European Delivery Question

[IrvRobinson2]

Originally Posted by mikeo

I believe your questions can be answered here:

http://www.edbmw.com/main/eded.html

Except that the ED deliveries will be taking place at the new BMW-Weld in Munich as of mid-October 2007 and of course the list of German Holidays (when ED is closed) need to be updated to 2008.

thanks for reminding me

We'll change that today

[IrvRobinson2]

Originally Posted by TESLAASTRO

Diablo:

3 months until car is ready , and then another 6-8 weeks or months until shipped to states????

like murdoc158 said, about 6 weeks for the east coast, a week or two more for the west coast people.

Also, I have seen recently cars getting to the dealers after 4 weeks, but it depends. If your car makes the first boat out of the port, then you're chances to get it fast are higher. It also depends how busy the guys at the VPC are.

And the car can be build a little faster than 3 months.

Btw, to all of you that responded already, AWESOME job You guys really researched the ED program

[M00C0W25]

I keep reading about how Germany requires a front plate and how they put a plate mount on the front. That is not a big deal since they sell plugs, but I have also read that BMW mounts a US plate holder as well. Is this true, and if so how can you tell them not to if you live in a state that doesn't require it?
I would drive around with the Euro plate though!

[mikeo]

Originally Posted by M00C0W25

I keep reading about how Germany requires a front plate and how they put a plate mount on the front. That is not a big deal since they sell plugs, but I have also read that BMW mounts a US plate holder as well. Is this true, and if so how can you tell them not to if you live in a state that doesn't require it?
I would drive around with the Euro plate though!

I'm with you on this. New Mexico has no front plate and I've been obsessing over it.

[Sherifftruman]

Originally Posted by M00C0W25

I keep reading about how Germany requires a front plate and how they put a plate mount on the front. That is not a big deal since they sell plugs, but I have also read that BMW mounts a US plate holder as well. Is this true, and if so how can you tell them not to if you live in a state that doesn't require it?
I would drive around with the Euro plate though!

They left the holders off of MINIs in states that did not need them. Of course, this was not ED, so who knows.

[chessie1629]

I bought a 3er in 2001. They had front and rear euro plates on when I picked it up as well as a first aid kit and road safety triangle.
These are required in europe as you are required to stop and give aid in an accident not stop and get sued like in the US. But I had to take these out of the car when I turned it in or they would take them out. Also they removed my swiss toll road sticker in favor of a BMW attorney warning about aftermarket equipment. The euro plate brackets were discarded in europe and I never saw them again. I am doing it again next year except with a 135.

[mikeo]

Thank you, that eases my tormented mind.

[M00C0W25]

I definitely wouldn't mind keeping the euro plateholder on the car, it would be pretty cool since the plate is real.

[dsm9]

I'm sorry if I get a little off the subject here but what the hell are you supposed to do for transportation for the roughly 6-8 time period when your car is deliverd? I mean not all of us have second auto's so what do people do? I would like to hear what some people have done in the past.

[TESLAASTRO]

chessie:

Why do you consider ED to be a worthwhile experience?

Were you able to save enough money taking ED to pay for your plane fare and a few hotel nights?

when you ordered your car for ED, how soon were you given a "come to Germany and pick me up date"?....this is confusing to me as I would want to make plans in advance i.e plane tix, hotel res et al.....

I am really intrigued about ED, as from what I understand, I "may" be able to offset some or all of a 5 day trip to Europe with the cost savings on the vehicle(?)...Also, I like the idea of having a car custom built for me, as I believe what I want will be hard to nearly impossible to obtain from my friendly S Fla BMW dealers(Jet Black/coral leather interior/auto and thats it).I have a co-worker from Munich who told me I can take a bullet train directly from Munich straight to Venice and be there in 3 hours(nice overnight stay)....Please tell me what you think about the experience and what you plan on doing this time around with EDing your 135.....

dsm, my lease on G is up late next summer....if i do the ED, i will do it so i overlap for a time....thus for a few months i'll have both vehicles...

thanks!

[dsm9]

Teslaastro...why don't you loan me that G for those months?

Sounds like ED will be a perfect fit for you

[IrvRobinson2]

Originally Posted by TESLAASTRO

chessie:

Why do you consider ED to be a worthwhile experience?

Were you able to save enough money taking ED to pay for your plane fare and a few hotel nights?

when you ordered your car for ED, how soon were you given a "come to Germany and pick me up date"?....this is confusing to me as I would want to make plans in advance i.e plane tix, hotel res et al.....

I am really intrigued about ED, as from what I understand, I "may" be able to offset some or all of a 5 day trip to Europe with the cost savings on the vehicle(?)...Also, I like the idea of having a car custom built for me, as I believe what I want will be hard to nearly impossible to obtain from my friendly S Fla BMW dealers(Jet Black/coral leather interior/auto and thats it).I have a co-worker from Munich who told me I can take a bullet train directly from Munich straight to Venice and be there in 3 hours(nice overnight stay)....Please tell me what you think about the experience and what you plan on doing this time around with EDing your 135.....

dsm, my lease on G is up late next summer....if i do the ED, i will do it so i overlap for a time....thus for a few months i'll have both vehicles...

thanks!

• The savings can be as high as 10% so that should cover most of the leisure costs, hotel, flight, etc..

• You will benefit from the Lufthansa 2 for 1 tickets deal, so that's another saving right there.

• You can choose your own pick-up date. You are asked to provide 3 pick-up dates, just in case the first requested delivery date is not available
• You can basically order your car 6 mo or more in advance

Those were just a few things but my website will give you more details BMW European Delivery

if you still have more questions then I'll be glad to answer them

[larryn]

Originally Posted by IrvRobinson

• The savings can be as high as 10% so that should cover most of the leisure costs, hotel, flight, etc..

• You will benefit from the Lufthansa 2 for 1 tickets deal, so that's another saving right there.

• You can choose your own pick-up date. You are asked to provide 3 pick-up dates, just in case the first requested delivery date is not available
• You can basically order your car 6 mo or more in advance

Those were just a few things but my website will give you more details BMW European Delivery

if you still have more questions then I'll be glad to answer them

I agree with Irv. There's a couple of caveats though.

First, the Lufthansa 2 for 1 deal isn't much of a deal at all, and you'll likely do much better finding another airline to fly with for less than the cost of the "promotional" single fare from Lufthansa. That was the case (by a large margin) for me, and I checked many times with it always being the case that I could get cheaper flights for two elsewhere.

Secondly, the cost savings are there, but hardly covered the cost of going over and staying and eating there. The Euro is expensive to buy, and it doesn't go that far.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not telling you to forego doing an ED. It was one of the best vacations of my life, and I'll be doing it again. I recommend doing it with no hesitations. However, I didn't do it for the savings, since I wound up spending quite a bit more than if I simply bought the car here. The benefit was that I get to experience a different culture (or many cultures if you drive short distances away - as I did), meet lots of interesting people, see things that I cannot see here in the States, and legally drive insanely fast on roads, or get off the highway and be on a nice undulating twisty road from most exits.

So, I guess the main benefit would simply be the experience of it all. If you're needing a vacation, want to go to Europe, then by all means do ED. If you're into it for the savings, you can still get savings by taking the cheapest flight you can find, stay over night just one night in Munich and drop the car off at Harms the same day to fly back (believe it or not, people do that).

Incredibly, some people have even been able to arrive, pick-up the car, drop-off the car at Harms, and fly out on the the same day. That seems like an incredible waste on so many levels to me.

I would suggest staying a while, even though you'll pay more (overall) then just buying at home.

[TESLAASTRO]

Thank you for your articulate explanations larryn and Irv...I appreciate your valuable time....

Irv, if I forego ED, can I still walk into my BMW dealer here in South Florida, and place a "factory" order to get the exact car with exact options I want?.....what is the lead-time for doing this, around the same 90 days as ED, or less?

[~AJ]

Excellent thread! My wife has relatives in Holland we are planning to visit about this time next year, and now that we are looking into the 135i, this could very well be a neat way to combine a new car and a vacation.

Thank you all for posting your experiences with ED.

-AJ

[larryn]

Originally Posted by AJ~

Excellent thread! My wife has relatives in Holland we are planning to visit about this time next year, and now that we are looking into the 135i, this could very well be a neat way to combine a new car and a vacation.

Combing the ED with a vacation is definitely the way to go. Seeing incredible sights in your spankin' new bimmer will leave you impressions that you'll carry with you the rest of your days.

I was due to visit the relatives in Germany (normally, I go every year or two anyway), and combined that trip with picking up my car in Munich. I did save on not having to rent a nice car (rentals are NOT cheap in Europe), plus I stay with famly members for a few days while there, decreasing my expenses.. From there, I liberally added to the expenses, since I took my wife and 2 kids and drove around Germany, France, and Spain (most of the hotels required 2 rooms with people). My ED was close to 3 weeks, but it was unforgettable.

Any of you who decide to also do ED, congrats. You'll have a blast. :drinking:

[M00C0W25]

I have discussed this at length with my fiance and brother and are hoping to do ED around June 2009. We would drive north from Munich, take a few laps on the Nurburgring, head to Holland for a few days, drive down to Belgum, drive to Paris (drop the car off here), take the train to London and then fly home from there. I figure it to be almost a 3 week vacation, 2 of those weeks driving the 135 through Europe!

I can't wait!

[mikeo]

I was reading up for my ED and discovered that Austria (Salzburg is on our itinerary) has several annoying requirements for visiting drivers.

1. International Driver's License
2. Toll Road Sticker on windshield
3. Security Vest (I assume this is an orange safety vest).

The cost of these items in time and money makes Austria less appealing to visit, IMO.

[M00C0W25]

Originally Posted by mikeo

I was reading up for my ED and discovered that Austria (Salzburg is on our itinerary) has several annoying requirements for visiting drivers.

1. International Driver's License
2. Toll Road Sticker on windshield
3. Security Vest (I assume this is an orange safety vest).

The cost of these items in time and money makes Austria less appealing to visit, IMO.

I don't know, the orange vest might look nice with the Monaco blue :biggrin:

[larryn]

Originally Posted by mikeo

I was reading up for my ED and discovered that Austria (Salzburg is on our itinerary) has several annoying requirements for visiting drivers.

1. International Driver's License
2. Toll Road Sticker on windshield
3. Security Vest (I assume this is an orange safety vest).

The cost of these items in time and money makes Austria less appealing to visit, IMO.

Austria does require both #2 and #3, but the #1 is a bit wrong. It requires an International Driver's Permit, which is nothing more than a supplement to your current US Driver's License that has translations on it. you can pick those up at any AAA for $15. More info can be found here.

The cheap plastic vest and toll road sticker can be gotten at any gas station close to the border for cheap. It shouldn't veer you away from Salzburg, which one of my fav cities in the world.

The 'Toll Road Sticker' is called a Autobahn Vignette, and costs 7,60EU (about $10US) for a 10 day pass. Switzerland also requires their version of a vignette, for those who are thinking of going there.

The first time I drove around Austria, I didn't even know about the vignette, and had no problems for over a week. Had I been caught, it would have been a 100EU fine.

[mikeo]

larryn,

Thanks for the helpful clarification! As Hugo says, 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' wants to go to Salzburg, so we are going to Salzburg, no matter the requirements.

[IrvRobinson2]

Originally Posted by larryn

I agree with Irv. There's a couple of caveats though.

First, the Lufthansa 2 for 1 deal isn't much of a deal at all, and you'll likely do much better finding another airline to fly with for less than the cost of the "promotional" single fare from Lufthansa. That was the case (by a large margin) for me, and I checked many times with it always being the case that I could get cheaper flights for two elsewhere.

Secondly, the cost savings are there, but hardly covered the cost of going over and staying and eating there. The Euro is expensive to buy, and it doesn't go that far.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not telling you to forego doing an ED. It was one of the best vacations of my life, and I'll be doing it again. I recommend doing it with no hesitations. However, I didn't do it for the savings, since I wound up spending quite a bit more than if I simply bought the car here. The benefit was that I get to experience a different culture (or many cultures if you drive short distances away - as I did), meet lots of interesting people, see things that I cannot see here in the States, and legally drive insanely fast on roads, or get off the highway and be on a nice undulating twisty road from most exits.

So, I guess the main benefit would simply be the experience of it all. If you're needing a vacation, want to go to Europe, then by all means do ED. If you're into it for the savings, you can still get savings by taking the cheapest flight you can find, stay over night just one night in Munich and drop the car off at Harms the same day to fly back (believe it or not, people do that).

Incredibly, some people have even been able to arrive, pick-up the car, drop-off the car at Harms, and fly out on the the same day. That seems like an incredible waste on so many levels to me.

I would suggest staying a while, even though you'll pay more (overall) then just buying at home.

very very well said and good points.

You're right the LH deal is not always the best, I think it might work in the summer since the fares are so high, but out of the extra-season, you can find probably cheaper prices through an agency or an online resource.

yes, you're right, some people do it for the savings, and I applaud them for thinking what's best financially for them

But the vacation there, driving your own car, no speed limit on the autobahn....hmmm yeah, not bad at all.
I'm doing an ED for Mercedes now, in 2 weeks so I will post pics and share my experience with their program.