how much did your european delivery trip cost you?

[cboneck]

I can't recommend ED enough. I bought my E90 at euro delivery invoice (which as the earlier poster said was around 14% off Stateside MSRP). So I saved 8k got every option available.

Tied it to a business trip in Venice and drove that beast on through the friggin alps on day 1. Also navigation is incredible over there if your getting that option. No maps needed. Then ignored the break in rules and crushed the autobahn on the way back.

Can you say for the win?

Stop thinking and book your flight... You'll feel like a million dollars and have one of life's best memories!

[Bubbles]

3 weeks, air travel, gas, 2000 miles driving, The Ring, hotels, food, great new friends. $3500-$4000 (fuel cost was $1800).

Drove through Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Czech Republic.


An unforgettable experience. I can't wait to do it again.

Give yourself at least 10 days to truly enjoy it.

[positiveions]

first of all, let me say this is, by far, the best useful thread I've even read on this forum.
Second, I would like thank each individual that contributed to this thread.
I am too weighing the ED option. It is something i've always dreamed of. Now that I earned my RN degree, I feel like I can treat myself. And I am going to do it.
Just my two pennies, if you can afford it, stop thinking about money and think about the good times you will spend. If you are limited to resources i.e. money, then plan accordingly without overwhelming yourself with the burden: how am I going to pay that credit card bill? Just enjoy the moments! This is a one time, two times, maybe three and so on event that will forever be cherished.
Thanks again

[VictorH]

If you can by all means do it. It's easy to spend money so I'll try to point out some ways to save.

First what you can't save on and general advice:
1) Gas, no help here, you need to get premium and it's expensive figure at least $80+ each time (usually a lot more if you let it go down below 1/4) you go to the gas station.
2) If it's required, buy the autobahn permits (Austria, Switzerland), if you're caught without one it's expensive (ask me how I know).
3) Don't speed in Switzerland, EVER, don't park in no parking zone, EVER.

How to save:
1) Before you go call your credit card company and ask what the exchange fees are for transactions. They vary by card and in my case the credit union card is better than my bank card.
2) Don't use your cell phone in Europe, even with the "european plans" you still get ripped. If you phone is GSM and you have a SIM card buy a euro one here and then just buy time as needed through whatever network in Germany. Other option which is still cheaper than your US plan is buy a euro phone here and buy time in Europe. Don't upload your time near a country border or you risk losing your time you just bought (ask me how I know).
3) Bed and breakfasts or what the Germans call "Zimmer Frei" can be very inexpensive as low as 30 Euro per night with breakfast. Particularly in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and northern Italy they are uniformly very clean. If you are going with spouse make sure you don't have to go "down the hall" for the bathroom, ask for a room with "bad". Many people, especially young persons speak English so don't worry about language barrier.
4) Restaurants will eat your cash quickly. You can eat just as well at many grocery store meat counters (prepared meals), or if you're really cheap just buy what you need at the grocery store for most of the day and eat out just once a day. if you need to eat out three times per day you're going to kill a lot of time and spend some serious bucks.
5) If you make a major purchase of something you are going to take home, ask for a VAT tax back form. You can save all your receipts and get 19-20% back at the end of the trip at the Customs office at the departing airport.

Other advice:
1) Drive as many mountain passes as you can. This is the environment in which the engineers designed this car and it's fantastic. It's also probably the best type of driving for the engine break-in. However, stick to the rpm and speed limits posted on the window sticker.
2) WOT on the autobahn is over-rated. It's fun but you still have to watch traffic and people pulling out in front of you (they didn't used to do this 10 years ago but it's becoming more common). More and more of the autobahn is becoming restricted so less and less Kms that are truly unrestricted. On many mountain passes on the other hand it's just not possible to maintain the "speed limit" through the twisties so it's challenging and no risk of tickets.
3) Give all bike riders a wide berth. In some countries if you hit a bike it's automatic jail. Just keep in mind they have right of way pretty much everywhere.

Most of all have fun, soak up the environment and enjoy your car in the environment it was designed to be used.

[roastbeef]

this has been a great thread, thanks everyone for the input.

i'm definitely going to take euro delivery- that is not the question anymore. i just need to figure out how to get a better price from a dealer.

[positiveions]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

this has been a great thread, thanks everyone for the input.

i'm definitely going to take euro delivery- that is not the question anymore. i just need to figure out how to get a better price from a dealer.

do you know your time frame? I might do it by next May or june of 2012.

[roastbeef]

well, my goal is to buy a rental property around march 2012, and i'll be ordering my m3 shortly after that.

june 2012 is about the end of the production run of this generation M. i know the next gen will be a biturbo I6, but i'm not sure if i'm going to like the styling as much, plus i already fell in love with the V8.

[cmk227]

Originally Posted by VictorH

If you can by all means do it. It's easy to spend money so I'll try to point out some ways to save.

First what you can't save on and general advice:
1) Gas, no help here, you need to get premium and it's expensive figure at least $80 each time (usually a lot more if you let it go down below 1/4) you go to the gas station.
2) If it's required, buy the autobahn permits (Austria, Switzerland), if you're caught without one it's expensive (ask me how I know).
3) Don't speed in Switzerland, EVER, don't park in no parking zone, EVER.

How to save:
1) Before you go call your credit card company and ask what the exchange fees are for transactions. They vary by card and in my case the credit union card is better than my bank card.
2) Don't use your cell phone in Europe, even with the "european plans" you still get ripped. If you phone is GSM and you have a SIM card buy a euro one here and then just buy time as needed through whatever network in Germany. Other option which is still cheaper than your US plan is buy a euro phone here and buy time in Europe. Don't upload your time near a country border or you risk losing your time you just bought (ask me how I know).
3) Bed and breakfasts or what the Germans call "Zimmer Frei" can be very inexpensive as low as 30 Euro per night with breakfast. Particularly in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and northern Italy they are uniformly very clean. If you are going with spouse make sure you don't have to go "down the hall" for the bathroom, ask for a room with "bad". Many people, especially young persons speak English so don't worry about language barrier.
4) Restaurants will eat your cash quickly. You can eat just as well at many grocery store meat counters (prepared meals), or if you're really cheap just buy what you need at the grocery store for most of the day and eat out just once a day. if you need to eat out three times per day you're going to kill a lot of time and spend some serious bucks.
5) If you make a major purchase of something you are going to take home, ask for a VAT tax back form. You can save all your receipts and get 19-20% back at the end of the trip at the Customs office at the departing airport.

Other advice:
1) Drive as many mountain passes as you can. This is the environment in which the engineers designed this car and it's fantastic. It's also probably the best type of driving for the engine break-in. However, stick to the rpm and speed limits posted on the window sticker.
2) WOT on the autobahn is over-rated. It's fun but you still have to watch traffic and people pulling out in front of you (they didn't used to do this 10 years ago but it's becoming more common). More and more of the autobahn is becoming restricted so less and less Kms that are truly unrestricted. On many mountain passes on the other hand it's just not possible to maintain the "speed limit" through the twisties so it's challenging and no risk of tickets.
3) Give all bike riders a wide berth. In some countries if you hit a bike it's automatic jail. Just keep in mind they have right of way pretty much everywhere.

Most of all have fun, soak up the environment and enjoy your car in the environment it was designed to be used.

Vic,

I really enough your write up. I did the trip last year and it was right on.

[///My5UV]

I took my wife and son for a week and we spent roughly:
$1000/person airfare (could have done miles if we'd gotten the delivery date nailed down earlier, but that won't always happen)
$1000 for an apartment in Munich for a week
$1000 in cash for food, drink, tourist junk, transportation around town (hard to beat the U-bahn for convenience but did a taxi to the apartment to make luggage easy. No rental car needed since we drove the M3 to the airport the day we left!)

We saved a bunch of money (and sanity keeping our 5 year old settled) by staying in one place all week and just doing day trips in the car to the tourist junk (castles, zugspitz, etc.) If you've never been to Munich you can easily spend a week there without getting bored and we timed the trip to hit the spring festival, which is sort of a more family-friendly 1/3 scale Oktoberfest. Bavaria is one of the more kid-friendly places we've been in Europe... people actually take their young kids around with them, as opposed to London or Paris where you'd only see children at museums or locked up in school... even in summer!

[admranger]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

the dealer i went to was telling me that the price they get the cars for is not much over the price you see when you "build" a car online at the bmw website. i'm configuring my m3 to about $74,000.

how are you guys getting a $74,000 car for about $60k? and then bkmk5 got less than $60k with euro delivery? am i misinterpreting some text somewhere?

Quick, call Greg Poland at Pacific BMW and talk to him. You'll get the car for $750 over ED invoice. Greg has been really easy to work with. I have no complaints so far in the process. He does about 5 ED cars per month.

[BMRLVR]

Originally Posted by Technic

No need to go all out, everything and anything that Individual offers is really expensive...

All my Individual extras went into the Rust Brown interior and still some details have not been finalized.

I am aware of the cost of Individual options I bet the new car will look amazing, I almost got Rust Brown in my M but instead went for the Amarone. Rust Brown is AMAZING!!!!

Congrats on the new car and enjoy your ED!!!!

[positiveions]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

well, my goal is to buy a rental property around march 2012, and i'll be ordering my m3 shortly after that.

june 2012 is about the end of the production run of this generation M. i know the next gen will be a biturbo I6, but i'm not sure if i'm going to like the styling as much, plus i already fell in love with the V8.

hey, i might be doing it by then... I hope we can meet up there

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by admranger

Quick, call Greg Poland at Pacific BMW and talk to him. You'll get the car for $750 over ED invoice. Greg has been really easy to work with. I have no complaints so far in the process. He does about 5 ED cars per month.

thanks, i'll have to pay him a visit.

Originally Posted by eatrach73

hey, i might be doing it by then... I hope we can meet up there

yea! two e46'ers meeting up in the motherland for beers!

[Hobdul]

My wife and I did ED in July 2008 to get our 2008 135i. Great stuff. A few thoughts:
-Best driving of the trip was in Tuscany, in Italy, especially the Chianti region (south of Florence, north of Siena). Really enjoyable. The Michelin green guides have some good driving routes in the area. Everyone drives fast, whether backroads (the best stuff) or freeways, and I saw no sign of Italian crackdowns on autostrada speeding--we passed carabinieri in a group at 95mph with no response from the cops, and later consistently held 120mph on the A1 with a group of traffic.
-We were worried about coming home to some major speeding tickets, given the reputation for photo radar in Austria etc., but no issues for us. I was talking to a fellow BMW CCA track-day participant last weekend, and he shared that European countries have no jurisdiction over Americans, so make sure to put off paying any tickets until you get home, then ignore them--apparently some countries are wise to their jurisdictional limitations and try to get you to pay at the time of the ticket.
-Think hard about how car-friendly your destinations are. We went to Florence for 5 days and Budapest for 3, which were great spots to visit as tourists, but not car friendly/cars were unnecessary, so the 1er spent those days parked. If you want to maximize the car experience, adjust where you go. Otherwise, just budget in the parking cost and enjoy your time between cities.
-Decide whether you want to be gentle or rough during break-in. If you're going to the Ring, unless you're driving 1200 miles before the Ring visit and getting the 1200 mile service, you're going to be pushing the car past the ideal break-in procedure. For a lease, no worries, but think twice for a long-term ownership proposition.

My wife and I are hoping to pick up an E92 with ZCP this spring (2012) in Europe and bring home the last (and first) of the V8 M3s. Once you go this route, there's no way you can take delivery of any Euro-built BMW any other way.

[positiveions]

Originally Posted by Hobdul

My wife and I are hoping to pick up an E92 with ZCP this spring (2012) in Europe and bring home the last (and first) of the V8 M3s. Once you go this route, there's no way you can take delivery of any Euro-built BMW any other way.

awesome.

[bigjae1976]

Of course the Euro goes into the toilet AFTER I do ED. Even worse, my swiss speeding ticket would be a LOT cheaper now than 4 months ago.

[dagolfpro]

I might have found one of the last few E90 allocation and they said that I have pick up the car by 12/16/11. Was told that I'll have to rent winter tires as well. Anyone been there in December? Is it still worth going?

[bigjae1976]

There's an article about winter ED in Roundel...I think it was the august issue.

[Poofyo101]

Anyone have any suggestions of a good tour book with maps for Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Austria?
thanks

[RCGM3]

Originally Posted by roastbeef

the dealer i went to was telling me that the price they get the cars for is not much over the price you see when you "build" a car online at the bmw website. i'm configuring my m3 to about $74,000.

how are you guys getting a $74,000 car for about $60k? and then bkmk5 got less than $60k with euro delivery? am i misinterpreting some text somewhere?

You are not misinterpreting anything...you dealer is just lying!! they are all the same.
I took ED in May. USMSRP for my car was 69500 or so and my local dealer quoted me at 64500 for ED. I told them BS and called David Aviles. He quoted me at $60400 ($500 over ED...plain and simple, no need to negotiate). Stayed 11 days in Europe with my wife, drove 1240 miles and spent about $6500.

[dagolfpro]

Originally Posted by RCGM3

You are not misinterpreting anything...you dealer is just lying!! they are all the same.
I took ED in May. USMSRP for my car was 69500 or so and my local dealer quoted me at 64500 for ED. I told them BS and called David Aviles. He quoted me at $60400 ($500 over ED...plain and simple, no need to negotiate). Stayed 11 days in Europe with my wife, drove 1240 miles and spent about $6500.

I spoke with 2 different dealerships on ED, price of ED is 7% off MSRP on the car itself not including the markup on options which is another 9%. So the dealer still room for markup on invoice on the options. $60400 on a m3 is a great deal. did you have other discounts such as loyalty?

[RCGM3]

Originally Posted by dagolfpro

I spoke with 2 different dealerships on ED, price of ED is 7% off MSRP on the car itself not including the markup on options which is another 9%. So the dealer still room for markup on invoice on the options. $60400 on a m3 is a great deal. did you have other discounts such as loyalty?

No I didn't, this is my first BMW. You also save a little bit with each package option you add as those have ED price too. I bought a 2011 E90 M3/AW/Comp package/premium package 2/ convenience package/ premium sound and moonroof for $60400 + tax.
Just email David Aviles with what you want and he'll give you a quote. the only drawback is that you have to pick the from his dealership in Maryland or at the BMW performance center. I actually did ED and PCD on the same car...highly recommended.

Here's the post of my trip with more details
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=549691

hope that helps!