# Another Euro Delivery Trip – Germany, Italy, Monaco, Switzerland, Austria in 2 weeks



## MB330 (Oct 18, 2005)

Vr00m said:


> For those of you with California re-delivery, some useful info:
> 
> Port Hueneme VDC (Vehicle Distribution Center) is on 5650 Arcturus Road, Oxnard, CA 93033. The telephone number is (805) 271-2400


Good luck to call them!
"Do to security reason we can't tell ANYTHING! ".


----------



## Gran Turismo (Aug 7, 2006)

Vr00m said:


> Switzerland
> 
> •	You do not need to get a 'vignet' (sticker allowing use of the roads) ahead of time to drive in Austria and Switzerland, but border patrol might get you to purchase one when crossing. Credit cards are accepted, but you will have to park the car and go inside the customs office.


Allow me one slight correction here:
This Swiss "Vignette" toll sticker (valid the entire calendar year + 1 month before and after the labeled year) is required only for the use of motorways and those expressways with green signposts and labeled with an 'A' like i.e. A13 (or 'N' on older maps). 
All other roads signposted blue or white are free of charge. This also applies for some locally funded shorter expressway-like bypass roads signposted with 'Keine Vignette'.

Ok, if you enter Switzerland already on a motorway then you're pretty much required to buy a Vignette at the border. But depending on a carefully chosen itinerary through the Alps avoiding motorways (the free roads are usually much more interesting to drive in a BMW!), a Vignette may not be necessary. 
Apart from border patrol offices, those Vignettes can be bought at every service station or post office. Oh, and from highway patrols with an extra SFR 100.- surcharge if getting caught without on a motorway!


----------



## Vr00m (May 16, 2006)

*ED Damage Insurance Contact*

A little update for those unfortunate enough to have done a little damage during your adventure.

Kelly M. O'Neill is the current contact person for damages to European Delivery vehicles.
Kelly requires a fax or scanned copy of your EH Harms Condition Report, and mentioned that as long as the damage to your vehicle has been noted on the Condition Report and is under $5,000, your dealer may proceed with the repairs to the vehicle and send the 
repair invoice for processing. Will keep you posted on the progress.

Contact info is below:

Kelly M. O'Neill
Assistant Vice President
Claims Manager
BMW N.A. Claims Processing Center c/o Marsh, Inc.
601 Merritt 7
Norwalk, CT 06856-6010
Phone: (203)229-6514
Fax: (203)229- 6647
[email protected]


----------



## Vr00m (May 16, 2006)

Gran Turismo,

Thanks for the details. I was "unlucky" enough to be on the freeway at the border crossing.


----------



## Vr00m (May 16, 2006)

Hi emdreiSMG,

Hotel des Bains was sweet! Like staying in a museum, but a luxurious one. Beautiful property with swimming pool, with the beach opposite the street, walking distance from the little town center. Free bus to the boat shuttle. Free boat shuttle to the other Sheraton properties on Venice island and San Marco square. And a beautiful boat ride at that. Highly recommended, and my favourite of the few properties I stayed at in Italy.


----------



## epoints (Apr 17, 2006)

Vr00m said:


> Just to continue the story, the car has arrived in the US and has been re-delivered, without the damage incurred on the roads in Italy and Germany repaired.
> 
> To find out what vessel has your car if you dropped it off in Munich, email [email protected]
> 
> ...


Great write up.. :thumbup:

A week in VDC? That's not bad...

My car is on Bellona and has pulled into port on 11/8/06 - So, maybe I will see my baby in one week?

Who is your dealer?

I have a cracked windshield in Germany. I guess the dealer would have to fix it instead of VDC?


----------



## Vr00m (May 16, 2006)

*Repairs through Allianz Insurance - Update Part 1 - Summary*

As promised here is the final chapter (hopefully) in getting the damages incurred in Europe repaired and paid for by the Allianz insurance.

In summary:

1. Make sure that all damages are marked clearly on your E.H. Harms Condition Report
2. Take photos of the damage in Europe
3. Have the damage repaired by the dealer that sold the car to you, not another BMW dealer
4. Point out all the damage to your dealer when picking up the car 
5. Have the insurance contact information available for your dealer
6. Contact your insurance contact with the damage information and photos before starting the repairs
7. Educate your dealer
8. If you want a loaner (Hah!) reservations are required weeks and weeks in advance

Bottom line - I ended up getting all the damages fixed without paying a cent.:thumbup:

One thing I have to say though is that the level of incompetency with the BMW dealers I have come into contact with is astounding for such a quality product. I get better service buying a $6 book at Amazon! It would not surprise me if BMW loses a lot of business due to this, which is a shame.


----------



## Vr00m (May 16, 2006)

*Repairs through Allianz Insurance - Update Part 2 - Detail*

In Detail:

It took me a while to get confirmation from BMW NA on the correct insurance agent as no person in the dealerships I have dealt with had a clue. Even BMW NA took a long time and a number of emails to finally get the story straight. If it were not for this wonderful site...

My dealer had told me that I could get the damage fixed at any BMW dealer, and since there was one much closer to my house, I decided to take his advice. Even though I was hesitant due to the miserable sales experience I had there, I went to SouthBay BMW in Torrance anyway.

Well, the service manager who was friendly enough had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Ironically, there was an ED bimmer in front of his office, which I pointed out to him. He asked me how I knew. Mmmh, what gave it away....oh yeah the Munich temporary license plates. :rofl: I provided him the photos, the EH Harms and insurance paperwork, the insurance contact. He wanted to keep the car there, but could not promise it back in time. So, I did not leave the car there that day, expecting him to get the research and internal paperwork completed.

Two weeks later I dropped the car off for the repairs on a Saturday. For a loaner car you need to reserve weeks if not a month in advance, so luckily I still have my POS to drive around. He would call me that Monday to give me a status on the repairs. Needless to say, he did not contact me, and I had to contact him on Tuesday to ask him what the deal was. The email address on his business card bounced. The direct dial number on his card was an incorrect number. Through the switchboard, I was able to leave a message. I also left an email by trying various permutations of his name to create the correct address, but no response. Finally at the end of the week I get a hold of him, and he mentioned that his boss, the service director, did not ok the repairs and that I had to go back to the selling dealer. Why the F*&$ could he not have told me that 3 weeks prior, or at least told me before leaving the car there all week!? Meanwhile my lease is ticking by.

AVOID SOUTHBAY BMW in Torrance

So I drop the car of at Center BMW, where I had purchased the car. No one there has a clue about how to handle ED Damage and ED Insurance claims, so once again I had to provide them with the procedure and told the service manager that I had given their sales agent the insurance contact information. A couple of days later I contacted them to find the status. Surprise, surprise, they had not started anything as they did not know how to handle the insurance. I asked whether they had called the contact, and the response was, that they did not have the contact information. In other words, too lazy to contact the sales agent, who sits 20 meters away to get the contact info. So, I get an email address to send the info to, which bounces back. I call back and am told to leave the information on the service director's voice mail. A full week later after having left my car there I get confirmation that they will repair the bumper and the windshield, but not the wheel, as it was not noted on the E.H. Harms form.

More emails and phone calls with the insurance agent and the dealer. Luckily I had provided the insurance agent with all the photos of the damage prior to this drama, and she was able to get Allianz in Germany to ok the repairs. I sent the confirmation email to the service director....and yes...it bounced again. I called up and tell them to fix my car and that I will bring in a printed copy of the insurance agent's email.

Bloody hell, what is the deal with these dealers! 

Finally, after they kept my car for 2 weeks, everything was repaired. The repairs were beautifully done, and I did not pay a cent for them.

It was a good thing that I had brought a printed copy of the email that was sent from the insurance agent to the service director, as otherwise they would not have released the car. Why I had to hand deliver a printed copy of their email traffic, is also symptomatic of the quality of BMW dealers. Why it took 3 weeks of keeping the car, 2 dealers, dozens of calls and emails, educating the dealers to repair a windshield, wheel and bumper is not what I had expected

A lesson for BMW is that a little education for their dealers is necessary. But perhaps I am being too harsh; as the final result was that the damage was fixed for free. I did lose three weeks worth of my lease, but then again stacked against the $2200 repair costs&#8230;.

Hope all of this helps prepare the next person a little better.

Laters!


----------



## mwagner1 (Aug 13, 2004)

Excellent write up and images!!!! The shots of Neuschwanstein are cool.....:thumbup: :thumbup: 

Thanks for all of the information...VERY helpful indeed!!!:thumbup: 

Congrats on the new car as it is gorgeous!!!:thumbup: 

I am sorry, though, that you had some unfortunate issues when the car got home 

Cheers,


----------



## 4tune81 (Nov 30, 2006)

*Bad sales and service*



Vr00m said:


> One thing I have to say though is that the level of incompetency with the BMW dealers I have come into contact with is astounding for such a quality product. I get better service buying a $6 book at Amazon! It would not surprise me if BMW loses a lot of business due to this, which is a shame.


The number of stories on this and other forums about the poor sales and service quality of BMW dealers is astonishing to me. As a manager at a 40 person service business, I realize that it's not easy to keep everyone delivering 100% customer satisfaction and remain profitable, but I'm still shocked by some of the stories I read about lack of product knowledge, wrong phone numbers, bounced emails, arrogant attitude and general incompetence displayed in selling and supporting a high end product.

I know that there are some CAs (like Irv and others) who regularly follow Bimmerfest postings and are clearly above the level of these sad sacks. What amazes me is that all the owners of BMW centers are not regularly reading these threads and working to fix their businesses. Lots of business and $$ is being re-routed from some dealerships to others on a daily basis. Have they not figured out there's this "thing" called the Internet and what used to be a limited range "word of mouth" about negative (or positive) experiences now travels at lightning speed to a large and savvy audience?:dunno:

All I know is that if there were a public forum where I could monitor the reactions of sales prospects or customers to the behavior and effectiveness of the staff at my business, I would be all over it! Maybe I'm in the wrong business...


----------



## Vr00m (May 16, 2006)

After a couple of years of enjoying the Euro Delivery car, still happy with my purchase, except for the spotty dealer service quality. Love the car!

Attached is a little updated photo and some notes:

- Replacing the run flat tires was crucial as the ones that came with the car were not only noisy as hell but dangerously slippery.

- Added a little tint to the windows. Formula One Pinnacle.

- Added a Valentine One radar detector. Paid for itself many times over already.

- Added an iSkin Cerulean bluetooth receiver hidden in the middle console to get stereo tunes from the iPhone without wires. Wouldn't it be great if BMW could add bluetooth stereo as a software upgrade?

- A few minor issues: tire pressure gauge is broken, small rattles from inside the cabin.

To those thinking about Euro Delivery........*GO FOR IT!*


----------



## Escondido (Sep 14, 2006)

*Great Post Vr00m!*

What a great and detailed review of the trip and everything before it. I am looking forward to my second ED. This time in October. First one was January. I am having nothing but the best experience with Philippe at South Bay in Torrance. He is a real up front guy. First ED was with Continental Motors in Oceanside (Ziggy). He was great too. Too bad he is not with BMW anymore. Thanks again for the great posting and pictures!!!:thumbup:


----------



## Vr00m (May 16, 2006)

*I wish*

Back in Germany, at the Nürburgring, and what a delicious experience that is. For anyone thinking of places to visit during their Euro delivery, this is highly recommended!

You can either drive your own bimmer around the racetrack for 22 euros a round, or do a BMW Ring Taxi where you will get to sh!t your pants as a passenger in an M5 driven by a pro.

The complete track was closed however for a race. Spectacular! Just the sound of those cars makes your heart beat faster! M3s, GT3s, Lambos, Astons, Merc SLS AMG (the sound of this one was something special) . Be sure to check when you plan to go, as you will not be able to drive on the track when these events are on. There are plenty of spots by the side of the road that will give you hair-raising close views of the racing on the track and the ring. It is still amazing to watch, and the roads near the track are amazing to drive as well. Roads in Germany are like butter, and people understand that the left lane is for passing only. (Unlike in the US, which drives me up the wall!!!)

Attached are some photos of the area, price list of going around the track, the fine print of driving on the track, and a tasty M3 on show at the racetrack.

I wish I was doing another Euro delivery this time, but instead I rented a walnut on wheels. See photo for giggles. The rental car in blue (a Ford!) is parked next to an 'A' series Mercedes (Not sold in the US...too small), which itself is not that much bigger than a Smart car. And this blue monster towered over a number of cars on the autobahn...gives you an idea of the trend in size of cars in Euroland. Took that bad boy to 106 mph before it maxed out. :rofl:

Next time I will be going to the Ring in an M.


----------



## adc (Apr 1, 2003)

Vr00m said:


> The complete track was closed however for a race. Spectacular! Just the sound of those cars makes your heart beat faster! M3s, GT3s, Lambos, Astons, Merc SLS AMG (the sound of this one was something special) .


Where is that overpass where you shot the race cars?


----------



## john lance (Oct 15, 2005)

What was the experience in Austria, whereby you needed the International Driving Permit?


----------



## LandsharkBMW (Jul 25, 2008)

Saw you were in Monaco for your ED, I was just there last week (not on a ED though). They were having a huge yacht show and BMW was a sponsor, I had a chance to drive the M3 simulator below. It was crazy how the car moved up and down based on the driving inputs. Unfortunately I did terrible.

Also, great call on the drinks outside the casino. In my picture you're looking at 36 euros for two drinks, but I did see my first SLS AMG.


----------

