[yoka]

The horror story that is my ED redelivery here on the west coast continues ... approaching week 11. Does anyone have a name/phone# of someone at BMW that can actually help with redelivery problems? My car has been at the port for over 6 weeks now, and my dealer is again telling me it will be another week at least. This is ridiculous, I can't even get a straight story out of anyone - and of course, I'm stuck without a car. Any help would be appreciated!

Dealer claim there is nothing he can do, he's not BMWNA - and BMWNA claims there is nothing they can do, its my dealer's problem!

FYI: For all of those contemplating EuroDelivery - it is a great experience and most people do get out unscatched - but trust me, if you are one of the unlucky few - BMW does not give a damn about getting you your car back in a timely fashion. And you have very little leverage since they've already cashed your check!

[vladinecko]

since you already called BMW NA I believe they are the ones who could tell you who to contact next. Is at the port in the states? If so, I believe your dealer should be able to contact them what the hell is going on.

Good luck!

[yoka]

Reached port in California on the 24th of August...and she's been sitting there for the past 6+ weeks!

[vladinecko]

then your dealer should definitely know what's going on. if they damaged it on the way (it's something like over so many % of total value) they should report it to your dealer he should pass it onto you. given the fact it's been sitting at the port for so long, it's more than likely they damaged it in some way.

sorry man!

[Ghunger]

If the right circumstances line up it can take a long time. Could have some minor damage that just fits under their limit that they are required to report to the dealer, could be your car got singled out in customs for some reason (they do random checks).

I hope you realize that between the time you pick up the car and the time it gets to the VPC in Cali BMW has no official way to track the car for ED cars. So, if it's at the port, but hasn't gotten to the VPC yet, there really isn't a good way for your dealer to track it.

[yoka]

The car passed customs and arrived at the VPC around the 29th of August. Its been sitting at the VPC for the past many weeks.

[Ghunger]

Sounds like it could have been damaged or possibly required an update or recall fix. If there are any updates/recalls between when your car was produced and when it gets to the VPC they apply those updates and such. Hopefully it's not damage, but then again, they have a full body shop there that apparently is first rate. I've heard of other cars being fixed there from ppl over on Bimmerfest.

[IrvRobinson]

It sounds like some possible damage to the car,but the best way to find out would be to contact the Sales Manager ,possibly by going in for a personal visit,and go into his office while he calls someone to find out the status of your car.You might ask him to run the vehicle history just in case some repair work shows up.You really need to know why it's taking so long,plain and simple.

[bobnaz]

Originally Posted by yoka

The horror story that is my ED redelivery here on the west coast continues ... approaching week 11. Does anyone have a name/phone# of someone at BMW that can actually help with redelivery problems? My car has been at the port for over 6 weeks now, and my dealer is again telling me it will be another week at least. This is ridiculous, I can't even get a straight story out of anyone - and of course, I'm stuck without a car. Any help would be appreciated!

Dealer claim there is nothing he can do, he's not BMWNA - and BMWNA claims there is nothing they can do, its my dealer's problem!

FYI: For all of those contemplating EuroDelivery - it is a great experience and most people do get out unscatched - but trust me, if you are one of the unlucky few - BMW does not give a damn about getting you your car back in a timely fashion. And you have very little leverage since they've already cashed your check!

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30768

[yoka]

Week 12 since dropoff in Frankfurt, and my car is still stuck at the California port in the VPC for over 6 weeks...

I followed advice on bimmerfest.com and sent a letter off to Tom Purves (BMWNA President) - hopefully one of his assistants will be able either a) get a straight answer or b) get my car! Better yet – maybe BMWNA will begin to give a d--m about ED customers. IMHO, customer service is only shown when the customer actually has a problem, maintaining the status quo is not a reason to rejoice!

I have also learned, that in addition to damage in shipping - a clutch problem I encountered the day before delivery in Frankfurt has been turned into a transmission rebuild. Apparently the VPC can't be bothered diagnosing the problem, so they are just rebuilding the whole transmission! I can only assume someone drove the car pretty rough between Frankfurt and LA and killed the transmission. They claim the parts took 2-3 weeks to ship, so they are expected early this week + three days for repairs = perhaps redelivery early next week (I'm currently being quoted Mon or Tues).

I have of course been told that a loaner is out of the question since this isn’t the dealership’s fault. BMWNA won’t reimburse me for anything, even depreciation, because “I knew the risks when doing an ED” and the “they never guaranteed a car in 6-8 week, that was just an estimate”.

I have been harassing the ED folks heavily for the last two weeks (I think everyone in the office knows me by name now!) and have learned some interesting tidbits of depressing info.
1) If you car is damaged BMW will valiantly try to claim it on the insurance policy instead of covering it as a warranty issue (I guess they over bill the heck out of Allianz and keep the spread).
1a) If the car is being fixed under insurance, due to strange accounting irregularities, parts will be shipped from Germany. That’s right! They will not get them from a local dealer - they will have them shipped from Germany, hence all the wait time.
2) ED cars are officially last on the VPC priority, first they punch through the new ones then the ED's. Since they’ve already got our money, we are the equivalent of roadkill now.
3) Windshields take 3 days for the glue to cure - so if you have windshield damage, it’s a minimum three day extension (assuming the VPC has spare windshields and there is no shipping lag). While the VPC does keep a healthy set of body parts around, windshields, engines, practically anything other than bumpers/trunklids/enginelids/lights requires shipping from Germany.
4) There is apparently some arbitrary value (I believe it is around $4-$5K) under which BMW does not even have to disclose what has happened to your car. Only damage above that value ‘forces’ them to disclose the nature of the damage to your car. However, unless you utterly wrecked your car, it’s hard to think of $4-5K worth of damage you could do to your brand new car in 1-4 weeks!