Sell, Ship or Store vehicle?

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Transportation/storage costs would be covered

I would probably store it domestically and keep it.

There’s higher standards on emissions but otherwise nothing too it.

I’ve been told you can buy the V6 Mercedes in Germany and potentially have them shipped back. There’s demand for them so it could be profitable to buy while there. But I guess doing so is kinda leaving a lot to assumption.

Since the US government will ship it for free, you may be able to take advantage of that.

If you know someone who has a strong working knowledge of the German (or European in general) car market, see if there's a stronger demand for your vehicle there than there is here. If so, have the government ship it over then sell it there. If not, sell it here before you leave and use the money to buy something nice there that's in higher demand here then have the government ship that back so you can sell it once you get back to the States.

If that seems like a bit too much, see what the costs are to make it compliant with German emission standards. If that's going to cost too much, sell it. If not, keep it and have it shipped back and forth.

The last thing I would do would be to store a vehicle for that long (unless you or someone you know knows what they are doing). Gasoline alone has only a shelf life of about 6 months before it starts becoming gummy (meaning you would need to completely drain the tank and fuel lines before storing).

Are you sure they're still covering auto storage costs? This is a few months old,

quote:

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WASHINGTON — The Army is replacing a years-old policy that allowed soldiers who are sent on deployment to store personal items — such as vehicles — at no cost while they’re gone, the service said.

The decision was made by Army personnel officials in recent months and the move took effect on the first day of fiscal 2024.

“Effective 1 October, 2023 … activities are therefore no longer authorized to fund [household goods] or [privately owned vehicles] storage requests for deploying soldiers,” Army Sustainment Command wrote in a memo outlining the change. “There is no authority to grant exception to this policy, however, unit commanders may use their designated motor pool or a designated fenced area to store [vehicles] for soldiers on [temporary deployments] at no additional cost.”

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The buy in DE, ship to US after driving in Europe for a few weeks is a good deal, but it may take 6-8 weeks for your vehicle to show up when you drop it off at the port in the EU. I don't think you can buy a car from BMW/MB and drive it for 2 years, and then ship it tariff free to the US.

While not vehicle related, I signed a 12+ month plus contract to store my conventional shite, and got a rent increase after six months, and another notification of another rent increase a year after that. They know you are caught by the short and curlies when you're out of the country.

In Japan in the 80s, we just bought whatever shitbox could make it the 20km to base, apparently.

I'm not sure if your Tuscon is a regenerative hybrid or one that needs to be plugged in, but F no. I'm assuming you've been stationed in the EU before, it feels like NAV systems there were designed to tell you the one fuel stop you could get gas every 45 miles. Electric/Hybrid feels like a fark up waiting to happen.