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  BMW Forums » BMW discussion forums » BMW European Delivery
  Lessons Learned - Long, but good for newbies

 Lessons Learned - Long, but good for newbies



This is/was my first BMW and as well my first E/D. I was trying to squeeze it into a pre-existing vacation plan over a long weekend, Thur-Sun, to Munich for Oktoberfest. The plan was to Spend Thursday at Neuschwanstein, Hofbrauhaus Thurday night, then straight to BMW Friday morning for an early delivery, ~8 AM. Since Harms closes at 4 I was going to pick up the car early, drive to Augsburg for a nice lunch, then drive it back before they closed. Not very long, but would allow me to put ~100 miles on before leaving it behind.

Well, beer and jet lag have a funny affect on you (who knew!) and my overly aggressive schedule came crashing down on me. I didn't get to BMW until nearly noon, then I went to the wrong place, went to the plant instead of the delivery center (instructions weren't really clear there). Finally I arrived at the delivery center. It was packed. It took 2 and a half hours for my turn to come up, which I spent at the Bistro with the two friends and my wife I had brought with me enjoying a lite lunch and some much needed coffee

The actual delivery wasn't really that great, I'm assuming this was due to the fact that it was 30 minutes from closing time and it appeared they had about 5 more cars to deliver.

Net result was I had an hour to spend with the car. No problem, an hour on the A9, I can deal with that . EXCEPT, there was bumper to bumper traffic between the delivery center and Harms due to construction. Took the entire hour just to get there. Net mileage on the car - 10.

Jokingly Mr. Behrends told me to "Get the Hell Out!" when I reported my final mileage to him. He was a good sport but warned me that he would now be forced to break my car in for me on the A-Bahn

So, the lessons:
1. Try to avoid Fridays

2. No matter how tight your schedule, allow for more than one day with the car if you possibly can. You'll appreciate yourself later for doing this!

3. Mass amounts of beer the night before, probably not a great idea

4. The delivery center and the factory are not the same thing - go to the right place

That's all I can think of for now. I'll get the car in 4-6 weeks and I'll be completely happy. (I failed to mention, but the car ROCKS!!! ) And, I'm hoping to do it all again in 3-yrs.

If this message helps anyone avoid the same pitfalls, then it's worth the long read.
   Reply » Lessons Learned - Long, but good for newbies

thanks for the info....

   Reply » Lessons Learned - Long, but good for newbies

Neuebies... If you heeded many, many warnings on this board about doing the ED in anything less than a week, you wouldn't be issuing a warning of your own.

   Reply » Lessons Learned - Long, but good for newbies

Thanks. That's probably true. I haven't even been a member of this forum for long so I didn't have much time to search though most of it. Live and Learn!

   Reply » Lessons Learned - Long, but good for newbies

Quote:
Well, beer and jet lag have a funny affect on you (who knew!) and my overly aggressive schedule came crashing down on me. I didn't get to BMW until nearly noon, then I went to the wrong place, went to the plant instead of the delivery center (instructions weren't really clear there). Finally I arrived at the delivery center. It was packed. It took 2 and a half hours for my turn to come up, which I spent at the Bistro with the two friends and my wife I had brought with me enjoying a lite lunch and some much needed coffee
You have a good point - and many people who post here tend to start out with, as you aptly put it, an overly aggressive schedule. You at least had some latitude - some people have posted a schedule where they allow themselves not even time to go to the W.C. between landing, picking up the car, dropping off the car, and getting back on a plane. That's no fun.

Friday is definitely not a good day - I would imagine that many people come for their factory deliveries from all over Germany on a Friday for a long weekend.

One small point: I disagree re the directions to the delivery center. They give the address and instructions in several places and in several documents.

Oh - and did you NOT take any pictures of your car during your one hour with it?


   Reply » Lessons Learned - Long, but good for newbies

Quote:
Neuebies... If you heeded many, many warnings on this board about doing the ED in anything less than a week, you wouldn't be issuing a warning of your own.
Excellent point. While it's certainly understandable why people try to do it this way, it's most unfortunate to squander a great opportunity to drive around Europe in your new bimmer. Try not to.


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