Frustrating Euro Delivery After Dropoff

[themiraj]

So I took delivery on November 5th in Munich and drove around Europe for a few days. Absolutely rad. Went through the Alps to Lake Como, then down through northern Italy to Monaco and dropped it off in southern France. That was all great. Now it's January 6th and I still don't have my car. I know, I know... long shipping times to the west coast. Well, the problem is that I've been told my car "will be here today" about 3-4 times. In fact, my car is STILL being held by customs down in L.A. What is even more frustrating is that the boat it was on made its next stop in Tacoma (30 miles from Seattle), but my car was offloaded in L.A. anyway! Does it have to go through L.A. customs for any west coast delivery? I want my damn car! /whine

[masamune]

Yes, they go through the Port Hueneme VPC. But European Delivery...what's that? It's probably on cinder blocks in Compton by now

[Milk Run]

I dropped mine off November 6th. Our cars were probably on the cargoship Dream Diva together.

My dealer told me that my car was released to transport and might be here on Saturday.

[TTG]

Originally Posted by themiraj

What is even more frustrating is that the boat it was on made its next stop in Tacoma (30 miles from Seattle), but my car was offloaded in L.A. anyway! Does it have to go through L.A. customs for any west coast delivery? I want my damn car! /whine

Yes, they all have to go through LA.

ED cars get redelivered to West Coast between 8-10 weeks.

My 1st ED made it back exactly in 8 weeks, the second one made it in 9 weeks due to customs delay in LA (see sig).

Where did you buy your car from?

[cmk227]

Well first mistake was dropping it in France. What were you thinking. I called when i picked mine and was told by BMW ED department that if I drop it in any other location other than Germany it would have to go thru custom again and that could take an additional two-three more weeks just to enter Germany. from there it would be transported to Bremenhaven and than loaded on a ship.

[Raz335]

Originally Posted by cmk227

Well first mistake was dropping it in France. What were you thinking. I called when i picked mine and was told by BMW ED department that if I drop it in any other location other than Germany it would have to go thru custom again and that could take an additional two-three more weeks just to enter Germany. from there it would be transported to Bremenhaven and than loaded on a ship.

That's completely false. There is no customs check to enter Germany from France. The only reason a Munich dropoff would be quicker is the fact that trucks leave more frequently from there due to more volume of cars. In France, there's less ED cars and they have to wait until they have a full truck before taking them to port.

My last ED was back in 2007. I dropped the car off in Munich,Germany and it took 8 weeks to redeliver on the east coast (NY). My car also got stuck in customs which is why it took so long. The wait is agonizing because you're paying for a car you can't drive.

I hope you get your car soon.

[valeram]

If I am not mistaken, if you drop your car in France, the car will be first delivered back to Germany before shipping it to the US of A. Anyway, your car is already here and just waiting to be released. The wait is almost over.

[outie]

It took mine 9 weeks from drop off in Frankfurt to get here. Apparently 8-10 weeks is the norm for west coast re-delivery since last year. I do want to point out that it only spent 3 weeks on the boat, and the rest was mostly being held in customs.

Good luck, you will get your car soon.

[persian54]

if on ED, you didn't have to make payments while waiting, that would be perfect

[///Matthew]

I left my car at BMW Welt on 12/20. It just showed up on the Elektra yesterday, and should leave the port on 1/8 arriving on the east coast on 1/20. We'll see how long it gets held up in customs/VPC.

[PKL]

Waiting 8 weeks for the car is enough, another 8-12 weeks after ED, I would go insane.

[w00tw00t]

agreed - this is why I didn't do ED ... the wait would have driven me bananas.. especially after having sampled the car.. I'd rather do a seperate euro trip on my own

[Raz335]

Originally Posted by ///Matthew

I left my car at BMW Welt on 12/20. It just showed up on the Elektra yesterday, and should leave the port on 1/8 arriving on the east coast on 1/20. We'll see how long it gets held up in customs/VPC.

Wow, that's an unusually long amount of time to get on the ship (especially with a welt drop off). I bet it's because of the Christmas/New Years holidays and bad weather combined.

[lve2xlr8]

My car has been "at the port awaiting a shipping vessel" since 12/15. I share you frustrations.

Btw we got the same color! How did you like it in person?

[Jones]

Originally Posted by w00tw00t

agreed - this is why I didn't do ED ... the wait would have driven me bananas.. especially after having sampled the car.. I'd rather do a seperate euro trip on my own

Yes the wait is painful but you've never driven your own car 150mph legally on the Autobahn or through Alpine passes or on the Nurburgring or taken it's picture in front of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Also, if you're a pragmatist, there's the difference in price. When all was said and done, including paying for the trip, I think I pocketed about $3,000 in savings. Look at it as buying the car at US invoice with the free trip thrown in.

[w00tw00t]

Originally Posted by Jones

Yes the wait is painful but you've never driven your own car 150mph legally on the Autobahn or through Alpine passes or on the Nurburgring or taken it's picture in front of Neuschwanstein Castle.

Also, if you're a pragmatist, there's the difference in price. When all was said and done, including paying for the trip, I think I pocketed about $3,000 in savings. Look at it as buying the car at US invoice with the free trip thrown in.

yeah but for me ... the wait would still drive me crazy... and with my wife along, we would have spent lots of $$ on a euro trip.. . I'll just take my m3 to the track sometime this summer!