Pavegeno928

Anyone know of a free vessel tracker website? Want to watch the painfully slow journey across the Atlantic!

Thanks!

Homeles

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/home

hinckley

These sites all have a dark period of 4 to 5 days while ships are in mid-ocean. But you can click on their destination port to find an up to date eta. All in all, it's pretty cool.

Tcc1999

This is also a $3.99 app for your phone or iPad. I haven't used marine trackers for years but the freebies several years ago did not give you much info. I'd probably pay the $3.99 even though it may not give you much mid-ocean info (other than maybe lat/long, speed and direction). Look at it this way, you are anxious about getting your new car so is $3.99 over the course of a couple weeks worth it to ease your mind.

Car25

What's really painful is when the ship sits waiting to get clearance through the panama canal and then when it gets to port the car sits there for another week waiting for transport to the dealership!
All was (almost) forgotten once I got the car. The dealer did a good job getting it to me on a Saturday afternoon of a holiday weekend.

SDaddy

Pavegeno928,
Aren't you doing Euro Delivery with your GTS, keeping it for awhile, then shipping home when you leave Germany?

Pavegeno928

Thanks for the help. I am able to keep an eye on the ship now. It's in Vera Cruz Mexico on its way to Baltimore for pickup.

SDaddy, I had an order for a 2015 GTS through military sales here in Stuttgart where I am stationed. It was for a June build. A few days later, Porsche sent word back that I had been bumped a week or two to a MY 2016 build. However, they would not guarantee my options would be available nor guarantee the availability of a manual transmission, colors, or prices. They did offer my deposit back (10% required for military sales) if I wanted to cancel the order. Or I could leave the deposit in place to lock in the MY 2016 build and wait for later in 2015 when the 2016 specs came out. However, if options or prices changed, I would have no recourse but to pay/accept. If I took the deposit back I would lose the June slot and probably a 4-6 month delay. Just couldn't see putting that much money at risk and possibly not getting what I wanted like color, manual transmission, engine, etc. so I cancelled the order and they returned my deposit. I started looking at what I really wanted but missed due to some life events earlier in 2014, a 911 50th.

I was able to find a lightly used one in the US and bought it with a CPO over Thanksgiving. It should be in Germany right after the turn of the New Year and trucked down to me in Stuttgart the week of the 5th. Pretty good ending to the story. Got the GTS's power and wide body 2WD with the great 50th accents and unique things like the green gauges, houndstooth seats, and limited edition plate. The Porsche Museum still has several 50th collection items for sale so I snatched up a few of them.

The smaller dealership in Stuttgart near the airport will get the Euro maps loaded and do an oil change/once over when it gets here so it will be ready for inspection. I had the US dealership put new winter performance tires on as they are required in Germany from November to Easter.

I'll post some pictures when it gets here. It will be great to get some pictures of it with my '88 911 Cab.

scatkins

One of the unfortunate things with taking euro delivery is it that you are indeed taking delivery. !so,any issues that occur during shipping are your problem to,resolve instead of the dealers... Low probability of problems, but Ultimately a few horror stories I heard scared me off... Just something to consider

SDaddy

Wow, it's great to hear your story has a happy ending!

Sorry if I missed it in an earlier post.

I think most US based RL members are like me and don't even think about shipping going the other direction. Looking forward to seeing pictures when your 50 gets back home to Stuttgart. Wish I could join you at Sophie's to celebrate

Finally, thanks for the intel that MT and current engines are not guaranteed for 2016 - at least yet. My fingers are crossed that in the not too distant future the 50 and GTS will be seen as the end of the line for some fundamental Porsche characteristics

Pavegeno928

I don't know if there will be any significant changes for the 16 GTS, just that they wouldn't reveal anything. I think there will be little changes only. Just wasn't prepared to put that much money at risk without knowing. Good luck!

Larry Cable

I am not sure that this is actually correct. The car is fully insured for shipping, *and* is checked upon disembarkation at the port (VDI) as well as a PDI by the dealer, any damage etc would be dealt with during that process.