is really a great program, so read on.
I was shocked when I first found out about this program and I’m still confused as to why everyone doesn’t do this. In short, if you order the Volvo of your choice from your local Volvo retailer you can pick up your new car at the Gothenburg Factory Delivery Center or at any official delivery location in Europe and Volvo will pay for your airfare. Even better, when you’re done cruising around Europe Volvo will take care of all the paperwork involved when importing a car, from excise taxes to import duties.
The process is pretty simple. You buy a car in the U.S. to pick up in Sweden. Once the car has been built, Volvo provides you with two plane tickets on SAS Airlines to visit Gothenburg, Sweden where Volvo is headquartered. Once there you are able to go on a tour of the Volvo Factory and see how the massive plant works; they even provide one night of 5-star accommodations. Then, finally, you are able to pick up your car for a cool European road trip. You have up to six months to drive the car wherever you want, although most people use it as their annual vacation and spend a couple of amazing weeks driving around the incredibly beautiful Swedish countryside. When you’re done with your trip you drop the car back off and Volvo ships it back home for you free of charge. Overall, I can’t believe everyone who buys a Volvo doesn’t take advantage of this program; I mean, why wouldn’t you? If you’re interested, here are all the details: Volvo site.
Even though I didn’t buy a car, I went through some of the same experiences as those lucky buyers while I explored Sweden. I visited the small city that is the Volvo Torslanda plant and saw for myself the amazing process by which the cars are produced. It’s a symphony of automation, in a good way. I even got to borrow a Volvo V60 for the week and road tripped around the hills and coasts of West Sweden and Skåne. It was a wonderful drive made even better by the super comfy Volvo. I’m really not kidding when I say that my partner and I are seriously considering one for our next car.
That is the Volvo Overseas Buyer program in a nutshell as while the sweepstakes they were running is now over, it’s still a great program if you’re in the market to buy a new car.
