Time from order until production begins?
 

Hi,

I ordered my car on 12/26/12 and bmwusa.com still only shows "Order Documented" as of 1/14/13. Is this long of a wait usual? How long did yours take?

Thanks.

You have to get that information from your dealer. They know the moment you sign the paperwork when your car will go into production.

Each dealership is allocated an amount of 328i, 335i, and XDrives each month, and they know the production dates for each. Your dealer should have provided you with an allocation number and a production date at the time you did your deal a month ago.

Call him, ask him for that information. What has happened to me in the past is that I wasn't given an allocation number and my shady dealer gave my car to someone else who was more persistent and ordered a more optioned and expensive version of my 328i. So I was pushed back two weeks simply because I didn't know the game.

This happened to my friend a few months ago in SoCal, so I told him to call other dealers in the area, see who had newer allocation numbers and move the deal. He did. And saved some money in the process too.

BJ

when you ordered means almost nothing; your production allocation is what matters. if your dealer doesnt have a production allocation thats going into production soon, then the car can sit in the order bank for quite a while. i suspect that your car doesnt have a production week assigned to it yet.

ask your dealer for the production week. also, a south africa build adds another month to delivery time versus a germany build

alot of dealers will sell a production allocation that they dont have to take a buyer out of the market.

my dealer got me a germany prod allocation that flipped from scheduled for production to in production the next day-- the car was at the dealer about 5 weeks later.

Hmm... you guys got me thinking now. My CA did mention something about them having to buy the allocation from another dealership when he was placing my order but I did not realize the whole process was this complicated. I am in the same boat as the OP - my order was placed on 12/28/12 and so far I am seeing the same thing when I log in to bmwusa.com - the car hasn't entered production yet :-|

Thank you for your replies.

I did email my dealer last Friday as well as yesterday but haven't gotten a response yet. He's been a really good dealer for me and good at responding to emails promptly but doesn't answer phone calls that well. I think he's just super busy. He did tell me before that mine is a Germany built and the expected delivery date is early March though. With that knowledge, can you make a estimate as to when it will enter production?

Thanks.

I just checked my order on BMWUSA.com. I recall the site being pretty much useless, so I really didn't bother until today (and not actually until I saw this thread).

My order still says Order Documented too, but I just ordered on Friday, so I don't think it's a real big issue (at least not yet).

But the big problem for me is that the vehicle description says Estoril Blue. WTF!

kkapdolee, is your vehicle description right on BMWUSA.COM?

Yeah mine says its Alpine White! and I ordered Estoril Blue..

I just assumed it was because the production hasn't began yet and they would update the image once production starts. My dealer sent me the order sheet and everything on there is correct. It's probably just the website.. I hope..

Either that, or maybe I'm getting your car?
:)

Why would it randomly display Alpine White for you and Estoril Blue for me???? Hopefully the problem is with the website and not our orders.

Yeah..

I'm going to ask my CA about that today. I'll let you know what I find out.

Ditto on needing to get a production week from the dealer. I have seen them go into production a few days after ordering (like my last purchase), or it can take months. As far as the incorrect color showing up, it is fairly common. The likely explanation is that the dealer had an allocation order with those color choices. This far out they can change it at at any time, and the system takes a while to reflect the changes. If your order build sheet is right, you should get the right car.

I did see an order build sheet from my dealer but how do I know it's the "official" one or just one that dealer put together on his computer using excel or something?

I saw my order sheet with all the negotiated prices when the dealer first ordered the car but then when I asked him to port install a Sport grille later on, he sent me a new sheet with that additional order but with different pricing this time. The base price of the 3 series went up this year about $380. When I asked about the price increase, dealer said I will be price protected with the one I negotiated in the first place. But this makes me think the order sheet he was showing me wasn't set in stone official?

Any idea?

I got lucky. It was minus one days for me. I put my order in on the 30th of October. Production started five days later.

It's not a website problem. The allocation process assigns a color to the car so that if it isn't allocated to a special order customer it gets built and shipped to the dealer that way. Think of it this way: you have intercepted a car that was supposed to be made differently. Your dealer has to input all of the new information to override what was already there for that particular allocation. Once your new detail is in the system it will update on the BMW website.

But big picture, know this: the BMW tracking website is awful. It's always behind, it lacks good detail. What you need is the BMW telephone number which you can call 24 hours a day and learn the true status of your build.

Call: (800) 831-1117 Say "Vehicle Production Status" when prompted.

BJ

Cool. Thanks.

Yes, this is why I never used this site in the first place when I had my e90.

Krash, mine says Alpine White and I ordered Jet Black so I wouldn't worry about it - I spoke to my CA about it as soon as I saw it and he assured me the order is correct and the website will update that later.

BJ - thanks for the number. Calling now!

Once you get your VIN the fun really starts.

You are about to experience 'the black hole'. For weeks, it will look like nothing is being done on your car. It will say that production has started. Two weeks will go by. It will then say its in the paint shop. Another week will go by. You'll start to get frustrated. Then, suddenly, you will find out that your car is halfway across the Atlantic Ocean and shipped a week prior.

Once that bit of pain/joy happens, you are relieved of BMW tracking your car. From there, there are two really excellent websites that will tell you precisely where your car is including a satellite tracker showing your vessel and it's every move on the water. It's how the process works. We all go from being a proofreader to a factory foreman to a steamship captain. It's pretty funny what it takes to get this car in your garage.

BJ

Great, thanks. I just talked to my CA too. He said the same thing. It's all good.
:)

Holy crap! The phone system says my vehicle is in production with the estimated completion date of Jan23! Whoa!

Yes, I used Vesseltracker before. I think I'll log into that and see if my account is still valid.

awesome!

Sweet!

The next bit of important information comes from your dealer. You need two things: the complete VIN and the name of the vessel that the car was put on (once shipped). Only the dealer can give you this information. Both the BMW website and the phone number stop giving you detail once it is in the status of "production complete awaiting shipment". Once you hear that you are in that status, you hound your dealer daily until he gives you the vessel name.

BJ

Most use this site. Same detail, and free.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

BJ

Haha! Will certainly do that! Thanks again for all the tips!

Make sure you get the VIR, vehicle information report from your dealer. He can make a pdf of it and send it over. This and the production number will ensure you have the correct car built to your specs. A number of members on this forum and received cars with incorrect spec, such as auto instead of manual. It is very important you check the actual VIR before production begins. This will save you weeks if the wrong car is delivered and you have to do the whole process over.