# How Are Cars Stored?



## mapezzul (Jun 14, 2005)

adrian's bmw said:


> ED is a different animal entirely, IMO.
> 
> In PCD, you don't make date requests and give them three choices like ED. They give you one date... that's it. If it doesn't work, you reply by email that you'd like such and such date. They hit you back and say, it's not available or it's available. It's been this way for years and it's worked. Then you reply with another date, and usually at that point, most clients just take the original date that's offered. There's scores of reservations being made. I truly admire the logistics coordinator there. She rocks. What's tough is that there's also others who wanna take PCD as well, so it's like bunch of people wanting to go to a concert with limited seating. If you can't get tickets, you have to wait for the next show. It's pretty straight forward actually. Is it a PITA sometimes?Occasionally, if you have a schedule or travel conflict, it can be. PCD can't control that. But they can do their best in trying to fulfill other available dates that might be suitable alternatives. You can't pin it on the CA though. The CA is basically the intermediary of communication. He makes the request, then we wait until they offer a date. I have to confess that 9 times out of 10, the original date offered is usually taken.
> 
> ...


I get what you are saying..... my point was that it is not like the CA did not know the dates available and the customer got shafted in a sense. When I called them they rolled off a list of dates; none were exactly what I wanted but I made it work. When I did my First ED none of the dates I wanted worked either but I knew that going in as my CA told me not to be surprised that the dates are full. The concert analogy is a good one. I just think that if people are told up front the dates are hard to come by and they may need to make some concessions it would be better than: What date do you want?

Best of luck and as always thanks for the insight!:thumbup:


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## adrian's bmw (Feb 14, 2003)

mapezzul said:


> I get what you are saying..... my point was that it is not like the CA did not know the dates available and the customer got shafted in a sense. When I called them they rolled off a list of dates; none were exactly what I wanted but I made it work. When I did my First ED none of the dates I wanted worked either but I knew that going in as my CA told me not to be surprised that the dates are full. The concert analogy is a good one. I just think that if people are told up front the dates are hard to come by and they may need to make some concessions it would be better than: What date do you want?
> 
> Best of luck and as always thanks for the insight!:thumbup:


The issue is that the CA _doesn't_ get provided a list of dates in PCD. They now get an email and it says this date have been reserved. The CA doesn't get a list of dates for PCD....it's so popular now that it's become increasingly difficult to even make a revision since many other CA's are asking for reservations as well. So in Berliner's case, since there was a conflict in scheduling, since he was offered one date and that date didn't work, well, they were already full for December. In that sense, it's alot like ED during the Spring and Fall. It's just packed. It's not like you can tell the all those other customers, whoa!, my client was here first, outta my way, that date's mine. We're just at the mercy of scheduling and others making reservations as well.


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## I-Won-Today (Feb 21, 2007)

Berliner BMW said:


> Jonathan,
> 
> Thanks for clarifying BMW's intent with respect to the PDC program. As a corporation interested in customer feedback, I have a recommendation. BMW needs to introduce transparency into the scheduling process by posting a "read only" version of the delivery schedule either on BMW NA Owner's Circle or perhaps here, on Bimmerfest. This would allow those contemplating PDC delivery to get a sense for how long they will have to wait to schdedule delivery. Then, the customer and not the CA nor BMW, can make an informed decision to wait and take delivery at the PDC or arrange for dealership delivery. Currently we have no situational awareness on available delivery slots. Honestly, BMW is a technology leader in the world and most of us are spending $50K+ on a Bimmer, so its hard for me to accept the fact that BMW can't develop a more repsonsive, customer friendly scheduling process.
> 
> ...


I appologize that you are having a difficult time with the scheduling. As Adrian and mapezzul have pointed out, we are very transparent. If what you say is true and a reservation form was sent in on November 1, I don't see why you would not have received a delivery date from us by now. If you would like, send me a PM with the last 7 of your vin and name and I will see what I can find out.

The reason we do not have any only availablity calendar is because it changes to frequently. The last thng we want is for it to appear available online, but that day already be filled before we can get it updated. A dates availability can change 10 times a day.

You can however ask your CA to confirm a date for you, but place you on a stand bye list for an earlier date if someone cancels. Keep in mind that most of our cancellations happen within two weeks of a date so you may need to be flexible.

We schedule on a first come first serve bassis. When you client advisor submits a reservation form, it is processed in the order we receive it. We even switched to an electronic email system to keep better track of this. We ask that the CA send in a reservation for a vehicle prior to it starting production. If it arrives later than that, unfortuantely we will most likely be full.

Once we process the reservation, we send the CA an email with the first available delivery date. They are responsible for contacting you and determining if that day works. If not, we ask that they give us alternate dates for the 10 days following the delivery date that was offered.

Another thing that happens and most customers and CA's do not realize is that when we change the vehicle over to us, it goes into Priority 9 which will bump it up in production. This gives us some buffer room when scheduling. So in some cases, if your dealer does not send in a reservation form for delivery here, your vehicle may have not been built until the middle or last week of November. By that not beeing clearly pointed out, it appears that you are having to wait longer to take delivery of your vehicle here vs. taking delivery at the dealer. In your case, you would still have a wait. I can only assume that your vehicle was already being built when the reservation form was sent in.

As far as just taking delivery at the plant, there is no factory delivery. The Performance Center is located about a mile away and we have no direct ties to the factory. Unfortunately one of our limitations here is product specialists for delivering a vehicle to you. If you come here to just take delivery, you are still taking a slot from someone that can participate in the entire program. Currently with our staff, we can only deliver 6 vehicles a day.

As with European Delivery, BMW of North America wants you to have a direct relationship with your dealer. We cannot sell or service a vehicle for you. In actuality, the BMW Retail Center still owns the vehicle until you have signed and paid for it. We basically have to have their authorization before we are allowed to do anything with it. Hence the reason we have a Reservation, Cancellation, and Release Authorization Form that must be completed by your center.

Once again I appologize that you can't take delivery of your vehicle sooner at our facility. Hopefully this helps clarify the scheduling process as well. As I said earlier, please send me a PM with your info if you would like for me to take a look and see what is actually going on.

Thanks,


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## Me530 (Feb 17, 2005)

I-Won-Today said:


> Currently with our staff, we can only deliver 6 vehicles a day.


If you need any more staff, where does the line start? :angel:


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## Andrew*Debbie (Jul 2, 2004)

Me530 said:


> If you need any more staff, where does the line start? :angel:


They might just be able to squeeze in one more set of deliveries, but it would make for a very hectic time. Track time could be tight too. Having just been there I think they are limited by the number of delivery bays. We took delivery in the Lobby. They close the Lobby during deliveries. After pulling our X3 out the front door, they got ready to roll in another delivery car.

Shop space for Detail and techs (for PDI) may be a limiting factor too.

With more vehicle production in SC and the strong Euro, BMW should build a mini-Welt here in the States.


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## jmonier (Mar 2, 2002)

synergest1 said:


> All kidding aside, I doubt the car is in S.C., it is most likely in NJ in BMWNA warehouse. Not sure what that place is like, but of it were me I'd take the car now and head to S.C. for a driving school.


Just to clarify, the cars for PCD come into Charleston, SC and then go by rail to the delivery center in Spartanburg. When the Performance Center is ready for them they are trucked across the road to the Performance Center. (Of course, X5/Z4 start out at Spartanburg.)


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## BMW Power (Jul 25, 2007)

jmonier said:


> Just to clarify, the cars for PCD come into Charleston, SC and then go by rail to the delivery center in Spartanburg. When the Performance Center is ready for them they are trucked across the road to the Performance Center. (Of course, X5/Z4 start out at Spartanburg.)


My car had 1 mile on the odometer, that is the lowest of any car I have ever bought.


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## jmonier (Mar 2, 2002)

BMW Power said:


> My car had 1 mile on the odometer, that is the lowest of any car I have ever bought.


It was the same for me. I was amazed (happily) that they even truck the cars across the road from the delivery center to the Performance Center. I contrast that with the Oxnard (CA) VDC where they put on over 2 mi just DRIVING the cars from the ship to the VDC.


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