Waiting for a production number

[sonus]

Hmm, maybe you're right about it not being part of a contract.

The sale agreement (signed) mentions that they can keep my deposit if I don't pick up the car within 48 hours of being notified it has arrived...but doesn't say anything else about it.

But it sounds like that doesn't apply at all if the car isn't even built yet

[sonus]

Just an update:

Got in touch with the manager today, finally. Explained how I was upset that my order was so delayed. He reiterated that they never received any production slots in June, and that 2012 production started in July. So he looked up the production changeover dates. And he goes "well, this can't be right, it says production for 2012 1 series started in March." I tell him I know people who have received 2012s already. He says he wasn't issued any slots for 1 series until mine. So maybe they really never did get any slots for some reason. They did have an awful lot of 2011 1 series on their lot...

Anyways, I told him I talked to 2 other dealers who said they could build in June. He said he'd call around and get back to me.

He actually was able to find me a sooner slot. Week 23, a full 4 weeks sooner than the slot they had originally assigned me. My car should start production next week!

I'm glad they were able to fix it, and even got me a date 1 week earlier than I was quoted by another dealer Maybe I'll be able to wrangle some free floor mats out of them for all the hassle, but really I'll just be happy to have the car a month sooner.

[avonord]

Congratz on having things clear up. But you really should have wrangled free stuff out of them while you were there with the manager.

[jpd]

Your sales manager sounds a bit incompetent about 2012s. He's he new as well????? Of course he can take someone else's slot in the same region if its a low priority slot.

[sonus]

Originally Posted by jpd

Your sales manager sounds a bit incompetent about 2012s. He's he new as well????? Of course he can take someone else's slot in the same region if its a low priority slot.

I'm pretty sure he knew that. I think he just didn't bother calling around and was trying to cover his ass later on with the story about 2012s. Oh well. Early August is better than late August

As for getting free stuff, I plan to try wrangling some floor mats out of them at least. I think PCD bills the dealer for regular mats and installs them if the car doesn't come with any.

[Barry626]

Originally Posted by sonus

Production in July. Week 27. "The week of July 4th", so first week in July.

Which means I'd expect delivery to be late-July if I'm lucky, probably early August.

Try more like first week of September.

Oh I see leter your got a earlier slot, good for you!

Good luck!

I ordered yesterday & mine goes into production 6/16. Was a July slot for dealer.

[jmcphillips1]

If you had a week 23 build then you will get it in July not Aug.

[jpd]

Yep, July

[sonus]

Yeah Production just finished today! "Your vehicle production is complete, and is now awaiting a carrier" says the lady on the phone I'm planning to do PCD on August 5th. I think the car will arrive at South Carolina a few weeks prior to that.

[jpd]

http://www.2wglobal.com/www/wep/

check shipping schedule-it will give you exact time of ship arrival and call you CA for even more specifics once it set out into the Atlantic for your S.C. delivery

[sonus]

Sweet Do I need the VIN for that site? I remember finding a place to type in a VIN a long time ago, and I haven't found it again yet. I also don't know the VIN yet, I assume my CA would be the one to ask about it.

BMW's tracking website is, as everyone has told me, next to useless - it still says my car is in production and doesn't even list any options.

[jpd]

The VIN works sometimes, but you can see the sailing schedule from Bremerhaven to you Port of Entry. Figure a week between build completion and the ship departing from port. If I remember correctly East Coast departs weekly. In addition, you will have priority loading since it's a sold car. Enjoy. Oh yes, your car should have a VIN prior to the build. Call your CA.

[AwaitingBlack1M]

All,
I have posted basically the same story but worse in a couple places all ready. I placed my order and gave my deposit in mid-March($5K) for my dealers singular allocation for a 1M. I still don't have a production number and the order code still shows 047 today. Below is the email I received from the owner today.

"
I just spoke to my BMW Area Manager. Your M1 is schedule for September Production. We will not receive an order number until the vehicle goes into the "On Order" inventory system.. I have attached from BMW which shows you the vehicle is in my Order Bank.

If you have any further questions, please call me.
"

I think my treatment is worse even than Sonus'.

This is a legitimate BMW dealership, but it is probably one of the smallest dealerships in the country. If I had known how the system works I would have gone to a larger dealership an hour away. In fact when I looked at the document he mentions again, it still shows a 'pty' (which I assume is priority) of 1, when as mentioned in this thread it should be priority 5 once the order has been placed right?

They told me when I ordered that their allotment was for July/August, but I never imagined I would have NO information until then.

[sonus]

Sounds very similar to my story indeed :/ I feel for you. Since the 1M has higher demand or more limited production (or both?) than the 128i, the likelihood of finding another dealer with an unallocated production slot is probably not very good either

You've got plenty of time though, so it wouldn't hurt to try. If you haven't already, call around to a bunch of dealers and ask if they have sooner production slots for a 1M, and/or go directly to your dealer's Sales Manager/General Manager and ask them to try to do a "dealer swap" to get a production slot from another dealer. In my area (Boston), there are 5 or 6 dealers within an hour drive, so that was pretty easy. But there's no reason you couldn't call out-of-state too.

The most effective method I found was to call them and say "I want to buy a 1M, but the most important aspects to me are price and production date. If I ordered within the next few days, when would it be built? Can you tell me which production week that is?" This may not be the nicest or most ethical thing to do...and beware that you'll make a lot of "friends" this way. Friends that love to call you daily and pester you to buy

As others mentioned in this thread (or maybe it was my other one over on bimmerfest...), the dealers KNOW if they already have a production slot available. If they can't give you an exact production week, they don't have a slot. If you CAN find another dealer that can build sooner, you have a lot more leverage with your current dealer, and you can try to get them to swap for that sooner slot, or give you some concessions (discounts, free parts, etc), or just threaten to cancel. Depending on the agreement you signed, they probably can't legally keep your $5k deposit.

My "priority" also said "1 - Customer Sold". I think in BMW terms "priority 1" means a sold car. Like how those special options marked as "priority 1" options ("This is a special option requiring special consideration") can only come on custom-ordered cars. So I think this is ok.

On the other hand, status 047 is the same as I had, which is definitely not a good status number. I think that one means you're waiting in a queue for the next available production slot, which hasn't even been issued to the dealer yet. 037 means the order has been entered.