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Nearly 4 months after ordering my '16 B6 I'm finally driving it!!! This is our 14th BMW and 4th ED and by far the worse experience i've ever had from a transactional perspective. Let me start with the timeline...
Vehicle ordered 5/14
Order acknowledged 5/20
BMW Production Started 6/22
BMW Production Completed 7/13
Alpina Production Completed 7/23
Vehicle Parked @ BMW Welt 7/23-8/3
European Delivery 8/3 - Could not drive the car - Odometer 4.0mi
Return to BMW @ Welt 8/3
Arrived @ New Jersey VDC 8/27
Cleared Custom 8/28
Cleared VDC processing 9/1
Left VDC for transportation to midwest 9/7
Arrived @ Dealer 9/9
Redelivered 9/10 - Odometer 10mi
What went wrong... We were in Europe from 6/5 through 8/4 and were hoping to get at least a few days to experience the Alpina B6 on the autobahn. When placing the order we asked for the earliest ED date and were offered 8/3 which we locked, but because of the fuzziness in the timeline associated with the production of Alpina's we asked if BMW AG/NA would allow us to pick up the car earlier if and when its production was completed. We called the CA, NA support, AG support and Alpina numerous time to secure an earlier pick up time. Alpina was awesome and did everything they could to help, the CA tried but could not fight the BMWNA bureaucrats, BMWNA and AG were horrible and provided minimal insights on the process and show absolutely no interest in helping us. Our anger reached a peak in late July when we learned that the car was fully produced and waiting in a parking lot in Munich but BMWNA would not let us pick it up earlier because they had issued the registration effective 8.3 and would not be able to change it. We new that Welt had several available delivery slots once the vehicle was produced but neither NA nor AG wanted to help. So we took delivery on 8/3 (our flights were on the morning of 8/4) so could not even drive in Munich since the latest drop off time in Munich is 4pm!
The redelivery to the US took 5 weeks and 2 days (vehicle redelivered 9/9). So I now am finally driving my B6. The beast is still in early break-in phase (150mi) so I haven't yet fully tested but early impressions are very positive. I'm hoping that the Buchloe magic touch will help us wash away the nasty experience with BMWNA. I'll post pics and experiences shortly.
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