Realistic wait time shipping to OKC?

Hi all,

I'm going to be dropping off my first ED in Paris on June 10th. What is a realistic expectation for delivery in Oklahoma City? Dealer says 30 - 45 days.

Oh, and in case you are wondering...

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GermanRoots

I would say 30-days is way optimistic, but 45-days is reasonable.

I dropped off my car in Munich on 5/15 and it will be unloaded in Brunswick, GA 4 weeks later on 6/11. I expect a week to clear customs & VPC and then get scheduled on a truck plus another week to the dealer. (I am doing PCD so schedule after truck is different).

That's 6 weeks total, but realistically I would add a week for Paris dropoff - assuming less traffic and lower frequency of trucks to Bremerhaven for ~7 weeks.

I'm not sure I'm correct about -any- of the following (happy to be corrected) but just riffing off the little I know..

Assuming the car will leave from Bremerhaven, and assuming it would be off-loaded in Brunswick (again, assuming both-- or maybe just taken for example sake,) looks like next ship from Bremerhaven is June 15, arriving Brunswick on July 1.

Since I can't think anyone would be certain your car would be on that ship with a drop off on the 10th in Paris, next one is arriving Brunswick July 9th.

Shipping from Brunswick (or wherever) to your dealer in OKC, I have no clue about-- but it clearly will be a bit of a journey from any BMW port in the US.

But, in any event, certainly concur that 30 days seems way overly optimistic-- unless everything hits juuuuussst right.

I see there's also:

BREMERHAVEN- GALVESTON,TX 19/06/2012 10/07/2012

No idea if they use that one, but, if so, wouldn't seem to be any/much better.

I think one of the biggest unknowns is the time from the non-Munich dropoff point to Bremerhaven. In my case, I dropped off in Geneva on April 30. The next day was a national holiday and nothing was done. My car was put on the Grand Mercury which departed Bremerhaven on May 23. I know that there was a May 10 departure (I forget the name of the ship) and I thought my car should have made that ship easily. It's a mystery to me.

And, my car has spent the past 3 weeks sitting in New Jersey waiting for customs clearance. Too many variables. Week 8 begins on Monday. 30 days is waaaay over optimistic. The BMW site estimates 7-8 weeks as an average.

I'm at:

drop off the ship - 3 weeks
ship - 1 week
customs 3 weeks

They think it will clear by Monday, then I still need to wait for the VDC, where I do need a bumper repair, then probably another week to ship to dealer.

I'm figuring maybe 9 weeks total if my luck changes.

WTF - 3 weeks in customs!?!?

Most folks are getting through in 1-2 days.

Originally Posted by pcbrew

WTF - 3 weeks in customs!?!?

Most folks are getting through in 1-2 days.

Yes, this seems overly excessive. Even the cars I have seen that were chosen for additional inspection only took an extra day or two (beyond 1-2 days). Think you should get on the horn with your CA or BMW and find out what the story is on your car.....

Is that to say that a Munich drop-off will get my car to me faster? Also, if I do the South Carolina pick up, does that speed it up?

Originally Posted by GermanRoots

Is that to say that a Munich drop-off will get my car to me faster? Also, if I do the South Carolina pick up, does that speed it up?

Expect Munich to be fastest due to the high traffic - figure 5-8 work days to get on a boat.

PCD will probably add a week, if your dealer is on east coast or Midwest. Probably a wash if on West coast.

Originally Posted by squareroot

Yes, this seems overly excessive. Even the cars I have seen that were chosen for additional inspection only took an extra day or two (beyond 1-2 days). Think you should get on the horn with your CA or BMW and find out what the story is on your car.....

I've been talking to both. Daily. I think they're not telling me something.

Originally Posted by GermanRoots

Is that to say that a Munich drop-off will get my car to me faster? Also, if I do the South Carolina pick up, does that speed it up?

We did ED followed by PCD, and it was 7 weeks to the day that I dropped off in Munich. Could have gotten it 7-10 days earlier if I had it dropped off and shipped to the dealer in NJ.

Originally Posted by pcbrew

Expect Munich to be fastest due to the high traffic - figure 5-8 work days to get on a boat.

PCD will probably add a week, if your dealer is on east coast or Midwest. Probably a wash if on West coast.

Just for reference....we dropped off our car in Munich on 5/29, not scheduled to be on ship until 6/15....which is 17 days. I think we are getting into the summer months and the shipping volumes increase. Log-in-out was packed with cars in all parking spots.

Originally Posted by HWF

...In my case, I dropped off in Geneva on April 30. The next day was a national holiday and nothing was done. My car was put on the Grand Mercury which departed Bremerhaven on May 23...

Wow, that really puts things in perspective! Even figured-in as somewhat of a "worst case."

In any event, I think all-- or almost all-- would surely agree that the "30" in "30-45 days" is just not realistic in this case. For that matter, in the majority of cases-- although clearly a well-timed drop-off-- and say with a dealer delivery in the North East-- and with a good amount of luck-- could certainly be 30 days. But with a drop-off elsewhere in Europe and a pickup in Oklahoma City, I think it can be ruled out entirely pretty much and I for one would say to expect the full 45 days (and be happy for it, in this case.)

As many have pointed out, euro delivery is -not- a good plan for those in a rush to get their cars on the road in the States. I know I'll never buy a new car any other way, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone that was expecting to have the car on the road here in substantially less than 2 months.

And, of course, as we are now in June, really is the serious possibility that anyone doing a ED drop off this month might literally miss almost the entire summer driving season (if one cares about that kind of thing) here.

I can help with my timeframe. I live in OKC and am currently waiting for my BMW after ED. Currently, my car is at the VDC after clearing customs. I dropped off my car in Munich on May 17th. It was loaded on the ship on May 30th and unloaded at GA on June 18th. I will update when I take delivery of the car. I agree with the other posts that for OKC expect at least 45 days.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by thunder7

I can help with my timeframe. I live in OKC and am currently waiting for my BMW after ED. Currently, my car is at the VDC after clearing customs. I dropped off my car in Munich on May 17th. It was loaded on the ship on May 30th and unloaded at GA on June 18th. I will update when I take delivery of the car. I agree with the other posts that for OKC expect at least 45 days.

Hope this helps.

Thunder7: I'm on a ship, should arrive at Brunswick on 8/9. I'm curious how long yours took from Brunswick to OKC. Thanks!

Did you drop off on June 10th in Paris as was your original plan?

After docking at port on June 18th, I picked up the car from the dealer on June 29th. About 11 days. Your delivery could be different if it needs to spend more time in customs or the VDC. Mine spent about 2 days in customs and 3 days in the VDC. Ground transport took about 3 days. Been enjoying the car ever since.

Jon90 - yes I dropped off in Paris as planned on July 10th.

Per thunder7's input, if Integrity ports in Brunswick on 8/9 as scheduled, and customs / vdc / ground transport takes 11 days to arrive at my dealer in OKC, I'm looking at an 8/20 delivery. This would total a 41 day timeline from Paris drop off to OKC dealer. I can live with that. Fingers crossed that it actually happens.

Originally Posted by GermanRoots

Jon90 - yes I dropped off in Paris as planned on July 10th.

was wondering what went wrong, because in your OP here you wrote June 10-- not July 10:

Originally Posted by GermanRoots

Hi all,

I'm going to be dropping off my first ED in Paris on June 10th. What is a realistic expectation for delivery in Oklahoma City? Dealer says 30 - 45 days.

Whoops, sorry about that. It was July 10, not June 10. Sorry for the confusion.

Originally Posted by squareroot

Just for reference....we dropped off our car in Munich on 5/29, not scheduled to be on ship until 6/15....which is 17 days. I think we are getting into the summer months and the shipping volumes increase. Log-in-out was packed with cars in all parking spots.

How did you find out the scheduled date that your car was to be on ship? Whom did you contact?

For anyone who might be interested. Here is how things have turned out since my original post.

July 10: Drop off at TT Paris
July 21: Loaded on Integriy at Bremerhaven
August 10: Off-loaded Integriy at Brunswick
August 14: Cleared Customs
August 18: Cleared VPC
August 24: (Scheduled) Redelivery in OKC

Totaling 45 days. Seems like 45 days is a reasonable expectation for anyone trying to predict on their own.

From what I've gathered, customs could have gone one day faster but an employee was out sick. VPC was operating at peak volumes, so not much give there. Waggoners has more orders than capacity, per their dispatch BMW is cancelling some of the Waggoners orders and using alternate carriers. Bottom line, if the stars aligned on all stages in the process I might have my car 5 days earlier, but I'm not going to complain. It sounds like some folks on the forum have had some issues that stretched it out much longer than 45 days. I'm just glad I made it through as planned.