Tour of the "Delivery Center" (warning: lots of photos)

Before I went to do my ED, I've seen many photos of the delivery center from other people who had done it. But most of the times people post only a few photos of the ED counter and/or their car at the garage.

The photos, while exciting, always made me wonder what the delivery center looks like. If you're interested in seeing more of the delivery center, then read on. I'll attempt to walk you through the delivery process and show the photos I took when I was there

First, the Euro Delivery center itself...



The ED center occupies the rear end of the BMW complex there. This is the rear entrance:



When I went there, I came by the subway (U-bahn) so I came from the rear. From the U-bahn station to the complex is about 5 minutes walk. If you take a cab, you'll come in through the front entrance and your cab can go through and drop you off right in front of the building.

I proceeded to the gate as instructed in the ED packet from BMW NA. There's an intercom by the gate to notify the people inside. Immediately someone came out and opened the gate for us.



We walked in past the lot:





The lot was full with BMW's and Mini's. I don't know if those are cars waiting to be picked up or to be delivered elsewhere or what.

There's also a gas station that is probably used to fill up the cars pre delivery.



Next, the Euro Delivery lobby...

OK, after taking a few photos of the lot, I proceeded through the door...



to the ED counter:



At the counter, I gave them the order letter from BMW NA (came in my ED packet) and my passport. They told me to wait and make myself comfortable while they prepare my car.

They have plenty of tables and seats along in the lobby.



The center also does delivery for their German customers. They have, what I think is, the registration counter inside so people can register their car when they pick it up. Apparently the German customers have to do the registration themselves (I saw one guy picking up his license plates from the registration counter). Fortunately for us, we don't need to do those... our car will already have the license plates mounted.



The stairs in the middle of the lobby go up to the cafetaria (they call it "Bistro" ).



There they have various sandwiches (I had the ham and cheese sandwich which IMHO is very good - OK, I admit that my standard is pretty low), sodas, juices, fruits, desserts, ice cream, etc.

You can enjoy a breakfast or lunch free compliments of BMW NA (you get the voucher with the ED packet). Just tell them what you want and they'll bring them to you. There are also tables upstairs for you to sit down and enjoy the meal.

Next: more of The Lobby...

Damn me at my multi-tasking maddness....

I just edited your thread, and messed it all up...


I'd better go hide now...



Please re-post...

Alls you got ta do is edit your original post...

Originally posted by roots

Why don't they just call it "Factory Delivery"? Obviously you're in Europe if you're reading this sign! Like you might not be sure.

Notice the shelf full of brochures underneath the stairs? Yup, it's a shelf full of various brochures of all models.



They have some unique ones that we don't get here (e.g. BMW Individuals, etc). They already have Z4 brochure too! Here are some that I picked up:



Actually I picked up one of each but before I flew back home I had to throw away some because 1) I didn't have anymore room in my carry-on suitcase and 2) the whole brochures weighed like 10 lbs.

After hanging around in the lobby for about 30 minutes, my delivery advisor came out and greeted me. Then we sat down and he brought out the paperwork and started going through them.



We went over the German tourist registration, then the insurance, then the roadside assistance, and finally I signed the Acceptance Receipt.

My advisor asked me if I need some directions to go immediately from there. I was going to the BMW museum so he pulled a map and gave me the directions (but I still managed to get lost).

We were done with the paperwork in about 15 minutes. Now is the time to meet my baby

We went through that door in the middle to The Garage...

Did you mention the little sugar packets in the Bistro with BMW-MINI logos on them?

Hey, roots, good work. I am enjoying your tour of the "European Delivery" center. Hope to do that with 3er redo in 3 years!

There was my baby!

530i manual in Sterling Gray with Gray leather
Sport + Premium package
Xenon lights
Premium hi-fi
Rear electric sunshade
Rear airbags



I gave it a brief inspection and everything looked good. Then we sat down and went over various aspects of the car (seat adjustments, power windows, locks, lights, OBC, climate control, etc, etc). I'm actually already familiar with 98% of it because I own a 328 and I've downloaded the 530 manual from Owner's Circle and gone through it at least twice



I popped the hood open and checked to make sure I got the right engine



After everything was completed, my service advisor thanked and congratulated us once again and sent us away. Before leaving I took some more photos of the garage.

Have you ever seen this neon light on other people's photos? I always wondered... why they put a neon foot there?





The garage wasn't very busy that day. IIRC there were 3 other deliveries going on. The 7 series across the garage above was being delivered to a couple from Chicago (whom I met later at the factory tour). They were picking up their titanium gray 745Li.

OK, finally we were ready to leave... the exit doors are those on the left (they'll open automatically)

I drove out and took more photos







That concludes my tour of the "Delivery Center". I hope you enjoy the tour and find it informative.

Please feel free to add any comments, corrections, etc.

Here are a couple of photos walking towards the delivery center from the suburban area that surrounds it. You might think you're lost if you follow the directions, since you'll be walking through a residential neighborhood. Bring the address on a piece of paper, since some taxi drivers aren't so sure where it is.

--gary

Originally posted by roots
The photos, while exciting, always made me wonder what the delivery center looks like. If you're interested in seeing more of the delivery center, then read on. I'll attempt to walk you through the delivery process and show the photos I took when I was there

Wow...lots of Tourings!

Cool.

Thanks for posting these pictures! Very interesting.

Oh, and beautiful car, too!

Thanks for taking the time to do that...thoroughly enjoyed the pictures...Now i have an idea of what to expect in 3 weeks...
Picking up on Thanksgiving day...talk about a day to be thankful!!!

Boy, does that bring back fond memories. Nice touch for those who haven't been there. I only took pics of the car and they didn't turn out well because of the license plate reflection from the flash made the shutter close too fast...so they were mostly way too dark.

It looks like you had the same Delivery Advisor that I had when I picked up my 2003 325xiT back on October 9.

He was a gentleman from I believe Haiti, who came to Germany sometime in the mid 1960's. My parents were with me, and he recognized my mother's French accent, so after that the conversations were a mixture of English & French.

Mark

Roots, thanks alot for taking the time.
I really enjoyed all the pictures and information, it makes me want to look into this more.

Loved it! Thanks for posting the pictures!

Originally posted by Keith
Roots, thanks alot for taking the time.
I really enjoyed all the pictures and information, it makes me want to look into this more.

IMHO, everyone should do it at least once.

Roots, thanks for posting such great pictures. I took delivery there on Sep 3rd this year and was too darned excited to really take any pictures and I've regretted it. It was a terrific experience. I agree with those who have done ED that everyone ought to try ED if at all possible and I sure plan to in the future. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Originally posted by roots
Have you ever seen this neon light on other people's photos? I always wondered... why they put a neon foot there?

You mean like this one?

I understand from the gentleman in your picture, Ernst Fortune, that the neon foot is actually taken from the footprint of an elephant at the local zoo. I'll take his word for it.

Originally posted by IndyMike

the neon foot is actually taken from the footprint of an elephant at the local zoo. I'll take his word for it.

Doesn't look a lot like an elephant's foot. I'd say it's the German version of an Alexander Calder piece of art.

I had the same advisor too. Seemed like a nice, patient guy. In some ways that must be a great job-- you're constantly dealing w/ people who are generally in great moods since they're excited to be picking up a new car.

I had the same advisor too. Seemed like a nice, patient guy. In some ways that must be a great job-- you're constantly dealing w/ people who are generally in great moods since they're excited to be picking up a new car.

How does the 530 compare to your old E46? I've been toying w/ the idea of trading in my 325i for a 530i. My recollection of driving several 520is in europe was that they seemed better built than the e46 and seemed more buttoned down on the autobahn.

Autobhans are great. I was able to speed up to 140 Miles per hour[IMG]Paris_to_Munich 006.jpg[/IMG]