[hyperzulu]

Originally Posted by Gatte

Thanks for the response Hyperzulu. Can you point me to the thread with all the times ??? It would be super helpful.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=776745

On this post is a Google spreadsheet which should allow you to sort the entries submitted to get a better estimate of west coast shipments from the dropoff you're most interested in, or all west coast deliveries in general to get a sense maybe of how quickly customs/VDC is working.
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...7&postcount=64

[Gatte]

Originally Posted by hyperzulu

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=776745

On this post is a Google spreadsheet which should allow you to sort the entries submitted to get a better estimate of west coast shipments from the dropoff you're most interested in, or all west coast deliveries in general to get a sense maybe of how quickly customs/VDC is working.
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...7&postcount=64

Thank you very much hyperzulu
Will go through it now.

[hyperzulu]

Originally Posted by Inline_Six

Whoa ! We need to talk !!!

I've gotta head back to work now, but I gotta ask you something later.

My CA was Jon Shafer. He works primarily in Euro Delivery, but has enough repeat business to get normal US deliveries as well. I remember reading your post before about dealer troubles. I really cannot imagine you worked with Jon. Jon is the founder of bimmerfest.com and by far the best sales person I've ever worked with. He literally got everything right. I've referred other people to him. Some he knows of, some he doesn't.

Hope that answers some of your questions...

[Inline_Six]

Originally Posted by hyperzulu

My CA was Jon Shafer. He works primarily in Euro Delivery, but has enough repeat business to get normal US deliveries as well. I remember reading your post before about dealer troubles. I really cannot imagine you worked with Jon. Jon is the founder of bimmerfest.com and by far the best sales person I've ever worked with. He literally got everything right. I've referred other people to him. Some he knows of, some he doesn't.

Hope that answers some of your questions...

Sorry guys !

Thanks ! Yeah, I've heard great things about Jon Shafer. Wish I'd known about him before I ordered.

So, you picked up at BMW Santa Barbara, correct ? If so, who handled your pickup ? Was Jon himself present ? If not, who ? And, how was that experience ? Also, what about your timeline. Please PM me if you have more info. (I didn't mean to hijack this thread)

Oh well, next time I order a BMW, I know where not to go and where to go.

Thanks again !

[hyperzulu]

Originally Posted by Inline_Six

Sorry guys !

Thanks ! Yeah, I've heard great things about Jon Shafer. Wish I'd known about him before I ordered.

So, you picked up at BMW Santa Barbara, correct ? If so, who handled your pickup ? Was Jon himself present ? If not, who ? And, how was that experience ? Also, what about your timeline. Please PM me if you have more info. (I didn't mean to hijack this thread)

Oh well, next time I order a BMW, I know where not to go and where to go.

Thanks again !

Yeah I live in Los Angeles, so I drove up to SB on the Saturday after my car arrived. Jon usually handles a bunch of Euro deliveries himself and it was pretty painless since EDs are already paid for vehicles. Just some paperwork handoff and thanked me after a bit of chit chat, took a few pics together with the car and off I went.

The timeline itself is going to be different than a normal delivery. I reserved my car well in advance, so I had a date of October 8th for my pickup about four months before then.

[BoomWasabi]

Originally Posted by Gatte

You did not account for fuel though which could be a major cost if you're driving a lot.

Actually, I am planning to drive about 1200 km. The car comes with full tank of gas now. So I am looking into buying one full tank by myself (assuming 25 average mpgs). Maybe another $100.

[BoomWasabi]

Originally Posted by MaximumG

If you haven't already figured out where you'll go and eat, set up a complete schedule for the trip. Then, it'll be more transparent how much you'll spend. Or, you could just wing it without planning too much.

This is great advice. When I did trips without planning ahead I regretted it. You end up in some foreign town and don't know what to do. Few times I missed interesting stuff right around a corner just because I did not know anything about the place. Or just wasted time looking for something to do. Now I even read the travel book in advance, so when I visit some landmark I know _why_ it is a must see.

Originally Posted by MaximumG

I went as far as checked out the menu of every restaurant I was going, made reservations, and found out prices of every museum/palace I was going. From there, I had a pretty good idea how much I was going to spend.

But of course, I still somehow overspent by 1000 euro or so...

Wow, this is hardcore. And I thought I am a control freak. So far I have all hotels booked, I know how much I will be driving each day, and what I will see. No meal plan yet.

[hyperzulu]

If you only have a few days, that kind of hyper planning could work. But if your stay extends more than a couple days, the only thing you can prepare for is to be completely unprepared, no matter how hard you try. I spent several months obsessing over my trip. I went $3,000 over budget and saw things I never intended to and scrapped plenty of things I thought I'd see.

Being in a foreign country means throwing plans out the window. There is just no way you can account for how much time you'll truly have to dedicate to things, how long in transit you'll be, the weather, sudden closures of sites or restaurants, hotel reservations suddenly meaning squat when you arrive, getting a flat tire, losing your wallet, getting sick, etc... I was on vacation for 18 days total and couldn't even hold to that! I had to take an extra day off when I got back.

Of all the reasons I listed above, the only ones I didn't encounter were loss of wallet or hotel reservations being bumped, luckily. The flat tire almost caused me to have to stay in a no-name town in northern Czech Republic, that turned to possibly having to stay in Dresden instead of Berlin. We were lucky and were able to continue without changing our plans outside of time tables. Hobbled to Berlin, got a new tire the next morning and continued on to Nürburg.

[BoomWasabi]

Originally Posted by hyperzulu

Being in a foreign country means throwing plans out the window. There is just no way you can account for how much time you'll truly have to dedicate to things, how long in transit you'll be, the weather, sudden closures of sites or restaurants, hotel reservations suddenly meaning squat when you arrive, getting a flat tire, losing your wallet, getting sick, etc...

Hmm... this is not my first rodeo. I had extended road-trips in Europe, North and Central America. The key is not to overload your days. If in one day you plan to drive for 8 hours, visit museums and have a meal at the hard to get restaurant, you are probably setting yourself for a miserable experience. I am planning conservatively: 1200 km in 10 days, not driving every day, and not driving big stretches in a single day.

The flat tire or getting sick will have affect on one of my days at most. Hotels are not an issue in Germany. My first trip there was before navigation systems and Internet on every phone. Had no problem finding a place to stay.

[hyperzulu]

Originally Posted by BoomWasabi

The flat tire or getting sick will have affect on one of my days at most.

If someone gets a flat on a Saturday night, they'll be waiting until Monday morning to get a replacement. If you were planning on driving two smaller stretches: point A to B to C over a couple of days and a flat tire leaves you stranded in point A until you get a replacement, you might end up having to scrap point B altogether and driving much longer than anticipated from point A to C, missing out a lot of the plans you had for C since you're stuck in the car.

This is totally possible. I've seen it happen.