My Euro Delivery Disaster

[b-thumper]

So I am new to the M3 forum here. I've happily driven an E46 M3 for the last 8 years. After spending about 4 years working on color and interior options (causing me to miss the E90 order deadline), I had a production number for my dream E9x M3. A 2013 E92 in Atlantis Blue with Blue deviated stitching and the Indvidual Piano trim. What could be better than to drive my dream car in Germany, "Individually" customized, and around the Nürburgring?

My flight arrived early into MUC on Friday the 10th. I am checked in at the Welt shortly after 8am for an 11am delivery.

Killing some time around 10:15am, I go down to the gift shop. I notice a selection of touchup paints and initially think to myself, "Oh they wont have my color". I walk up and see my color! BUT WAIT! Pulling it off the shelf I notice it's Atlantic, not Atlantis blue. Putting it back on the shelf I am SHOCKED to see that there is an Atlantis blue touchup bottle behind it! JACKPOT! What are the odds that a non-standard color in the ENTIRE BMW CATALOG would be available here in there small selection of touchup paints?

At 10:40 I find myself back in the lounge, watching all the happy people accept their new vehicles. At this point, I notice a US-spec M3 (judging by the reflectors in the bumper) and think "Wow, someone has an Atlantic blue M3 on the same day as my Atlantis Blue". Oh no no no no no..... it hits me. THAT IS MY CAR!

I RUN to my laptop and check all my paperwork/emails. YES, they all say Atlantis Blue. Before I had narrowed it down to the final color choice, it even mentioned the paint code in earlier emails.

At this point, I start to notify the front desk of my situation. They kindly refer me to the gentleman who will be doing my delivery experience. He could not have been nicer, but I made it clear; we have the wrong color car! He fetches the complaints resolution lady who initially tries to convince me that BMW does not make paints in colors that differ by only one letter. I responded by telling her we can go together to the gift shop and buy both Atlantic and Atlantis touchup paint at this very moment.

After waiting for BMW Individual North America to come into the office, as well as my dealer, we discover that the error was likely at the factory in Germany. There is talk of possibly repainting the car (which I expressed as an impossibility). I want a new M3, as originally specified.



After 9 hours at the Welt, I am given an X1 to drive. The gentleman who showed me to the vehicle could not have been nicer. While I was happy to have a car to avoid a rental car, an X1 is hardly the car I had in mind. Due to the logistics of my trip, the only opportunity I have to go to the 'ring was on Monday the 13th. Instead of driving an M3 with a standard transmission, I have a crossover SUV and a slushbox. I made my one lap in the X1 and was thankful to be off the track as quickly as possible. It's an okay touring car, but woefully in adequate for any kind of track use. I wanna cry!

Later on Monday, I receive confirmation that the error was in fact in Germany and that they will be building a new car for me. Not only that, but they would like me to return to the Welt to pickup the Atlantic blue M3 as a loaner for the remainder of my trip. While I am ecstatic they have a new allocation for me, I am informed that they will be unable to include the deviated leather stitching that I requested. The problem lies in the fact that the M3 is only in production for another 6 weeks and the lead time on the interior is 8 weeks. Some options like swapping the interior from the existing car were offered, but much like repainting the car, it will never be 100% authentic and I can only imagine it will lead to a world of squeaks and rattles. It's not a stretch to say that the Individual program is the very reason I am buying an M3 and to have the interior missing is unacceptable.

On driving the E92 M3 loaner; it was too little, too late. I LOVE the car, but 80% of the driving I had planned was already complete by the time we received the M3 and more importantly, I had already missed my chance at driving it at the 'ring.

At this point it would appear that BMW is so rigid in their production processes that they are unable to correct their own error. If the interior takes an additional 2 weeks lead time, call they supplier and have it rushed! If that is not possible, have the car stored until the interior is ready. It simply doesn't take 8 weeks to make that interior. There is always a way to make this all work out.

While I enjoyed my time in Germany, it ended up being thousands of dollars spent on the wrong vacation. Nobody has offered to reimburse me for my airfare or offer me any financial compensation for the inconvenience. Unless you consider two free tickets to the BMW museum financial compensation.

In any event, this is not resolved at the time of this posting and I am posting my story as a cautionary tale and as a public plea to BMW to make this right. They are trying to make things right, but I am having some serious doubts. Here we are, more than 9 days later and I am left with a hope and a prayer that they can build my car as desired.

It almost goes without saying that the outcome of my situation will greatly influence my desire to own any future BMW vehicles.



As an aside, on the day I returned for my M3 loaner, I ran into a US couple of German ancestry that was there to pickup their new 7-series. They do this every 3 years. In their situation, BMW revealed that their car had been damaged about a week ago and that they would be unable to pickup the car that day. It BOGGLES THE MIND that they would not provide notification before they left the states for Germany. Not only that, but they offered to have the car repaired for them, instead of another new car. It is shameful how they decided to handle that situation and those owners were rightfully livid.

[Curt2000]

WOW! I couldn't imagine the sinking feeling you felt in your stomach when you realized that they painted your car the wrong color...I probably would have cried. You should get in contact with your sales rep and have them try to get BMW to refund your tip costs and/or pay for your return trip since it was obviously ruined by the factory's screw up.

I hope everything works itself out!

[Ezio]

Idk what kind of obligations you have on the car, but if BMW wouldn't help you with some kind of reimbursement i wouldn't buy the car. on principle, but thats me.

[Kwando]

Sorry to hear about your situation friend. While I'm surprised BMW let you take the brand new M3 as a loaner, I think they should be compensating you with round trip tickets to pick up your M3, maybe even all expenses paid because the second trip is absolutely unnecessary. They really messed up. I can't believe they would expect you to take more time off work and book another trip out of your own pocket. I know for me it would be quite a burden to do that. I hope it all works out in the end and I'm sure she'll be worth it after you get her safely back home.

This is the first time I've seen this Atlantic Blue..although a stunning colour I'm not sure if it's right for the M3..not agressive enough.

The silver lining in this is that it could've been worse; like the F10 M5 owner who had a catastrophic engine failure during his delivery experience.

Keep fighting until they make things right!

[IND-Distribution]

Thats insane! Did they say how long you will have to wait now? Assuming they will put your car into production asap.

Kinda digging that Alantic color on the M3. I might be alone on this.

[spotshooter]

Bummer. I did a Euro Delivery on my 135i a few years back and the whole experience was great. Best of luck dealing with BMW... maybe they will cover airfare and some hotel expenses for your return trip?

[lsmkr01]

OH MY LORD!! I would have been sick to the stomach if I were in your shoe's. I hope they correct the situation properly when you return to claim your correct car. Would be nothing for BMW to cover airfare and lodging for you considering it was their fault things didn't go right the first time.

[jdogg2000]

Ohhhhhh, that atlantic blue is . Your Atlantis blue is going to be so stunning though!

[CD2534]

I wouldn't expect this from BMW. This is very upsetting, although mistakes happen they are doing nothing to right their wrongs! I would demand compensation for the trip, a brand new m3 with ALL your specifications, as well as a free trip back out to pick up the car you were supposed to get the first time.

On a side note i've never seen that blue before. It almost reminds me of a permanent hue that silver stone takes on in the absence of light.

[S65V8]

Dude, OMG, what a horror show. I am so sorry to hear what happened. Do not let this go silently into the night my friend, keep up the good fight for what is right and owed to you. Taking that much time off work again, and paying for another trip - that's an insane amount of $$$ to be paying again IMO. I hope they make this right by you soon.

[Majin Buu]

Do they really make colors that differ in name by ONE letter? Perhaps they should rename the colors in order to reduce the chances of error. One typo is all it takes to sour someone like the OP's experience. I'm personally nowhere near as picky as the OP though. Wow, 4 years just to choose colors and options!

I personally couldn't care less about stitching and what not. I'd have taken the car and bullied them into giving me a decent $$$ discount, then went to the ring and drove the hell out of it

[w00tw00t]

wow what a horror story.. OP I really feel for you man... what a goof up!

[calintexas]

Very sorry to hear of your experience. Overwhelmingly, people report having a great time with Euro delivery. I've often thought there must be a downside as the risks of something going wrong is so great. Beside factory errors and damage to the vehicle during handling by both BMW and the shipper, there is the owner driving on unfamiliar roads, dealing with road signs and language issues. Additionally, I'm pretty sure (based on some personal experience) there is no place to park in much of Western Europe.

Hope a solution is found that leaves you satisfied. It is difficult to manage as production comes to an end. It's a tremendous task to run out of everything at once. You can't just dump what's left over on the parts group. They know what will sell and at what rates, and will only carry a certain amount of inventory. Production and materials people get very resistant to "specials" at those times as they are under a lot of pressure to end production smoothly with no residual inventory.

[GOLFFRR]

First off I wanted to let everyone on here know that the OP is a customer of ours.

Checa as well as Mr. Thomas himself are doing everything they can to get this resolved. As everyone knows there is no way to control BMW, and there was no way we could have or the OP perceived something like this happening The car was submitted correctly and like all orders doubled checked before and after the incident. Just a mishap on BMW side.

I can PROMISE you we are doing everything we can to make this right. We have told BMW that we want the car delivered in the specs as it was ordered and now we are waiting to hear back from the upper levels at BMW. We are dedicated to fight for whats right, but we are at the mercy of BMW.

Checa should have some more updates from BMW tomorrow.

Once again this sucks and I can totally understand your frustration. Lets see what BMW brings to the table, they are usually really good at making things right.

[alee0729]

In some ways, it's better to have this happen at the Welt vs taking delivery state-side, discovering the error, where it certainly would be too late to get it corrected. It's a real shame it happened, but with 6 weeks left in the production run, I have to believe it will be corrected.

[emanresu]

Originally Posted by Majin Buu

Do they really make colors that differ in name by ONE letter? Perhaps they should rename the colors in order to reduce the chances of error. One typo is all it takes to sour someone like the OP's experience. I'm personally nowhere near as picky as the OP though. Wow, 4 years just to choose colors and options!

I personally couldn't care less about stitching and what not. I'd have taken the car and bullied them into giving me a decent $$$ discount, then went to the ring and drove the hell out of it

Yup. Same here. Assuming I could get a large enough discount, I would have just taken what they gave me

[Disciple7]

No offense but you should of just let them repaint the car, it's just paint, if the interior was exactly what you wanted then just do that. Yeah it sucks and you should definitely be compensated.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Nightmare !

[Curt2000]

BMW will loose a substantial amount of money by eating this car and taking another production slot for individual after they have supposedly stopped individual orders. For this reason, I would see if they would cut their losses and give you a heafty discount on the car...if its a lease you may get it for like $200/month

[Hyperjack]

Originally Posted by Gom3rPile

I wouldn't expect this from BMW. This is very upsetting, although mistakes happen they are doing nothing to right their wrongs!.....

this.

things go wrong, people make mistakes....that's fine. i can accept that as a consumer. but, the manufacture has to take steps to make this wright. especially when that very consumer has spent a good deal of money to be in the position to buy the product.

BMW should make this right.

[Hyperjack]

Originally Posted by Curt2000

I would see if they would cut their losses and give you a heafty discount on the car...if its a lease you may get it for like $200/month

at the very least they should offer the OP this. this is an example of trying to make things right.

[Hyperjack]

Originally Posted by Ezio

Idk what kind of obligations you have on the car, but if BMW wouldn't help you with some kind of reimbursement i wouldn't buy the car. on principle, but thats me.

aaaaaand THIS.

OP, after all the time and money you've spent....if things aren't made to your liking....walk away.

don't settle. spend your money on something you like completely.