[Gatte]

I've been waiting on re-delivery of my car after my ED and the car has been sitting at port for almost 2 weeks (Since 4/9/2015). Others on the same boat have had their cars go to the VPC/VDC on the same day or the next day of arrival.

I just want to know how long people have had to wait for customs to clear the car at the port i.e. the port to VPC/VDC times that people have experienced (For ED and non ED cars)

[Zooks527]

Back in 2009, my car took 3 or 4 days to clear customs after ED.

Rarely, some cars get pulled for what's known as a "customs intensive audit". Shortly after mine came though, another ED participant waited 43 days for his M3 to get released. It's uncommon, but it does happen, and it was a bear of a wait for him.

IIRC, it happens more to ED cars than to non-ED, as you had the opportunity to tuck something into a corner of your car that the non-ED folks don't get.

[tke743]

Most make it through the Customs/VPC within a week or so. I got the "special search" on my ED and it took 2 weeks.

[Gatte]

When I called the BMW NA number, I was first told that it would usually take 1-3 days and the longest they've seen a car going through customs was a week. I am assuming that they were referring to the non ED cars.

BMW ED sales said it can take up to 2 weeks. Zooks527 telling me that it could take 43 days is really really bad. They must have some sort of policy in place to prevent this type of delay from happening. I don't think there is any check that needs that much time. The possibility of that type of delay seems more due to a lack of coordination and proper queuing in the process.

[Zooks527]

With luck, you'll get out in a day or so. The 43 day number is the worst I heard back when mine was coming through, even though my ED car only took 3 days or so. The guy caught in the 43 day pile was really irritated by it. IIRC, the difficulty is that they sometimes stack a bunch of cars for the intensive audit, and if you're the first one they stack, you can get hung for a while. 43 days was the worst, but a lot of people were seeing 2 weeks at the end of 2009.

BMW has nothing to do with the length of the delay and can't exercise any control over the process. They're an importer dealing with customs. They're at the mercy of the typical government employees who have discretion as to how they do their jobs. It's solely a function of how hard the customs inspectors want to push the "Jackass" button. Sometimes, they push it really hard. Why? Because they can. My wife, who used to be 1/2 owner of an import business, can go on for hours about how bad customs agents can be.

[Gatte]

I really hope it happens this week. Feel like I've been waiting forever. I went through the other thread on bimmerfest. There was more than one person with long delays. There was another person with a 4 week delay.

BMW ED has been telling me that it can take up to 2 weeks. I hope it does not take longer and I definitely don't want the customs people to be ripping my seats off and damaging the car.

[slayer72]

You cant blame Customs, there has been a longshoreman strike on the west coast for months.