A rather long post, sorry. Just thought you’d enjoy the details of my recent European Delivery.
I recall reading others' ED stories and pics so thought I would share mine. I put my order in for an M240i last year and began planning our trip for May. Delivery date set for May 15th.
First, let me say that BMW knows how to do it up right! From the surprise package that arrived a month before (won't ruin the surprise) to the regular emails keeping me posted, I was very impressed. Of course, the day of was beyond!
We had a delivery time of 9:30am and they want you there like an hour early. We were supposed to fly in from Malta the night before but that flight got delayed so we were stuck in Frankfurt overnight and had to take a very early flight into Munich. Fortunately, the limo pickup (Sixt) was quick to reply and reschedule our pickup time and location to the airport. I think we were picked up around 8:30 in a beautiful 745.
After a quiet ride to the Welt, we were checked in, our luggage checked and stored, and escorted up to the lounge and paperwork presentation area.
A lovely lady named Eva was our “check in” host and was very knowledgeable and efficient at getting the paperwork done. She was a great help in answering our questions about the touring we were about to do.
Next up, we were escorted into the lounge area for found and drink and to relax until our scheduled delivery time (we had about a half hour). Food was typical German fare and very good. A fair amount to choose plus all kinds of juices, coffees, and wine and beer (waited until lunch for that!). After finishing a bite to eat, we were told to take a peek down to the delivery floor and, lo and behold, there was my new baby! It was in the perfect spot for a great view from up there.
Soon it was time to head to the multimedia rooms for an overview of our car. At the designated time, we were met by our delivery expert, Barbara. Barbara had only been on the job for a few months and was good, however, I did feel rushed through the presentation. It was my only slightly negative experience of the day. Still, pretty cool.
After that, we were ushered down to the delivery floor where the car was officially presented to us. We spent a fair amount of time going over the features and settings. After that, our luggage was brought to us and loaded into the car. Once finished, we had our “victory lap” around the inside of the welt before driving it outside and to a valet for parking until we were ready to leave.
By now we had about a half hour until the pre-arranged tour of the factory so we headed for the gift shop to spend the whopping 10euro voucher we were given with the delivery package as well as pick up our personalized key ring. Considering the cheapest item in the shop was a 17euro umbrella (which we needed anyway), we still had to shell out a bit of our own (I know, not the place to cheap out, right?). To be honest, there wasn’t really anything that particularly interested me anyway.
The tour was pretty amazing, though I had done the same tour in 2011. If you ever get the chance, even if not doing a delivery, do the tour. I’ve toured many auto factories and BMW is about the best. We did not do the museum as I had done that too but knew my wife would not be interested in it (plus we had a timeline to stick to if we were to make our hotel in Austria that night).
After the tour, we headed back up to the lounge for some lunch then picked up the car. It then, of course, started to drizzle. Sucked, however, we were told not to take the car above 160km/hr and 4500rpm anyway so no big autobahn blast in our future anyway.
After a great country drive towards western Austria, we stopped for pics outside of Neuschwanstein Castle before headed towards Austria and our hotel in Berwang.
The next day was spent driving some mountain roads before heading back to Munich in the afternoon to drop the car off at 3pm at Munich Airport. Check in was easy and the folks were very nice. After bidding my beauty farewell for now, we picked up a rental and proceeded to drive another 4500km over the next 2.5 weeks all over eastern and Northern Europe.
As I write this, my ship, the Undine, is a day out of Halifax so I am still likely two weeks from our reunion. Can’t wait!
Would I do a European Delivery again? Every single time if I could!