brettcoon

The NY dealership I'm dealing with on an M5 order insists that courtesy delivery to a CA dealer is impossible. Yet various posts on this forum, and conversations I've had with some other out-of-state dealerships, suggest it's very much possible. Does anyone know what it takes to arrange such a delivery? I don't currently have a relationship with any local dealers, which may make it a bit harder, but I'd expect them to want to help me since it's likely to lead to ongoing service business.

Advice or success stories (especially in Northern CA) would be appreciated. Even if it's impossible to find a local dealer, I think it would be preferable to take delivery elsewhere in CA or even in a nearby state, rather than shipping the car from NY.

-Brett

INVICTO

Try one of the dealers near the Vehicle Preparation Center (Port Hueneme - Ventura).

Use the ploy of wanting to drive up Highway 1 as your first experience in the car.

I grew up in Santa Barbara and think that most would understand - given the route's inherent attractiveness.

Also, try and get ahold of your BMW market manager - you can get his name from a dealer or from a BMW Owner Circle request. That individual may help you find a reasonable local dealer.

Good luck,

Steve

1C00lVC

I bought my car in NJ, and got it delivered to a local dealer (Dec. 2000). Your NY dealer is BSing you, bacause he doesn't feel like calling around for you.

The incentive for a local dealer to do a Courtesy Delivery are not that great. Beside the promiss that you'll be their customer for service/maintnance and maybe buying your next car there..

My NJ dealer called around, and told the local dealers a story, and promissed them $300 to cover delivery expenses.

I would recomend you approache the "delivery coordinator" at dealers near you, and have a talk with them. Promiss them you'd be thier customer, and you'd cover the cost of delivery (between $200 to $500). Some small dealers would like to have an M5 customer, but where can you find anything small in the Bay Area , maybe in the east bay? Fremont?.

I got mine delivered to BMW SF, I have a friend who's a regular customer of Allison BMW (540i), and he got them to take delivery for him (also from NJ)...

Good luck..

Arie

brettcoon

The NY dealer initially said something to the effect of "how can you pick it up at a local dealer when they already sold all their shipments? They don't have any cars to deliver to you!". I brought it up again a week or so later, asking if they could just get one of their cars delivered to a CA dealer, and the salesman said he talked to their sales manager who told him that BMW ended that program a couple years ago. It sounds like local dealers don't really want to do courtesy deliveries for cars purchased out-of-state, since they no doubt know exactly why we buy cars that way.

Anyway, thanks for the tips. I'll try contacting some dealers directly.

-Brett

1C00lVC

Brett, some dealers understand that there aren't enough car coming to the Bay Area, and sometime we have to go out of state to do it. I am sure that if you find a local dealer to do the delivery, the NY dealer will be happy to comply. BMW did not do away with the program, it is a hasstle for the NY dealer to find a dealer in the bay area, and he'd rather you pick up the car in NY..

Tell your sales guy, "if you arrange for me a curtecy delivery, I'll give you an "excelent" in the after-delivery survey... This seems to motivate them...

MAH

That rating idea is a good one Arie. It just might work.

blue max

Hi Brett,

Why don't you take delivery in NY & have the car shipped yourself?

It's not as bad as it sounds. I have first hand experience with the process having sold my E34 to a buyer in Florida. I sent him some pics & the deal was done. He arranged for a carrier to pick-up the car & he had it in 3 days. Cost ~ $600. The carrier was very professional, they did a very detailed inspection at pick-up. I took some pics & that was it. The car was delivered without a scratch.

If you need any help let me know. I live 5 minutes away from the dealership.

pic after delivery, looks better than when it
left.



[This message has been edited by blue max (edited 29 January 2001).]

robert47

I'll bet you could only get about 10 to 12 thousand volunteers to take delivery and drive your car out from N.Y. to California (including myself). What the heck - take 5 to 10 days and have a vacation! Just remember there are no BMW dealers in WY, MT, or SD as I recall - was there this summer! I can't think of a more enjoyable way to break in the car.

Need4Spd

I am relatively certain that BMW of San Francisco would do it for you. They have about the best service dept. in Nor. Cal. anyway, so you'd want it prep'd there. Call and ask for the service mgr., Shawn Witherell.

kenneth

Blue Max, your E34 M5 looks awesome.

Later,
Kenneth

brettcoon

The current plan is in fact to have the car shipped from NY to CA via private transport. The dealer is looking into shipment options. I have heard, both from the dealer and from others on these boards, that I should expect to pay on the order of $1500 for transport. On top of that, I'll almost certainly want to fly to the NY dealership to take initial delivery, inspect the vehicle, make sure it's really what I ordered, and of course drive it for a few days before sticking it on a truck .

I am considering the option of just driving it back. The biggest difficulty is that the break-in period would make the first 1200 miles of the trip pretty slow going. I figure I'd be doing well to finish the break-in in 5 days, so the whole trip (including 1200 mile service) would probably take about two weeks. It would be fun for me, but my wife wouldn't like it.

Thus, the courtesy delivery option sounds really good: it's cheaper, I potentially get the car sooner, I don't need to take any wife-unfriendly vacations, and if there are any issues with the car I can work on them with a local dealership.

I'll definitely give BMW of SF a call. And the ratings idea is a good one, too.

-Brett

brettcoon

Ack, my car is being ordered today! I told the dealer I can't take deliver before June, but he doesn't want to miss his allocation slot so he's ordering now and planning to hold the car until I'm ready. Guess that makes a courtesy delivery a lot harder, since I doubt most dealerships would want to store a vehicle for a month or two. Oh, man, it's going to kill me knowing the car is just sitting around, waiting for me to pick it up.

To tie this with a different thread, the dealer insists sunshades are incompatible with luxury interior, so I'm going with sport.

-Brett