green car on map of Europe ()
Moving for an overseas assignment is exciting for any family, but there is a lot of work to do before you actually board the plane, or as was my case, planes. As I was plucking individual dog hairs out of the fabric-covered trunk of my vehicle with a pair of tweezers and a lint roller (from a dog that had not ridden in the vehicle in almost two years), I was really wishing someone would have mentioned to me the rigors of preparing to send my vehicle to Germany. To make your process smoother, here are a few need-to-knows:
1. The military will only cover the cost of shipping one vehicle.
If you are a two-or-more vehicle family, you might want to prepare yourself to become a one-vehicle family during your stay overseas. You can also pay to ship another vehicle or purchase one once you are overseas. We did the latter, and even with that option, we still had to wait about four weeks for my spouse’s new vehicle to be ready for pick-up. Keep in mind that European roadways can be much narrower than U.S. roadways. This is helpful to know if you are a family with more than one vehicle and deciding which one to bring with you (we chose to leave my husband’s large pick-up truck in the States with family).
2. Your vehicle will leave before you.
The longer you wait to ship your vehicle the longer it will take to arrive. We shipped our car about a month before we left, and it arrived about six weeks after we did. For the remaining amount of time we were in the U.S., we were a one-vehicle household.
3. Prepare in advance for your day at the Vehicle Processing Center (VPC).
Your time at the VPC begins before you step one foot on the premises. All VPCs have a 30-minute virtual briefing that I highly recommend you attend before preparing yourself and your vehicle for your VPC inspection appointment. This virtual briefing explains paperwork and vehicle preparation, and there is a live person there to answer any questions you may have about the process. Prepare your paperwork before your inspection appointment and make sure to bring physical copies and, trust me, make extras to keep on hand.
4. This will be the cleanest your car has ever been and prepare for it to get rejected.
Do not wait until the day beforehand or the day of to prepare your vehicle for shipping. They cannot accept vehicles that have ANYTHING in the car, and I have heard multiple stories about vehicles being rejected for minor errors such as a few dog hairs on the interior (hence the plucking). You need to make the appointment in advance have your car inspected and approved. We thought that we would just do a simple car wash beforehand, but we were wrong. Your vehicle should be “white glove” inspection ready. Thankfully, we had done some online research the day before the car was set to be inspected and then proceeded to drive to the nearest car wash and spend two hours vacuuming, cleaning, lint rolling and tweezing. Then, the day of the appointment we also drove it through a car wash one last time on the way to the inspection to clear off any last-minute smudges and debris. Also note that your car must be practically empty of gas, with less than a quarter of a tank, or they will not ship it. You should have just enough gas to get to the VPC. On the day that we shipped our car, the person next us was smart enough to have them pre-inspect the car with days left before their deadline so that they could tell them exactly what was needed to pass inspection. Click here for more information about vehicle turn-in, appointments and pick-up.
5. Your vehicle will arrive after you. Save for the cost of a rental car.
It takes about 12 weeks for a car to get from the States to Germany. There is a delicate balance in deciding for yourself of how long you want to be without a vehicle on either side of the ocean. Whether you are shipping one or more vehicles, you will most likely arrive to your destination before your vehicle and you will want a way to get around, especially if you have to look for places to live off-base. You can usually get a rental car on base after your arrival. Renting a car in Germany was expensive and, overall, we spent around $1,000 waiting for a vehicle.
Bonus: Take the virtual Driver’s License course before you leave the U.S.
This is more about you than your vehicle, but if you want to drive here in Germany, you will need to take the Department of Defense’s Joint Knowledge Online (JKO) U.S. Forces Driver’s Training Program for Europe and pass the exam to receive the required USAREUR driver’s license. I didn’t do this and had to wait for about a week or so after we got the rental car to have driving privileges for it, instead of just getting to bring my certificate to the transportation office immediately upon arriving. Trust me, you will have enough to do when you land here in Europe rather than worry about taking a driving course. For more on the obtaining a driver’s license for Germany click here or here. For more about obtaining a license in Italy click here. For the UK, click here.
