[okumam]

For those of us with little experience picking up our BMW, what general advice do you have?

Things to do, things not to do, things to ask....?

[DanG]

Make sure they give you complete instructions on operating your X5. Especially have them explain the iDrive screens.

Check the X5 to make sure it has no visible damage both inside and out. Be sure to check the wheels that they have zero damage.

[peelerec]

If you plan on properly protecting your new vehicle (ie. ppf, ceramic coating, detailed) then ensure to instruct dealer to not wash the vehicle. Swirl city once they touch it. Congrats on your new car!

[10"]

picking up a new car day is one of the most fun and exciting new days as a car enthusiast! the most important thing is to plan a day that is fun for you! Think of a good place to eat or stop after you pick it up—-and get ready for a very nervous 1st drive in it out in the street! 😊

[ppointer]

Originally Posted by okumam

For those of us with little experience picking up our BMW, what general advice do you have?

Things to do, things not to do, things to ask....?

I would have the dealership send you the driver profile invitation prior to your delivery. I ended up making two additional trips back to the dealership to get driver profiles set up correctly.

[BMWILUVU]

Originally Posted by ppointer

I would have the dealership send you the driver profile invitation prior to your delivery. I ended up making two additional trips back to the dealership to get driver profiles set up correctly.

There is a thread on the forum somewhere with a checklist. You may want to hunt that down.

[amrazM]

make sure your car is shown in the system as customer sold, on bmw's end not the dealer.


we used to do this at my dealer because the sales advisors were too lazy to put it into bmw themselves.

[happyjack]

Originally Posted by DanG

Make sure they give you complete instructions on operating your X5. Especially have them explain the iDrive screens.

i think most dealers offer a one-hour session with a "bmw genius" to walk through all the iDrive stuff. you can do it on the pick-up day, or schedule the hour at another time. on our X3 -- which was CPO -- i sent my wife back to the genius twice, and the dealer was very accommodating.

[86Zed]

Enjoy it!

Make time to take a good once over of the interior and exterior of the car from head to tow. Our rear bumper valence was damaged (cracked) in transit near the tow hook region, wanted to make sure it go fixed on their dime. Dealership noted it and allowed us to drive off and bring it back a few weeks later for the fix and a complementary full detail.

[Westside Guy]

Originally Posted by happyjack

i think most dealers offer a one-hour session with a "bmw genius" to walk through all the iDrive stuff. you can do it on the pick-up day, or schedule the hour at another time. on our X3 -- which was CPO -- i sent my wife back to the genius twice, and the dealer was very accommodating.

This is an excellent suggestion. Aside from the time my salesman spent with me on learning the instrumentation and functions controlled by iDrive, my dealer has a great "Genius" and she is always available for your questions.

Learning how to properly use iDrive is very important and also a safety measure as you don't want to be distracted while you are on the road trying to figure out how to use or change a setting.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by 86Zed

Enjoy it!

Make time to take a good once over of the interior and exterior of the car from head to tow. Our rear bumper valence was damaged (cracked) in transit near the tow hook region, wanted to make sure it go fixed on their dime. Dealership noted it and allowed us to drive off and bring it back a few weeks later for the fix and a complementary full detail.

100%.

Do not let the excitement of picking up your new car dissuade you from looking everything over extremely closely. Get the car out in the daylight if at all possible and walk around the car looking at all panels in the daylight at different angles. Do not accept the car if there is any damage not agreed to prior.

On my latest purchase, a Frozen Blue M4 CS, I had not seen the car prior in the sunlight (every time I had seen the car it was overcast/cloudy). When I went to finally pick the car up, the car was sitting in broad daylight and at certain angles I noticed many issues with the frozen paint. Had I not inspected the car prior to the sale, I'd have been on the hook for the roughly $4k in repairs which are being made to the car right now as part of the deal.

Inspecting the car carefully is absolutely crucial.

[br438]

As has been said - have them walk you through drive modes, settings, shifting, parking brake, wipers, and lights. ... a couple of times until each of you have done it.

Then - iDrive - if they're willing, have them set a couple of the 1-8 shortcut buttons to stuff you will use.

Have them Setup driver profiles and assign them to a key (if you are doing more than 1)

Then give the car a good once-over before driving off/away. Be polite, but don't be apologetic for this. Take your time. It's a LARGE expenditure. It's worth looking around.

When you get home (congrats!) I would plan on spending some time in an open area with the car running - just paging through iDrive and finding out what all you can change and how you want to set it up. I did a few sessions at night in the driveway. After that, I've largely left the deeper menus of iDrive alone.

[floraburris]

Originally Posted by peelerec

If you plan on properly protecting your new vehicle (ie. ppf, ceramic coating, detailed) then ensure to instruct dealer to not wash the vehicle. Swirl city once they touch it. Congrats on your new car!
fireboy and watergirl

Thank you my friend!

[RichF90M5C]

I had my car ceramic coated before collection, so the guy doing it was able to go over the whole car with a fine tooth comb for me. I’ve had a load of BMW’s, so know iDrive very well, so the whole handover took around 20 minutes.

[jab23]

Bring somebody else with you. They will notice things you won't since you'll be so excited. Congrats on the new car!

[Glen e]

There’s plenty of time to learn all the features, but the one main thing that was discussed above that you must do is go over the car a fine tooth comb when it comes to all the paint and fit and finish, both inside and out. It is the ONLY time that you can catch something and they will have to admit it is a dealer or manufacturer problem. Once you take it home and then come back and say the car was scratched or you found a defect, they can, (not always) blame you and say you did it later. But when you catch it before driving, there’s no doubt that it is their responsibility.

I was a GM and manufacturer rep for Bmw for several years, I can tell you this is the most important thing you can do.

[SoCalJon]

I assume that it's reasonable to ask for a test drive of the vehicle if it was a special order and you haven't driven that specific vehicle. Am I right?

[ZL9M2]

Originally Posted by Glen e

There’s plenty of time to learn all the features, but the one main thing that was discussed above that you must do is go over the car a fine tooth comb when it comes to all the paint and fit and finish, both inside and out. It is the ONLY time that you can catch something and they will have to admit it is a dealer or manufacturer problem. Once you take it home and then come back and say the car was scratched or you found a defect, they can, (not always) blame you and say you did it later. But when you catch it before driving, there’s no doubt that it is their responsibility.

I was a GM and manufacturer rep for Bmw for several years, I can tell you this is the most important thing you can do.

This^^^ Check every panel, interior and exterior. Check underneath for curbing or scrapes; check each wheel. I've also asked that the dealership not touch or detail the exterior of the car, but that's me. Some don't mind the swirl marks from the dirty towels scraped across the new paint!

[Theruleslawyer]

I'm mostly concerned about cosmetic inspection. Getting a scrape fixed after the fact is much harder. Mechanical things fall under warranty easy. Just make sure you can inspect it somewhere well lit. Clean if possible, but some people don't like the dealer to wash their car. Its just hard to see small imperfections on a dirty car.