[ktula]

Wow! Great minds think alike. I heard Jim was a very experienced CA when I was in the market and workied with him entirely through emails. ED is truly a wonderful experience. Our ED took a little longer route to get home since we drove it around the Pacific Northwest for another 1k miles before sending it on its final voyage home.

Jim was wonderful to work with. Here's my favorite car photo from the trip. That was taken before I stepped on a pile of dog doo doo in this Alsatian vineyard ***128518;

 

[808dakine]

Jim was wonderful to work with. Here's my favorite car photo from the trip. That was taken before I stepped on a pile of dog doo doo in this Alsatian vineyard ***128518;

View attachment 900831

Ahh, good memories I'd bet. Turns on the Nurburgring was the highlight for us, ok - more for me.

 

[pharding]

Thanks everyone for being a great community of BMW Enthusiasts and great advice! My 6 BMW Euro Deliveries were awesome.

Without BMW Euro Delivery I have moved on to Tesla. BMW Euro Delivery Participants were among the most loyal BMW Enthusiasts, like me and my wife. Had BMW Euro Delivery not been gutted we would have stayed with BMW. Whomever decided to gut the BMW Euro Delivery was an idiot. Probably the same idiot that bailed on BMW battery electric vehicles after a great start. BMW is suffering from a lack of vision. Upcoming Frankenstein BMW battery electric vehicles will not work.

 

[GTfan]

This is really upsetting

There are far worst issues in the world, but I don't get this decision. I picked up a 535 GT in 2011 and a M240 convertible in 2017. Fair, or not, I think I am now officially off BMWs. The purchasing of both BMWs was so intertwined with the pick up in Munich. I am onto looking at the brands that still offer Euro delivery for my 50th birthday. I was beyond a brand ambassador (believe the purpose of the program). Sadly, no more. It's odd to me that they canceled this program.

 

[Dave 20T]

I am onto looking at the brands that still offer Euro delivery for my 50th birthday. I was beyond a brand ambassador (believe the purpose of the program). Sadly, no more. It's odd to me that they canceled this program.

For now, the Covid-19 pandemic is preventing travel so it makes no difference in the very short term.

I recently read an article about BMW's large quarterly loss resulting from not cutting costs as much as other car company's have. Of course, costs are production costs, not European Delivery. The cost of European Delivery is a drop in the bucket.

The latest US European Delivery is a hybrid between different levels of service offered to Germans. I wouldn't mind if they use the same level, say the standard level. Some of the added extras for Americans over the standard level is the airport pick up and full tank of gas. Airport pickup is available for the higher level of delivery that Germans can select.

Actually, it used to be even more complicated when Germans could select a low level of service, which included delivery at the edge of the Welt floor where there's no turntables for the cars. I wonder if they put just 2 cups of fuel :rofl:

I would do European Delivery even if the program were much simpler for them. For example, I would be happy to pick up the car in Munich and be required to return it either in Munich or the ports of Bremerhaven or Antwerpen/Anvers.

At one time, another car company had a European Delivery program for Australians. It was so bare bones that after drop off in Europe, the car was then delivered to one port in Australia where the customer had to go to the pier to retrieve the car on his own. If BMW wanted to save on costs, I would be willing for them to cover some of their European Delivery overhead in return for picking up the car among a selection of Brunswick, GA, Port Hueneme, CA, or Baltimore.

 

[1northcar]

Thanks for the opportunity JSpira.

This was my last sign in at the Welt:

Below I have provided a link to the thread containing narrative and photos from my most recent European Delivery Experience. At least I still have the car to enjoy as evidenced by this photo from last week:

https://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=832606

 

[DShatzer]

Our third and, alas, final ED will be this September 14th at 1000. We're hoping BMW will restart the ED program in some form or fashion after the coronavirus gets resolved.

 

[tsoc88]

It was a thrill for me to do two EDs. Alas I left the BMW brand this week to move to a Tesla model 3. While BMW has many choices they missed the opportunity in the EV market and I feel will never catch up with the supercharging infrastructure that Tesla has built.

 

[JSpira]

I’m waiting to see how I like driving the Lucid EV and I do agree that BMW does seem to be lagging in this area. Having lived in Munich whilst pursuing my graduate degrees I did learn to never underestimate the Bavarians, however.

 

[SeeYal]

The Bimmerfest Sign-In book has a long tradition here, dating back to the days of the Freimann Delivery Center on the Lilienthalalle. We started a brand new sign-in book on 23.10.2007, the day deliveries began at the BMW Welt, and I was proud to be the first to sign the book as the first customer to take delivery.

Since very few members of the forum will have the opportunity to sign in at a future date, I created this virtual sign-in book so that everyone could sign one last time.

Please treat this thread just like the sign-in book, hence no replies to others' posts. Let everyone have one final chance to have the sign-in experience

I owe this forum a great debt. I met some wonderful people here both online and IRL, and I'm not sure if I would have ended up starting a travel magazine had I not first began posting trip reports here - and spending many hours answering member questions about two of the cities I consider and have called home, Munich and Vienna.

Thank you for such great memories and for allowing me to share my journeys with you.

Always enjoyed reading your trip reports... Felt a little like I was there... Never had a chance to get that experience - I.e. I am from Belgium, so the European tour thing never felt like something I had to do, plus, I always buy my BMW slightly used to avoid the hammer of fast depreciation... We will miss reading you... Thank you

 

[Jon Shafer]

I was so determined to get one final European Delivery done for a buyer when came out of retirement last Fall. I booked several and things got pretty crazy when BMWNA announced "Sunset". Unfortunately and due to the virus it was all for nothing, every single one came undone...

:-/

 

[jschulman]

I definitely enjoyed my one and only European Delivery in 2008 when I picked up my 535i. Probably the best vacation I ever had. I always meant to go back for another one, but it never happened.

 

[skywalkerbeth]

NOOOOOO they are stopping the ED program? I was hoping to do one next year or so, when I was ready to replace the X1.

I will always have wonderful memories of picking up Hannah Belle with my Mom in late May 2008.

Thank you so much to everyone who may remember me from that time, and all the help you gave me then.

 

[JSpira]

NOOOOOO they are stopping the ED program? I was hoping to do one next year or so, when I was ready to replace the X1.

I will always have wonderful memories of picking up Hannah Belle with my Mom in late May 2008.

Thank you so much to everyone who may remember me from that time, and all the help you gave me then.

So good to see you posting here and sorry you are first learning about the news. You were a great contributor to this forum!

 

[skywalkerbeth]

Thank you so much, Jonathan! You created such a fun and very valuable resource. I've learned so much on Bimmerfest.

 

[JSpira]

Thank you so much, Jonathan! You created such a fun and very valuable resource. I've learned so much on Bimmerfest.

Very kind of you to say. But I'll give full credit to the Bimmerfest ED Community.

 

[Vorlauf]

I just found out that the ED program was canceled! I hadn't bothered to check into it for several years. Soooo bummed, I was seriously thinking about ED for a 2021 M3 or M4. Waaay back in 2003, we did Euro Delivery on a titanium silver 2004 330cic (convertible) at Freimann, with the fairly rare removable hardtop. It was a great experience, although the center itself was nothing like the Delivery Center is today. Freimann was more like a converted garage near one of the factories. Over the next 10 days, we (wife and two pre-teen daughters) drove to Venice, Florence, Innsbruck, Oberammergau, Neuschwanstein and back to Munich. We have great memories and photos, although no photos on this computer to post at the moment. And one stressful memory - my wife accidentally navigated us into old Florence on an ancient street. I had to flip the mirrors in at one point to make it through!

Edit: Forgot to mention, still have that car - 110,000 miles but like new! Today, wife drives an X3 Diesel, daughters drive an X3 and X1, and I have a Beemer K1200RS. Were are BMW junkies.

 

[3ismagic#]

Really bummed they are canceling the ED program. My ED in 2011 was one of my favorite trips across the pond. Hey maybe FCA will allow Alfa Romeo ED.

 

[JSpira]

I just found out that the ED program was canceled!

Really bummed they are canceling the ED program. My ED in 2011 was one of my favorite trips across the pond. Hey maybe FCA will allow Alfa Romeo ED.

Sorry you both had to find out after the fact. Of course given the plague, the move wasn't completely surprising. The handwriting was on the Wand given the changes to and devaluation of the program.

I feel fortunate having done European/Factory Delivery well over a dozen times as an adult and several more as a kid but we would have driven around Europe in a car of our own anyway as my parents also did short-term leases for Opels and Peugeots, but for those who got to see Europe for the first time by car it was truly the experience of a lifetime.

 

[jcatral14]

Sorry you both had to find out after the fact. Of course given the plague, the move wasn't completely surprising. The handwriting was on the Wand given the changes to and devaluation of the program.

I feel fortunate having done European/Factory Delivery well over a dozen times as an adult and several more as a kid but we would have driven around Europe in a car of our own anyway as my parents also did short-term leases for Opels and Peugeots, but for those who got to see Europe for the first time by car it was truly the experience of a lifetime.

What are the chances they bring it back?