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Europe-US Model S Exchange?

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MikeC

Active Member
Supporting Member
Jul 9, 2012
3,912
15,758
Los Angeles
I am trying to gauge the feasibility of exchanging my car here in California with someone's in Europe for a week or two. My fiancee and I love to take road trips and we think it would be amazing to be able to do one in Europe in a Model S. While I normally would not be comfortable letting anyone else driving my car, the only thing that could tempt me to do so would be the chance to drive another Tesla overseas.

I would be flexible on timing (sometime in 2015) and location. I think it would be cool to do a one-way road trip where we would fly into an airport in one country and fly out of a different country at the end of the trip. If the other driver wanted to do a similar thing in the US, say a west coast-east coast road trip, then at the end of the trip I could fly back to the east coast and drive my car back home to the west coast, while the European driver would drive theirs back to their home country. So we would each be able to do a one-way road trip on each continent.

Obviously, there would be a lot of details to hammer out. I would be looking for an established TMC poster (I got my 85 in February 2013 and have been posting on this forum ever since). In addition to anyone who might be interested in doing this, I'd love to hear from anyone who actually has done a car exchange as well as from people who think this might be a terrible idea. Thanks!
 
I've done many home (16) and car (14) exchanges.
Would not do that with my Tesla. I all ways offered my "other" car for the exchange.
Exchanging Tesla's could be an exception to the rule.
My experiences exchanging cars are good.
You do have to sort out potential insurance issues.
 
I have planned to go on holidays with my son to California in June 2015 for two weeks. We have a blue 85 since December 2013. I have no experience at all with car exchange but since Tesla owners seem to love their car more than average car owners I am confident this will work. I live in The Netherlands, near The Hague and that's only 60 km from Amsterdam, 450 km from Paris 600 km from Berlin and two weeks ago we drove in one day to London. Europe at your feet!
 
I've done many home (16) and car (14) exchanges.
Would not do that with my Tesla. I all ways offered my "other" car for the exchange.
Exchanging Tesla's could be an exception to the rule.
My experiences exchanging cars are good.
You do have to sort out potential insurance issues.

Thank you for your reply. Would you happen to have any advice on how to go about sorting out insurance issues? I don't even know where to start.

I have planned to go on holidays with my son to California in June 2015 for two weeks. We have a blue 85 since December 2013. I have no experience at all with car exchange but since Tesla owners seem to love their car more than average car owners I am confident this will work. I live in The Netherlands, near The Hague and that's only 60 km from Amsterdam, 450 km from Paris 600 km from Berlin and two weeks ago we drove in one day to London. Europe at your feet!

Thanks, PM sent!
 
Thank you for your reply. Would you happen to have any advice on how to go about sorting out insurance issues? I don't even know where to start.

You start by asking your insurance company if damages by a guest driver are covered.
If their answer is no, that's the end of the story.

Here you will find a car exchange agreement: http://support.homeexchange.com/customer/portal/articles/1174816-car-exchange-agreement

I'm not sure if you can read it as a non-member.
If not, send me a PM
 
For the record, Willem and I ended up doing the car exchange this past month. It went very smoothly and we had an amazing road trip Supercharging around Europe. Insurance was not a problem for either of us.
 
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:biggrin::biggrin:

joke aside, it would be great to see pics of your and Willem's trip.
 
I am delighted to hear that Willem and Mike were able to effect this and hope each of them consider it a success. We also long have been very interested in such a Tesla-swap or Tesla + house swap. We have a 2013 Model S P85, and a home in central Arizona. In theory, we could swap non-simultaneous virtually any time of year; if it were a simultaneous swap it would almost certainly have to be between October and early April, as our other location is our home-and-business high in the Alaska Range....and I think that between now and eternity I never would want another to borrow our Tesla for an Alaskan winter!

Our AZ home is a 4-bedroom + separate casita, very private on 3+ hectares of fully-fenced land, with gardens and a large fruit orchard and koi pond + waterfall in the town of Wickenburg, which is about 100km NW of downtown Phoenix, on the way to Las Vegas, NV. Wickenburg is an extremely picturesque, old-time "cowboy" town on the western edge of the beautiful Sonoran desert biome. Its downtown is genuinely friendly, with only individually-owned businesses (no chain stores) and offers a real feel for what the American West used to be like. AND: there is a Supercharger in the downtown! I have posted very few photos on this forum, but did post one early this month on the "Nature Pics" thread.

For 2015, we are going to be in northern Italy from more or less 17 October through 3 November. It likely is too late to coordinate something for such a trip at this late date, but we would definitely be interested not only if someone would like to pursue this, but also virtually any other locations: British Isles, Scandinavia, western Europe, Czech-Croatia-Poland-Hungary....and also Australia, NZ, Japan....
 
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Just as a placeholder: I'm interested in doing a simultaneous swap with someone in ('near') California this coming March (2016). For say 2-3 weeks?
Location Utrecht (Netherlands), I'm reasonably sure, but would have to check, my all risk insurance covers being driven by a third party.
 
Wow, so cool people are actually doing that, I have thought about it for a long time and had thought people would be afraid of their own car. When I look at your house swapping idea I am afraid not many people will have something on the same level to offer back though :)!

I am delighted to hear that Willem and Mike were able to effect this and hope each of them consider it a success. We also long have been very interested in such a Tesla-swap or Tesla + house swap. We have a 2013 Model S P85, and a home in central Arizona. In theory, we could swap non-simultaneous virtually any time of year; if it were a simultaneous swap it would almost certainly have to be between October and early April, as our other location is our home-and-business high in the Alaska Range....and I think that between now and eternity I never would want another to borrow our Tesla for an Alaskan winter!

Our AZ home is a 4-bedroom + separate casita, very private on 3+ hectares of fully-fenced land, with gardens and a large fruit orchard and koi pond + waterfall in the town of Wickenburg, which is about 100km NW of downtown Phoenix, on the way to Las Vegas, NV. Wickenburg is an extremely picturesque, old-time "cowboy" town on the western edge of the beautiful Sonoran desert biome. Its downtown is genuinely friendly, with only individually-owned businesses (no chain stores) and offers a real feel for what the American West used to be like. AND: there is a Supercharger in the downtown! I have posted very few photos on this forum, but did post one early this month on the "Nature Pics" thread.

For 2015, we are going to be in northern Italy from more or less 17 October through 3 November. It likely is too late to coordinate something for such a trip at this late date, but we would definitely be interested not only if someone would like to pursue this, but also virtually any other locations: British Isles, Scandinavia, western Europe, Czech-Croatia-Poland-Hungary....and also Australia, NZ, Japan....
 
Hello. I'll be in Munich, Germany from July 27th to August 18th. I'll be flying out of JFK airport in NYC and could leave my 2013, 85 S there for an exchange. I have a little notoriety from being the first to drive an electric car to all 50 states. As an added bonus, I'll be staying at the home of my friend in Munich, who happens to be a lawyer who specializes in traffic law and he would be happy to speak for my credibility. I know this is short notice, but please also send me a message if you would consider a swap for a different date, I often travel to Europe. All the best, Michael Fritts
 
I have a red model s, 6 months old. I love it. We are coming to France in September for a month. We will be near Narbonne and want to go to Biarritz. We will first be near Narbonne for 3 weeks. Would love to trade cars.

- - - Updated - - -

I should have mentioned that we are 45 minutes north of san Francisco, in the WINE country, and two hours from the Tesla factory and Headquarters in Palo Alto. There is a supercharger 10 minutes from my house!
 
For UK Model S owners :

Well, summer 2016 is coming up ... and planning for vacation is under way.

Our family is heading to London/Edinburgh in late July, and would consider a Home+Model S swap if someone in the area would like to visit Montreal, Quebec, around the same time. Our home is located on the island of Montreal, can accommodate a family of 4-5 easily, and offer a pool in the backyard, as it can get hot in summer, in Montreal.

With Superchargers, one can access Quebec City, Toronto (Niagara Falls), north-eastern US, all the way to Miami, as Elon puts it.
 
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For continental European Model S owners:

Our house + Model S, as described in post #10, is again in play for a simultaneous swap this coming January 2017.

January temps here are magnificent: figure on nights cool enough for a sweater; daytime highs in the low to mid 20s ºC.
 
I tried this a few months ago on a separate thread, but it might be worth it trying here as well. I'd like to do a US-Europe Tesla Model S exchange, but in this case a permanent one. I currently live in Miami, but I am planning to move back to Spain this summer. If by any chance there is someone in the opposite case (moving from Europe to the US), I am ready to change teslas and if they are not the same exact model or age/condition see what the price difference could be in one or the other direction.

In case someone asks, bringing the car back seems to not be convenient at all (loss of warranty, supercharger access, connectivity, music streaming, plus need to make some changes to external lights). If I cannot find anyone I am obviously looking at selling in the US and buying again in Europe, though clearly more expensive.
 
At this moment we're planning our vacation to the United States (California? but open for other destinations), 2 to 3 week somewhere in August, September or October. A simultaneous swap of our Tesla would be nice. We have a late 2013 P85 available. We live near Amsterdam. Please contact us if interested!
 
At this moment we're planning our vacation to the United States (California? but open for other destinations), 2 to 3 week somewhere in August, September or October. A simultaneous swap of our Tesla would be nice. We have a late 2013 P85 available. We live near Amsterdam. Please contact us if interested!
.

I live 10 minutes away from the Tesla Factory and interested in swapping my S with yours. I am in Hannover Germany for 2 weeks July of this year. Please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]