[200q20v] Experience buying a transmission from Germany

[McCoy, Charlie]

Quattro Listers:

Just wanted to jot a little note about my experiences purchasing a new ADZ
transmission through Robert Braunschweig (a fellow Qlister [Canadian
chapter] living in Germany).  In short, it was no problem.  Robert was more
than helpful in arranging for the shipping from Germany to Milwaukee.  He
took care of all the paper work, at one point, even calling the Chicago
office of Panalpina when a mistake was made by the forwarding agent
(Panalpina). (As an aside, shippers use an entire language composed of TCA's
[three character acronyms], which no one other than another shipper could
even begin to comprehend...fortunately Robert knows their lingo).  I was a
little leery at first sending a total stranger $700, but I'd have no problem
doing this transaction again with Robert.  (Robert has mentioned he can get
other goodies from Germany for our cars, so maybe I WILL be doing this
again!)  Robert prepaid the shipping to the US, so once all the shipping
charges are added up, I'll be wiring him the shipping charges...It was nice
to see that trust is a two way street with him.

How long does it take to get a 100kg box from Germany to the US?  About 3
days.

How long does it take to get a 100kg box 90 miles from the airport to my
house?  About 10 days.  This was by far the most frustrating portion of the
experience...knowing that the part is sitting so close and yet so far.
Panalpina was friendly, but for the most part clueless...the tracking number
didn't work on their system (yet they did acknowledge it was a valid
number), they couldn't tell me when the local freight would be picking up
the delivery, and they couldn't even correctly transcribe my address from
one form to another correctly!  Yikes! 

Last night I finally got the transmission, opened the crate, and stared
longingly at my new love.  (My wife thinks I'm spending too much time in the
garage.)

Charlie

P.S. You can contact Robert at rbraun at transtec.de if you need a new
transmission.