This data sheet does not concern girls, but discusses a different type of travel-related adventure. Doing European Delivery ("ED") of a BMW is something I've done twice and after finding out about it and actually doing it, cannot recommend it enough to someone who is in a situation where they need a new car, have time to take off and go to Munich, have patience (redelivery takes time) and want an experience of a lifetime. The biggest misconceptions with respect to ED are 1) the car you get is german spec and not in line with US requirements, and 2) you have to pay to get it back. However, this is not true - you are buying/leasing the exact same car that you would in America. The easiest way to think about ED is that once you order your car, BMW allows you to pick it up at the factory, drive it around in Europe, then they ship it back to you. Here's how it works:
Purchase/lease a BMW:
First step is to decide on the BMW that you want. Please note that not all BMWs are available for ED. The ones built in South Carolina, for obvious reasons, cannot be done through ED. At last check this was the X series. Once you determine which BMW you want, you will want to then find a sales rep that specializes in ED. Depending on your geographic location, there can be several or few. Bimmerfest forums are especially good for finding a sales rep, as those guys have a great reputation and know what they are doing.
So let's say you want a 335i Convertible. The great thing about ED is since you are ordering your car, you can spec it to your exact liking, down to every color and option. You contact the sales rep and agree on a price, usually between 500-1000 over ED invoice. There are two superb things about this: #1, ED invoice is a lot cheaper than regular invoice. BMW heavily subsidizes ED (roughly 7-10%). #2, with ED, the dealers do not give up an "allocation" spot, meaning they have unlimited ED cars to sell and anything they make off of it is just bonus. So for example, if BMW only gives them 30 335i Convertibles to sell in a month, they try to maximize the sale on each one. With ED, they can sell 1000 of these cars a month since it does not come out of this allotment. Thus, they are willing to work with you on price.
Once you settle on a price (just ask them to send you the invoice data, most will, or you can find it online easily), then you fill out a credit app to "lock" the rates. Depending on if you want to lease or buy, each month BMW has various rates for their various cars. For buying, they have various financing incentives. For leasing, the Money Factors and Residual values fluctuate from month to month. In California, you can lock these rates in for 90 days after being approved on the credit app. In other states I believe it is 60 days. All this can be done via email by the way, so the only time you really even need to physically go to the dealer is to sign the paperwork and pick up the car. Another bonus is within this time period, if the rates become more favorable, you can lock those rates in too. Basically you get the best rates within this period from when you do the credit app to when you sign the paperwork.
So you've agreed on a price, got your credit approved and now you select your ED date, the date where you pick up your brand new fully spec'd BMW in Munich.
What's Included:
- Registration of your car
- 14 days of 100% full insurance (you can drive your car into a river and you get a new one)
- BMW pays for shipping back to US
- License and other stuff (for Germany, if you drive to some other countries you may need an international driver's license)
The Pickup:
Roughly 10 days before your pickup date, you go to the dealer and sign the lease/purchase. This is the date your lease starts, or if you are buying it, when the transaction is considered to start. Now you may wonder, I don't even have the car why am I paying for it now? Well that's the way it works - BUT...BMW pays your second payment for you. So while you won't have the car for a few months after you pick it up and it gets shipped back, you also don't pay for the second month.
You should have made your travel plans in advance and be ready to fly to Munich to pick up your car. BMW does offer a Lufthansa 2 for 1 ticket if you are flying with someone, but I usually found this not to be a good deal after taxes and such. You fly into Munich, and I'd suggest not picking up the car the same day but the next day to allow some time to relax.
You work your way to BMW Welt, which is an amazing place. If you like cars, history, technology, you can and will spend almost your entire day there. I did. Exiting the U line, you see the BMW headquartes and the Welt is absolutely stunning. Go and check in at the premium lounge, where you are treated like true royalty. You have your own private floor with drinks, food as much as you want. They assign you the pickup time, as they have deliveries throughout the day. Please make sure you take the BMW factory tour as it is amazing. Those Kuka robots are ridiculous, I can't imagine how much effort went into their design and programming. Setup the tour through BMW before you come, but as someone picking up the car you have priority over everyone else. After the tour, come back and you get an orientation for your car including a virtual reality driving lesson. And then, the time comes, you pick up your awesome new car, complete with spotlight and rotating platform for your car. People at the Welt who are visiting stand and watch the deliveries, it is that intriguing. They hand you the keys, explain how to use the car, and then you actually drive your car out of the Welt yourself. Just go park it downstairs and come back and enjoy the Welt. That's what I did. Here is a pic of where your car will be lined up:
![[Image: 1306089875-eurp_0802_06_z_bmw_welt_handover_area.jpg]](http://www.sbhonline.com/St-Barts-bb/fbbuploads/1306089875-eurp_0802_06_z_bmw_welt_handover_area.jpg)
Google BMW Welt for more pics, it's an architectural masterpiece.
Traveling:
This is arguably the best part about this whole process - you have your own car to drive throughout Europe. Take advantage of this. Go to smaller cities, cities that you can't access by train or plane. Alternatively, use it as a means to get around Europe and visit other countries. At the time, I was in a LTR so I was with a girl and did couply activities. Visited Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France. Drove through Austria too but didn't stop there. There are some limits of where you can go where the insurance will not cover it, but I think some people have even driven to EE and maybe Russia. I highly suggest ordering Navigation as an option, because they preload your car with Europe's DVD so you can easily drive anywhere without getting lost.
The Dropoff:
Also absurdly easy. First, I'd recommend a quick car wash because if you've been driving like you should have, your car will be dirty and having it sit in dirt on a boat for several weeks is not good for the paint. BMW has multiple drop-off points throughout Europe, though both times I've just dropped it off in Munich. You take your car in, sign some paperwork, give them one of the two keys, and take your front license plate with you as a souvenir. BMW takes your car, ships it back for you and you get your car 4-6 weeks later depending on where in the US you are.
Remember you have full insurance so take note of any damages and let BMW know. Last trip I backed into a boulder and some guy forgot to put his parking brake on in a parking lot so his car rolled back into my front end. Upon picking up my car both bumpers were replaced and it was brand new again.
The Redelivery:
When your car arrives, your dealer will let you know and you will go pick it up. It's like getting your new car for the second time. At this point you register with the DMV, and drive off. You also get the very cool feature of having a german license plate which is always a nice conversation starter.
Other Notes:
- Other companies offer this, but I've only done it with BMW.
- I know you can do this if you live in other countries outside America too. Many people there were from other places throughout the world, just not sure what the details are for doing it from another country.
- Don't forget to floor it on the autobahn, I hit 140 mph before running out of room.
- If you can, drive the Nurburgring. Insane adrenalin rush. Also, this is very hard to do, but if you can book a ride with the BMW Taxi. They have ex-race car drivers take a modded M5 out on the ring and you get a ride. The process to get a reservation is absurd, at least last time it was. Maybe they made it easier.
Any questions, just ask. I can expand upon the leasing structure, offer tips for Munich itself, suggestions of a route to follow driving, etc. I probably forgotten some stuff too so feel free to prompt me for any more information.
You get a discount on a great vehicle, are treated like royalty, get to experience something unique, and get to travel to Europe. If the situation works it is a no brainer. Not a single person that has done this has ever thought it was anything less than amazing, much less regretted it.
Purchase/lease a BMW:
First step is to decide on the BMW that you want. Please note that not all BMWs are available for ED. The ones built in South Carolina, for obvious reasons, cannot be done through ED. At last check this was the X series. Once you determine which BMW you want, you will want to then find a sales rep that specializes in ED. Depending on your geographic location, there can be several or few. Bimmerfest forums are especially good for finding a sales rep, as those guys have a great reputation and know what they are doing.
So let's say you want a 335i Convertible. The great thing about ED is since you are ordering your car, you can spec it to your exact liking, down to every color and option. You contact the sales rep and agree on a price, usually between 500-1000 over ED invoice. There are two superb things about this: #1, ED invoice is a lot cheaper than regular invoice. BMW heavily subsidizes ED (roughly 7-10%). #2, with ED, the dealers do not give up an "allocation" spot, meaning they have unlimited ED cars to sell and anything they make off of it is just bonus. So for example, if BMW only gives them 30 335i Convertibles to sell in a month, they try to maximize the sale on each one. With ED, they can sell 1000 of these cars a month since it does not come out of this allotment. Thus, they are willing to work with you on price.
Once you settle on a price (just ask them to send you the invoice data, most will, or you can find it online easily), then you fill out a credit app to "lock" the rates. Depending on if you want to lease or buy, each month BMW has various rates for their various cars. For buying, they have various financing incentives. For leasing, the Money Factors and Residual values fluctuate from month to month. In California, you can lock these rates in for 90 days after being approved on the credit app. In other states I believe it is 60 days. All this can be done via email by the way, so the only time you really even need to physically go to the dealer is to sign the paperwork and pick up the car. Another bonus is within this time period, if the rates become more favorable, you can lock those rates in too. Basically you get the best rates within this period from when you do the credit app to when you sign the paperwork.
So you've agreed on a price, got your credit approved and now you select your ED date, the date where you pick up your brand new fully spec'd BMW in Munich.
What's Included:
- Registration of your car
- 14 days of 100% full insurance (you can drive your car into a river and you get a new one)
- BMW pays for shipping back to US
- License and other stuff (for Germany, if you drive to some other countries you may need an international driver's license)
The Pickup:
Roughly 10 days before your pickup date, you go to the dealer and sign the lease/purchase. This is the date your lease starts, or if you are buying it, when the transaction is considered to start. Now you may wonder, I don't even have the car why am I paying for it now? Well that's the way it works - BUT...BMW pays your second payment for you. So while you won't have the car for a few months after you pick it up and it gets shipped back, you also don't pay for the second month.
You should have made your travel plans in advance and be ready to fly to Munich to pick up your car. BMW does offer a Lufthansa 2 for 1 ticket if you are flying with someone, but I usually found this not to be a good deal after taxes and such. You fly into Munich, and I'd suggest not picking up the car the same day but the next day to allow some time to relax.
You work your way to BMW Welt, which is an amazing place. If you like cars, history, technology, you can and will spend almost your entire day there. I did. Exiting the U line, you see the BMW headquartes and the Welt is absolutely stunning. Go and check in at the premium lounge, where you are treated like true royalty. You have your own private floor with drinks, food as much as you want. They assign you the pickup time, as they have deliveries throughout the day. Please make sure you take the BMW factory tour as it is amazing. Those Kuka robots are ridiculous, I can't imagine how much effort went into their design and programming. Setup the tour through BMW before you come, but as someone picking up the car you have priority over everyone else. After the tour, come back and you get an orientation for your car including a virtual reality driving lesson. And then, the time comes, you pick up your awesome new car, complete with spotlight and rotating platform for your car. People at the Welt who are visiting stand and watch the deliveries, it is that intriguing. They hand you the keys, explain how to use the car, and then you actually drive your car out of the Welt yourself. Just go park it downstairs and come back and enjoy the Welt. That's what I did. Here is a pic of where your car will be lined up:
Google BMW Welt for more pics, it's an architectural masterpiece.
Traveling:
This is arguably the best part about this whole process - you have your own car to drive throughout Europe. Take advantage of this. Go to smaller cities, cities that you can't access by train or plane. Alternatively, use it as a means to get around Europe and visit other countries. At the time, I was in a LTR so I was with a girl and did couply activities. Visited Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France. Drove through Austria too but didn't stop there. There are some limits of where you can go where the insurance will not cover it, but I think some people have even driven to EE and maybe Russia. I highly suggest ordering Navigation as an option, because they preload your car with Europe's DVD so you can easily drive anywhere without getting lost.
The Dropoff:
Also absurdly easy. First, I'd recommend a quick car wash because if you've been driving like you should have, your car will be dirty and having it sit in dirt on a boat for several weeks is not good for the paint. BMW has multiple drop-off points throughout Europe, though both times I've just dropped it off in Munich. You take your car in, sign some paperwork, give them one of the two keys, and take your front license plate with you as a souvenir. BMW takes your car, ships it back for you and you get your car 4-6 weeks later depending on where in the US you are.
Remember you have full insurance so take note of any damages and let BMW know. Last trip I backed into a boulder and some guy forgot to put his parking brake on in a parking lot so his car rolled back into my front end. Upon picking up my car both bumpers were replaced and it was brand new again.
The Redelivery:
When your car arrives, your dealer will let you know and you will go pick it up. It's like getting your new car for the second time. At this point you register with the DMV, and drive off. You also get the very cool feature of having a german license plate which is always a nice conversation starter.
Other Notes:
- Other companies offer this, but I've only done it with BMW.
- I know you can do this if you live in other countries outside America too. Many people there were from other places throughout the world, just not sure what the details are for doing it from another country.
- Don't forget to floor it on the autobahn, I hit 140 mph before running out of room.
- If you can, drive the Nurburgring. Insane adrenalin rush. Also, this is very hard to do, but if you can book a ride with the BMW Taxi. They have ex-race car drivers take a modded M5 out on the ring and you get a ride. The process to get a reservation is absurd, at least last time it was. Maybe they made it easier.
Any questions, just ask. I can expand upon the leasing structure, offer tips for Munich itself, suggestions of a route to follow driving, etc. I probably forgotten some stuff too so feel free to prompt me for any more information.
You get a discount on a great vehicle, are treated like royalty, get to experience something unique, and get to travel to Europe. If the situation works it is a no brainer. Not a single person that has done this has ever thought it was anything less than amazing, much less regretted it.
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![[Image: fiat_500.jpg]](http://www.businessweek.com/autos/autobeat/archives/fiat_500.jpg)
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