First post: question on my 135i order #

[va135i]

Newbie here. Finally placed on order with my CA this week and he gave me my production # (3902xxx) but didn't give me a Production Week Number (asked him twice already). I also called 1-800-831-1117 and the automated system told me that the car's not scheduled for production. He told me that he bumped me to top of the list & I can expect my car to arrive end of March or early April.

I have a feeling (based on my high prod # and based on calling the 800 #), my CA is not exactly telling me everything. What do you guys think?

Also, very much appreciated all the info & help I got from following the forums. Was a previous m3 owner, switched to audi, now glad to be back.

[joelk]

Originally Posted by va135i

Newbie here. Finally placed on order with my CA this week and he gave me my production # (3902xxx) but didn't give me a Production Week Number (asked him twice already). I also called 1-800-831-1117 and the automated system told me that the car's not scheduled for production. He told me that he bumped me to top of the list & I can expect my car to arrive end of March or early April.

I have a feeling (based on my high prod # and based on calling the 800 #), my CA is not exactly telling me everything. What do you guys think?

Also, very much appreciated all the info & help I got from following the forums. Was a previous m3 owner, switched to audi, now glad to be back.

what you are saying is consistent with an order just being placed. have you logged into Owner's Circle using your production number to see if your order shows up as spec'd? It took mine about a day to show up in this system correct.

i believe that production numbers really don't tell you much about when the car will actually be built. when the dealer said he "bumped you to the top of the list" i think what he meant is that the order was changed from priority 3 to priority 1 (a customer order) ... this means you aren't literally next but ahead of dealer orders.

if you have just ordered i'd give it a few days to see if it shows up in the on-line system. i do agree that it is shady that the dealer won't tell you the production week though. i'd stop by and ask in person. they should be able to tell you that.

EDIT: I almost forgot. You can ask to get a copy of your Vehicle Inquiry report from your dealer. Google it. It is one of the pages of their on-line ordering system that shows your order as submitted to bmwna.

[Oregon]

Originally Posted by joelk

what you are saying is consistent with an order just being placed. have you logged into Owner's Circle using your production number to see if your order shows up as spec'd? It took mine about a day to show up in this system correct.

i believe that production numbers really don't tell you much about when the car will actually be built. when the dealer said he "bumped you to the top of the list" i think what he meant is that the order was changed from priority 3 to priority 1 (a customer order) ... this means you aren't literally next but ahead of dealer orders.

if you have just ordered i'd give it a few days to see if it shows up in the on-line system. i do agree that it is shady that the dealer won't tell you the production week though. i'd stop by and ask in person. they should be able to tell you that.

Nice summary, Joel. My salesman had to ask his manager for the build date, but, they had it.

[TP 135i]

Originally Posted by Surname

Nice summary, Joel. My salesman had to ask his manager for the build date, but, they had it.

I had the same thing happen. I would call the CA and he "knew nothing". So I drove over to the dealer and talked to him in person to get the info and he got the new car sales manager who had the production number and the scheduled build date.
I'm not sure if my CA was just lazy or what, but the in person visit did the trick.

[joelk]

Originally Posted by Surname

Nice summary, Joel. My salesman had to ask his manager for the build date, but, they had it.

Yeah same here. My sales guy was new to BMW and I think I overwhelmed him with all these ordering questions. He really wasn't up-to-speed on the whole pre-order process with bmw. Consequently he wasn't giving me the information I expected and it made me think he was trying to screw me over (hiding info from me) ... when in fact he just didn't have much of a clue about the process. Going in and talking cleared things up as other sales guys were able to answer all my concerns.

Sometimes evil intent is just incompetence, being new, etc.

[Oregon]

Joel,

That is exactly the scenario I encountered, my salesman was new to BMW, was not 'up-to-speed' with the marque or dealer infrastructure, also, disappointingly, another salesman commented about my guy's unwillingness to 'get current'. Much of what my dealership knows about the 1-Series has come directly from me, and, by extension, this blog. In the spirit of fairness, not once have I left the dealership with the impression I am getting screwed.