It's been a while since my last post, so I thought I'd update everyone on what has been going on with my car.

Every service member stationed in Europe is authorized one free vehicle shipment to and from the States. I didn't ship a vehicle when I moved here, so I am using mine now to ship the Challenger. Unfortunately this has caused even more delays.

The car has been sitting at the port in Baltimore since the 4th of November. Normally the "dealer" (ENCS) would have shipped the vehicle within a week or two. But since I am using my free shipment, there is a totally different paper trail. The MOT Office (Military Overseas Transportation) has to take posession of the vehicle from ENCS and process it for shipment themselves before shipping it using the SAME shipping company.

That is where my delays have come from. The MOT let my car sit for 3 weeks before finally taking posession of it. It took another week to schedule it for shipment. They say it should ship on the 5th of December and be delivered to me by the 5th of January!

So now I am both pissed and relieved. Finally I have an estimated delivery date, but why does it have to take so LONG!? The car would have been in my hands RIGHT NOW if ENCS had shipped it! And what the hell is up with the Jan 5th estimate? According to the shiping company the ship leaves on the 4th of December and arrives in Germany on the 22nd. I understand a few days for customs but 2 weeks!? And I have to wait for them to truck it here. They won't let me pick it up at the port, which I could have done if ENCS had shipped it, saving me another week or two.

Needless to say, I wish I had just paid the extra money to ship the car. It would have been worth the extra month of driving time before I have to ship out to Afghanistan for 6 months. I should have known not to trust military contractors to get the job done efficiently.