When I was 10 or 11, I accompanied my parents to the local Mercedes-Benz dealer for them to discuss ordering a car. Unlike the way my friends’ parents purchased cars, which was to pick one out at a local dealership, my parents were planning to pick up a new Mercedes-Benz sedan at the factory in Sindelfingen, Germany.

Last year, almost 5,000 Americans purchased a car in a similar fashion, traveling to Europe to pick up a brand new Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, or Volvo, and even more will do so this year.

Picking up one’s car at the factory is not, however, a practice limited to Americans. Indeed, BMW built the BMW Welt (pictured), which opened in October 2007, at a cost of nearly 500 million euros largely to accommodate customers in Germany and other European nations who wanted to take delivery at the factory. Mercedes-Benz expanded its Kundencenter in Sindelfingen (which is near Stuttgart) as well, and both companies deliver up to several hundred cars each day to people who will drive them all the way home.