Picking up my “baby.”. Sorry for keeping all of you waiting for the final moment, but I wanted to walk you through every step of my European Delivery experience. If you remember, it all started with the morning moments spent in the Premier Lounge enjoying those amazing sandwiches and German pastries. Shortly after, I began my Product Info tour, and we left off just before I was introduced to my new BMW 335i.
After my introductory tour, I had a few minutes to pick up my things from the lounge (by the way, you can actually lock them up and retrieve them whenever you’re ready). I was supposed to meet Ms. Lange again in front of the Premier Lounge, where the LCD panels, numbered A1 through A3, are located. Since my AAA batteries ran out during the Product Info Tour, I had to run outside the Welt, near the U-Bahn station, to buy more. It’s a short walk, so I was back within 5 minutes.
Here is the monitor A3 where my delivery tour began. As you can see, my name was on the board, along with the delivery time, the dealership name, and the delivery specialist.
From this point on, your delivery specialist will walk you down the stairs to where your new BMW awaits. At this moment, the excitement peaks— I was really anxious to see my car. Was the Montego Blue really what I wanted? Did I like the black interior with the aluminum trim, or should I have chosen the classy wood trim? Thousands of thoughts raced through my mind, and honestly, I could barely hear Ms. Lange speaking.
From what I gathered, everything is controlled by the delivery specialist through her Pocket PC, which she held the entire time. As we approached the final steps, she pushed some buttons on her gadget, and the turntable started to spin, revealing my car shining under the lights like a star.
Once again, I focused more on video recording rather than taking photos.
Ignore my German buddy :) He was probably more excited than I was. He kept calling my car a “little rocket,” and he wasn’t wrong! :)
And here it is— my “sweet little rocket.” The color was EVERYTHING I had imagined. I debated until the last moment whether to choose Alpine White or Montego Blue. I’ve had many other cars in silver and gray, so this was a big change for me.
During the process, Ms. Lange continued talking about the car, explaining some basics, and touching on the sport package, summer tires, and the lack of a spare tire due to the standard run-flat tires.
I’m not a big fan of the wheel style; I think I prefer the 5-spoke wheels found on the coupe version, but I can’t be too picky now, can I?
Here’s another video
Once again, my German friend was full of questions :) Funny thing— he lives just 5 minutes away from the Welt, so I’m sure he visits quite often. And now, the moment I had been waiting for: the smell of a brand new car. And I was right— the black interior looks perfect with the aluminum trim. My family’s X3 has the Beige/Wood combination, which I love, but I think my combo suits the 3-Series really well.
I forgot to mention that during the presentation, another BMW employee came by to take a photo of me with my car. Within a few minutes, they returned with the photo in a nice cover.
At this point, the only thing left to do is sign your name on the delivery specialist’s Pocket PC, and you’re good to go. In my case, I chose to linger a bit longer on the Premier Level. Also, if you’ve just flown in and have luggage with you, the luggage service will bring it to your car during the actual handover. Remember, the fuel tank is only about a quarter full, but that should last for at least 100 miles.
On average, the process of handing over a new car takes 40-45 minutes. Before you leave the building and drive down the ramp from the Premier Level, you’ll receive a key tag with a personal engraving, the photo taken earlier, and of course, all the keys to your new shiny car.
Since I was planning to attend the Factory Tour, I decided to leave the car with the Valet Service, another complimentary feature offered by BMW. You simply drive down the ramp, exit the Welt, and leave the car with the valet. When you’re ready to leave, just see the BMW Customer Service Agents inside, and they’ll bring your car up front.
In my case, since I was at the Welt for another 6-7 hours, the valet service had ended for the day, but my car was parked outside, so I just had to request my keys from the front desk.
This pretty much concludes my BMW European Delivery experience. I had a wonderful time, and I’d like to thank my friend and partner, Mr. Irv Robinson, from Motorwerks, Barrington IL. Once again, he made this whole process go smoothly and without worries. This is my second European Delivery through Irv, and I can already say that in 2-3 years, I’ll be going down this road again.
I’ll probably write another article on the BMW Welt itself, as the building, features, and entertainment inside are absolutely fabulous. So, stay tuned— you won’t be sorry.
