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The delivery timeline is looking like next week still in terms of a truck pulling up to the dealer, but that does not mean I will get my hands on it next week. Specifically, the dealership I am working with that does the diplomatic and military sales program is NOT able to track the vehicle. This means that my X5 M could arrive Monday, but they will not be able to tell me until it is offloaded off the transport truck. It also means it might still be on a ship. It could be sitting in a customs parking lot in Bremerhaven. I do not know. I imagine there is a more structured process that assists in ?tracking? or communicating the location of BMWs that are arriving for European delivery.
The dealer also advised me that it is approximately a 5 day process for them to prep and inspect the vehicle, and for me to get the delivery experience. 5 working days after the X5 M arrives on a truck, they take it out of transport mode, administratively in-process the vehicle, inspect the vehicle, clean and prep the vehicle for delivery, and swap the summer performance tires and wheels for the winter tire and wheel package (based on necessity in Germany this time of year). I have no idea why it takes approximately 5 days. Wonder if it is anything like when German specification BMW vehicles are inspected thoroughly when they arrive from the US plant. Also, not sure how each and every dealer works the delivery experience, but the one I am working with is putting me up in a hotel the night prior, and spending several hours with me on delivery day to provide a detailed overview of all the features of the X5 M and iDrive etc. Apparently, the employee I will meet with is akin to a BMW Genius and has extensive training, and even customer service awards for teaching new BMW Owners.
I also know that if they really wanted to, they could build a network of relationships with the port, the drivers, and the rest of the logistical process of shipping a car from the US to Germany. However, customer service in Germany is just not anything like that. It is really shocking when you first arrive to Germany and have any expectations on customer service. The concept just is not there, unless the business is designed to cater to Americans, such as the military sales. Even then, if my dealer wanted to replicate the customer service of the US, they would be trying to extract this information from German customs officials, and German transportation businesses, so it is probably just to difficult to get all the varied agencies synchronized and communicating to inform the customer.
It is important to mention that this dealership also provided me a free loaner vehicle for a couple months while I waited for delivery. To this day I am still driving a 2017 BMW X5 they provided me. I simply had to register the vehicle and get insurance.
I am hoping to be satisfied with the delivery experience. I believe they are trying to replicate the BMW Welt experience at their dealer location, minus the massive multi-million dollar facility / museum / exhibition center. I was told to not pay for delivery at BMW Welt, but I have no basis for following that suggestion other than believing someone when they told me it is very structured, and time sensitive. I was cautioned that since my schedule is unpredictable, I might get a BMW Welt delivery date, and miss it due to work, and completely lose out because I missed my delivery day due to work.
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