All encompassing F82 purchasing experience!!

[MRCUR]

Originally Posted by azula

As far as the holiday cash incentive...should that be reflecting on my contract or is that something I receive at a later date directly from BMWNA?

A dealer can only lock in an incentive for 60 days (on the east coast) from the time of deal. Even assuming you signed on 12/31/14, you'd only get until the end of Feb for it to apply.

[azula]

Originally Posted by MRCUR

A dealer can only lock in an incentive for 60 days (on the east coast) from the time of deal. Even assuming you signed on 12/31/14, you'd only get until the end of Feb for it to apply.

Hey Mrcur, it applies. Do you know the answer to my question?

[trucheli]

Originally Posted by azula

Richard thanks for the advice. John was one of my first calls since he is the closest to me and he almost laughed me off the phone....lol. I have had a positive experience with my CA thus far but thank you. As far as the holiday cash incentive...should that be reflecting on my contract or is that something I receive at a later date directly from BMWNA?

I understand that you wanted to get $500 over ED invoice. That kind of deal on an M car I have not seen in years, if you were able to get that I congratulate you because that's a steal. I am afraid the the dealer is keeping your $1000 because otherwise they should have taken it out of the top. The only promotion that you get directly from BMWNA is the $500 cash rebate for being a member of BMW CCA. So between that and the document fees (strictly dealer profit) and your $500 over invoice you are close to $2000 over invoice. Even with all that you've done very well. if you want to keep that relationship growing with that CA I will call him and let him know that you know what's going on regarding the promotion and you also understand that he needs to get paid, but let him know that you don't appreciate monkey business and this time only you will let the dealer keep the cash incentive. Otherwise, tell him to go fly a kite and tell him that this is the last time you'll do business with him and disclose his name and dealership here so other festers will know how that CA does business.

[MRCUR]

Originally Posted by azula

Hey Mrcur, it applies. Do you know the answer to my question?

If it applies then you should see it reflected on the paperwork already.

[azula]

Originally Posted by trucheli

I understand that you wanted to get $500 over ED invoice. That kind of deal on an M car I have not seen in years, if you were able to get that I congratulate you because that's a steal. I am afraid the the dealer is keeping your $1000 because otherwise they should have taken it out of the top. The only promotion that you get directly from BMWNA is the $500 cash rebate for being a member of BMW CCA. So between that and the document fees (strictly dealer profit) and your $500 over invoice you are close to $2000 over invoice. Even with all that you've done very well. if you want to keep that relationship growing with that CA I will call him and let him know that you know what's going on regarding the promotion and you also understand that he needs to get paid, but let him know that you don't appreciate monkey business and this time only you will let the dealer keep the cash incentive. Otherwise, tell him to go fly a kite and tell him that this is the las time you'll do business with him and disclose his name and dealership here so other festers will know how that CA does business.

Richard thanks for the info! I will definitely contact him but I'm not letting my 1k go without a fight. lol. If he tells me that he already applied it to the balance, then there's nothing I can really do however that was never the agreement.

Originally Posted by MRCUR

If it applies then you should see it reflected on the paperwork already.

Thanks Mrcur. I just referred back to my email and the understand was that I need to take delivery by February 28th to be eligible. I just sent my CA an email and I will keep up guys posted! Thanks!

[azula]

Well the time is here. I will departing for Germany on Thursday 2/19. I figured I would keep my ED experience here within this thread for the sake of consolidation. This will be my first ED and I will do my best to document everything for those thinking of doing this for their first time as well. I received my ED book a few weeks ago but was just looking over it again tonight. It is very well put together and has some useful information in it.

[///M///]

Originally Posted by azula

Well the time is here. I will departing for Germany on Thursday 2/19. I figured I would keep my ED experience here within this thread for the sake of consolidation. This will be my first ED and I will do my best to document everything for those thinking of doing this for their first time as well. I received my ED book a few weeks ago but was just looking over it again tonight. It is very well put together and has some useful information in it.

Congrats I will be hitting you up in a few months to get some pointers

[azula]

Originally Posted by dsm918

Congrats I will be hitting you up in a few months to get some pointers

Congrats to you as well! I'm sure the anticipation is killing you like it is me. lol.

So I scheduled the complimentary shuttle service ride from Munich Airport to the hotel (Marriott Munich). Unfortunately, I won't have the opportunity to drive my M4 (next trip I suppose), so I'm wondering if the shuttle service will return us from the hotel to the airport? It is hard to decipher from the description on their website. Can anyone clarify this? I may just rent a vehicle and call it a day. Thanks!

[///M///]

Originally Posted by azula

Congrats to you as well! I'm sure the anticipation is killing you like it is me. lol.

So I scheduled the complimentary shuttle service ride from Munich Airport to the hotel (Marriott Munich). Unfortunately, I won't have the opportunity to drive my M4 (next trip I suppose), so I'm wondering if the shuttle service will return us from the hotel to the airport? It is hard to decipher from the description on their website. Can anyone clarify this? I may just rent a vehicle and call it a day. Thanks!

Am confused. Are you just signing for the car and leaving?

[azula]

Originally Posted by dsm918

Am confused. Are you just signing for the car and leaving?

Yea. My wife couldn't get the time off from work for us to take advantage of the trip. I'm still trying to convince her to blow in sick so we can extend the trip but that's a long shot, lol.


Just touched down in Philly and have a 6 hour layover, we will reach Germany at 8:30 am GMT +1. I am exhausted but can't sleep...hopefully I will be able to get some shut eye on the way over.

[cloudsource]

Hi azula, thank you for your helpful info here. Could you tell me if you emailed your proposal to the sales department or did you email random sales person? I also want to email my proposal to 15 or more dealerships but not sure what emails I should look for...

[azula]

Originally Posted by cloudsource

Hi azula, thank you for your helpful info here. Could you tell me if you emailed your proposal to the sales department or did you email random sales person? I also want to email my proposal to 15 or more dealerships but not sure what emails I should look for...

I basically went to each individual website and searched for their "contacts" or "meet the staff" button. Then I got the email address of the sales manager and forwarded my proposals to them. Some dealerships didn't have contact information for individual sales reps so I called the dealership and got an email address that way. I never negotiated on the phone. I hope this helps!

[azula]

Well, I am currently sitting at Munich Airport awaiting my flight back to Philly and ultimately West Palm Beach. What an incredible experience this has been. I have never owned a BMW or been to Germany so this was an extremely enlightening and exhilarating trip for me and my wife! I took plenty of pictures and will get them uploaded when I get back to the States. The biggest lesson I have learned is never take a transatlantic flight and stay for only 2 days! lol. We got a lot done in the two days we had but fighting jet lag didn't help at all. Munich is absolutely beautiful and this definitely won't be my last trip! Pics and details coming soon!

[MDIVISION]

Originally Posted by azula

Thanks so much for the input. I am located in South Florida (West Palm Beach) and it's safe to say that there are plenty of CA's in my area so a "deal" is not likely. I figured the location from which I order shouldn't really matter as I'm doing ED anyways. I'll start local and work my way North.

Send emails to dealerships, see how they respond, what their allocations is and what pricing they offer.

Make a decision. Don't get into a bidding war for a few hundred dollars. Another words don't be a mooch when you want to adopt this beautiful automobile. Just go with the dealership that treats you well the first time.

[GrussGott]

Originally Posted by azula

Well, I am currently sitting at Munich Airport awaiting my flight back to Philly and ultimately West Palm Beach. What an incredible experience this has been. I have never owned a BMW or been to Germany so this was an extremely enlightening and exhilarating trip for me and my wife! I took plenty of pictures and will get them uploaded when I get back to the States. The biggest lesson I have learned is never take a transatlantic flight and stay for only 2 days! lol. We got a lot done in the two days we had but fighting jet lag didn't help at all. Munich is absolutely beautiful and this definitely won't be my last trip! Pics and details coming soon!

Can't wait to see your pics but, yeah, 2 days for ED??

[azula]

Day 1

Okay finally getting caught up on sleep! What an amazing experience this trip was. I am very pleased that everything went smoothly, like I said, I just wish it was longer! Okay onto the photos!

The flight was great! We flew from West Palm Beach to Philly and had a 6 hour layover there. It wasn't so bad because we had a day pass to the AA admirals club compliments of our recently acquired US Airways Mastercard. I'll tell you more about that later. Here is a picture of the deserted Admirals Club, lol.



Thankfully, the flight from Philly to Munich was only about 40% full so my wife and I each had a row of 4 seats to ourselves! lol.


It took us approximately 6 hours and 45 minutes to fly from Philly to Munich. I wanted to try and get some sleep to battle the inevitable jet lag but that didn't happen. I was too excited and anxious to sleep.


We arrived at 8:30am (GMT +1), right on schedule. Once we landed, the process was unbelievably quick! We did not have to fill out any paperwork to enter the country. We presented our passports and that was it, on to baggage claim and to pick up our rental car!


So we picked up an Audi a1! I have always been a fan of Audi and for the longest, I was torn between the RS5 and the M4 but the performance of the latter could not be ignored. Anyways, I was super excited to drive an Audi that was not available in America. Needless to say, my wife was too.




So we are exiting the airport grounds and I immediately see the ///M logo. I ignorantly assumed this was a huge BMW advertisement hahaha. Still exciting nonetheless! I was thoroughly impressed with the highway system there. Much MUCH better than what we have in Florida. Their roads were made for the cars that are built there, high quality! That being said, 80% of the vehicles on the road were BMW's, Mercedes', or Audi's. They had an Audi dealership inside the airport!


Part 2 of Day 1 in next post

[azula]

So we arrived at our hotel (Munich Marriott) within 45 minutes of touching down in Munich, just to give you an idea on how smoothly the process went. We were upgraded to a suite on the 6th floor with free internet compliments of BMW. The rate was 102 Euros per day! The room was very nice, but don't forget your plug adapters when you travel! Here is a picture of the view from our suite.



After checking in and unpacking a bit it was time to head over to Welt for our Plant tour The Welt was literally 5 minutes from our hotel. Probably less if we were familiar with the territory. They don't allow camera's inside for the plant tour so do yourself and leave it in the car. lol. Also, there is a lot of walking on the tour. It is a two hour tour and you cover approximately 2 miles worth of walking in that time frame so make sure you are well rested and not coming from a 13 hour plane ride like me....


Next was time for some shopping to please the wife. Make sure you bring Euros as a lot of merchants will not take US currency. Luckily we had our Euros converted at the Munich Airport but I still had US currency on me just in case. Also, most places will accept credit cards but some of your cards may require a four digit pin. So call your card companies before you leave the country to be sure. There is A LOT of foot traffic and rightfully so. Everything is close together in Munich and parking is extremely limited. If it wasn't so cold, I would've definitely considered renting bicycles to get around. This is an awesome picture on our way to Marien Square.


After shopping, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. On our way to dinner we saw this parked a street north of our hotel. Of course I had to snap some pictures. It looks like an X6 but I'm not completely sure. Can anyone decipher this? Also, why is it only half wrapped?



We ate at a lovely restaurant that was tucked away from the busy section of Munich called Restaurant Llios Munchen. Delicious food and even better service.


Having been up for over 24 hours by this time, we decided to call it a night. Additionally my European Delivery appointment was set for 9:50am the next morning but they request your attendance 90 minutes prior for paperwork etc.

[azula]

Day 2

To my surprise, we slept like rocks! lol. I thought I would be too anxious to sleep but I think the overwhelming exhaustion and jet lag won the battle. We woke up and had an awesome complimentary breakfast at the hotel. I assumed it would be continental but I was wrong. They had everything including "American Pancakes" hahaha. I passed on those and tried to stick with food indigenous to the terrain. It was excellent! After breakfast, we drove over to the Welt and I think we trimmed a minute off of the travel time (4 minutes from driveway to driveway, lol).

The first thing we did was check in on the 3rd floor to sign some paperwork. The process was unbelievably streamlined and the paperwork did not take long at all. However, our associate did tell me it was less paperwork because I was leaving my vehicle with them as opposed to driving it. There are two methods of getting your vehicle to the port if you choose not to deliver it yourself: someone else can drive your car to the port for 50 Euros, or you can have a flatbed deliver it to the port for 75 Euros....needless to say, I chose the latter. Here is a few pieces of the paperwork. The two cards are passes for the BMW museum and they also give you a free key chain which you can have engraved at no extra charge and a 10 Euro discount on anything you buy from the gift shop.



Next, we went over to the lounge area where I signed the guestbook.


After having such a full breakfast at Marriott, this is the last thing I wanted to see. MORE FOOD! lol. The spread and setup was beautiful, they really treat their customers very well!


While in the lounge area, we unexpectedly heard the unmistakable rumble of an M4 filling the interior of the Welt. I rushed over to the balcony and saw my MW F82 being driven from the elevator to the spinning circle . I was able to snap a quick picture of it passing the safety car to make it's way around to the delivery spot. This is the first time I laid eyes on my car. Definitely a really special moment! Learn from my mistakes, make sure you are waiting at the balcony for your vehicle about 10 minutes prior to your delivery time to see the grand entrance!


Once we finished lounging, our associate told us to stand near "A1" to await the associate who would be introducing my vehicle.


I felt that it was incredibly appropriate that my associate had the same name as me!


After a 5 minute meet an greet session with "Rudolf", he took us about half way down a flight of stairs where he started the presentation of my F82. As we looked over the stairs, he turned on the spot light and activated the spinning circle. What an AMAZING presentation it was. To make things even better, the vehicle that was parked by my F82 was moved shortly after he started the presentation leaving my F82 as the only vehicle on that side I felt overjoyed to say the least. Years worth of hard work, planning, researching all culminated at this point! It was definitely an unforgettable and amazing experience.

We conversed for a short time about any preexisting knowledge I had with BMW's and then he took us to the main floor to see my vehicle up close. Rudolf took his time explaining the ins and outs of the vehicle for me and even touched on some things I didn't know. It was amazing because it seemed as if he was just as excited as I was! Towards the end, he gave me the opportunity to take a couple "victory" laps around that landing. Turning on the car was outstanding. The exhaust note was amplified because of the immensely high ceilings in the Welt. Checking the dash, I saw that I had a whopping 2 miles on the car. I've had new cars before but never THAT new, lol. Although I never went over 5 mph, I could definitely feel just how badly the car wanted to go! I can't wait to get it to the states! Here are some pics of the car.




LOL


My lovely wife with the car. She is already asking me to drive it and she knows how to drive a manual.....I am plum out of excuses.......lol


Rudolph and Rudolf LOL



Towards the end of our appointment, Rudolf asked if we had any questions but I couldn't think of any. He gave me the hazard stick and first aid kit out of my truck as well as a key to my car. I asked him if I would be able to keep the Euro Tags that are on the car but he didn't give me a definite answer. He said that they usually leave the tags on the vehicles but they (the tags) don't always make it to the states. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! After that awesome experience, I rushed back up the balcony to see the vehicle being driven back into the elevator. The driver gave me a couple good revs when pulling into the elevator which was freaking awesome!!!

[azula]

After that amazing experience, we decided to head over to the BMW Museum. While en route across the overpass we saw an opportunity for a great photo op!




The museum was just as impressive as the Welt. There were a ton of things to do and see. Here are a few photos.
s.





We had a great time at the museum and I learned a lot about BMW's history and my mind was boggled at the vast array of vehicles and engines BMW has been a part of. Truly an amazing story.

We returned to the Welt to do some shopping in the store before departing the Welt. My heart was heavy when we left but because our time was so limited in Germany, we had to make the most of it. We decided to head back to the square (more shopping for the wife) and we also visited some cathedrals.

First stop was "Church of Our Lady". Usually, the towers are available to be climbed but one of them were under construction during our visit. Shucks!


The interior of the church was absolutely breathtaking.


"The Devil's Footprint", if your not familiar with the story, make sure you check it out in the Church of Our Lady when you go!


Next up was St. Peter's Church, the interior of this church was just incredible.


After that, we head over to the Heiliggeistkirche Church Clock Tower. It was a great plan B since the Church of Our Lady towers were down. It was 14 stories of stairs.....NARROW STAIRS....WOODEN NARROW STAIRS THAT CREAKED. LOL. I am terrified of heights but I had to conquer my fear for this occasion. What an impressive yet terrifying view from up there. You could pretty much see all of Munich from there including the BMW tower. You could even see the snow capped Alps! These photos don't do the actual view any justice!

[BMW F22]

Good stuff Rudolph! Definitely miss Munich! Looking forward to more pix and report from you!

[azula]

Next we visited the Dachau Concentration Camp which is on northern outskirts of Munich. Other than the BMW delivery, this had to be the highlight of my trip. It was overwhelming to stand in a place where so many people died because of hate. It was also enlightening to see everything you learned about from childhood actually come to life right in front of you.











After visiting the memorial site, we headed back to Munich for lunch. We ate lunch at a steakhouse in the heart of Munich, but I don't remember the name. Great food, however this was one of the places that required a four digit pin for our credit card. Fortunately, we had Euros. Just make sure you bring at least two forms of payment just in case. By this time we were both exhausted again but decided to keep trucking since it was our last day in Munich.


After walking til our feet hurt, we ate dinner (another great restaurant of which I don't remember the name, lol) and called it a night.

Day 3
The next morning we had a very pleasant surprise when we opened the curtains....SNOW!!


My wife was talking about how she hoped it would snow from before we left the states.


We had another delicious breakfast at the hotel and sadly drove to the airport...lol. I tried to talk her into extending our vacay but she just couldn't get the time from work . I definitely used it as ammunition to get back to Germany ASAP though. What a wonderful place. I'd have to say that in my short experience there, Germans are MUCH nicer than Americans. Furthermore, I felt like such an idiot being there because everyone we talked to knew English and spoke it well. I've already asked my wife to buy me Rosetta Stone German Edition, lol. Also, Germans are tall, I am 5'10" and I am pretty sure I developed a height complex being over there. hahaha.

Our journey back to the states was a very long one. The flight back from Munich to Philly took over 9 hours. Also, the plane was a bit more full than the flight into Munich so we were limited to one row


The flight from Philly to West Palm was God Awful! We were delayed for about an hour because the printer in Philly's airport went down. Apparently, this printer provides the necessary paperwork each plane needs before takeoff. However, that was the only setback in the entire trip. I am amazed at how smoothly this trip went and I can't say enough good things about BMW and the Welt's staff. I can definitely say that this will not be my last European Delivery and it will be a 2 week adventure next time. Now the wait begins for my vehicle to make it stateside. I will definitely keep this thread apprised of any developments. I am working on a video of my ED experience and I will post here when it is done. Thanks for reading!!

[BMW F22]

So very nice. Love the last pix! Lol