My Timeline:

Mid July: Bought a ticket to go to Munich for a conference / vacation (leaving morning of October 1st and coming back on October 6th). Started thinking of European Delivery as my current car is getting old.

August 4th 2005: Meet with the dealer and test drive a 325i and negotiate on price

August 5th: Agree on price and place an order for an October 3rd delivery.

August 9th: Sign the ED paper work and get assigned a production number (things looking good)

August 9th – August 30th Wait for the car to go in production (check the status on the OC)

August 31st: After suggestions from Bimmerfest posts check the status through 800 number. The car is in production and get the VIN number (things looking really good)

September 7th: Talk to my credit union and he agrees to finance the car through ED (his only requirement was that I give him the VIN number (which I did give to him)

September 9th: The automated system reports that the car is produced and waiting shipment. Proceed to the dealer to pay for the car. Just before going to the dealer again check the automated system. The automated system now reports that the car is being shipped to the port of exit (makes no sense as it is ED). As soon as I enter the dealership he says that there is a message from BMWNA stating that the delivery is now pushed to October 17 (as October 3rd is a holiday). I ask him about the port of exit question and he says he has no idea on what happened. Totally confused head home (with the check still with me). Post the question on Bimmerfest. One of the responses is a PM from Bee. Talk to him and he provides pointers on how to deal with the situation.

September 12th – 15th: Numerous calls to my dealer but get no where. He says he has not heard back from BMWNA. One more frantic message to Bee who says he will get back to me in 24 hours. He works his magic and sure enough in 24 hours he has suggestions and follow up information.

September 16th: On Bee’s advise contact BMWNA ED and am told that they will make something work for the 4th. It might be that the car may not be there (as it is being sent to the port of exit) but they will let me do all the paper work. She also tells me that BMWNA did not receive all the paper work from the dealer ship and hence they thought it was regular delivery. (I had signed the two sheet paper and the power of attorney). She said they require some extra paper work. Also she had tried to contact the dealership but they had not responded to her. Further she said that they were not allowing a 325 xi pickup before October 17th. According to the dealer he had sent all the paper work.

September 21st: Head to the dealership to pay for the car. The BMWNA lady calls me to tell me that I actually will have a car on 4th in Munich (things look up again).

September 21st – September 28th: Wait for the confirmation package. Make calls to the dealer who says he is following up. Get an email on 28th confirming the delivery.

September 29th: Call BMWNA ED to ask about the confirmation package. He says that they are shipping it today (Fedex)

September 30th 2:00 PM Still no package, call BMWNA ED to get the tracking number, finally the package shows up at 3:15 PM. However it does not have any of the maps. Go to Bimmerfest and print out all the directions.

October 1st fly to Munich, BA delays the bags in London (get them 12 hours after I landed in Munich on 2nd)

October 3rd Spend some quality time at the Oktoberfest (probably could have had one less beer!!)

October 4th get up with a hang over and head to BMW (took the U-6 train) and the directions from Bimmerfest posts were a great help. Arrive there around 8:15 (about three people already there). Go up to the coffee shop and sign the Bimmerfest book and get coffee (just a dumb question why do we have to carry the voucher 5,000 miles, can’t it be given when you check-in at the BMW desk with your passport!!). Wait for an hour and am told that as the paper work was late getting to them the car registration is still not done and they are working on it. Also the car will be registered to BMW NA (while in Europe). He repeats at least 10 times that this has no implication of ownership in NA. Finally after 2 & ½ hours my name is called. I finally get to see the car for which I have waited two months. As they are extremely busy and my dealer did not specifically request Factory tour (probably one of the papers he did not send) do not get the tour. Complete the paper work (but no one checks my Drivers License which I though was strange). Finally at 11:15 drive out of the BMW premises.

October 4th – 6th: Roam around Munich, return the car (which only takes 5 minutes) and head back home. Now waiting for a call that the car was accidentally shipped to Australia or South Africa.

Thanks to all the people at Bimmerfest for all there suggestion (could not have gone this with those tips), with a special thank you to Bee for his assistance. This board might well be the best free service.

Will post the pictures this weekend