Dear Frank,

As I understand it, without the DOT sticker attached to the body of the
vehicle (as well as all the glass, and lighting) it will be nearly
impossible to import that German van since you cannot prove that it will
comply with the crash and safety standards for the US model!!!

NOTE: one of the reason that NA Vanagons cost so much "way back when" was
all this DOT & EPA red tape.

Even Bill Gates can't import any car he wants. Supposedly there is a
Porsche somewhere in Seattle that was confiscated by customs 'cause Mr.
Bill couldn't prove that his fancy wheels would pass the DOT crash test.
Solution? Crash the vehicle under DOT-approved controlled conditions
(around $1,000,000.00) then you can bring it in!

Cheers,
MJS

At 03:27 AM 7/22/00 EDT, Frank Grunthaner wrote:
>I have been trying to get an estimate as to the costs of registering an 1988
>Vanagon Turbo Diesel Westfalia built in Germany for the German market in the
>US (specifically California). I have traced the DOT, EPA and Customs web
>pages and talked to local customs brokers, but I sure need some advice. The
>key questions are:
>
>1. How different is the German Market Vanagon from the US version.
>
>2. What are the problems qualifing the turbo diesel with the EPA, given that
>it was never imported into the US in this configuration.
>
>Appreciate any advice,
>
>Frank Grunthaner
>
Michael J. Sullivan
Marshfield Hills, MA
Central America 2001 or bust!

'87 VW Vanagon GL Syncro Westfalia "Sunny" (soon to be TDi-powered)
'86 VW Syncro Doublecab "Claude"
'96 VW Passat TDi "Teddi" (46mpg)

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work:       http://www.openmarket.com
my vanagon: http://www.hsdesign.com/vanagon
scan tips:  http://www.hsdesign.com/scanning
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