[Lux700]

As a few have said, cars are quite often damaged during transport and then probably quickly and quietly fixed before the customer collects, I was wondering what the situation is regarding collecting the car from the Factory? Is this an option, or is reserved for those who pay top whack and via Park Lane? I confess to not knowing anything about it, but it did get me thinking that it would be quite a nice thing to go and collect your new pride and joy and immediately embark on a mini return home adventure.

[rich100]

For some reason, I don't think that is an option for us in the uk. (Don't know if thats changed recently) Doesn't Make a lot of sense to me though as Bmw allow American buyers to do so and I would guess also those in continental Europe.

Might be worth asking your dealer if it can be done?

[adambmw]

I asked that a few years back and the answer was "no"

[moff]

Yep it's just ridiculous that we can't do factory collection

[Scottiedog]

If you did collect from the factory the car would be classed as a grey import hence why they don't let you do it.

[AlfaM]

Originally Posted by Scottiedog

If you did collect from the factory the car would be classed as a grey import hence why they don't let you do it.

Is that why you can do it with Mercedes and Porsche? It would be a UK spec car built for the UK market and bought and paid for through a UK dealer, so it wouldn't be a grey import.

[djcowlin]

Not even Alpina let you do this any more.

[simon the pieman]

Don't think a car can be registered until it's entered the uk at the pdi centre. If this is so you couldn't tax and insure the car to drive home. And no reg plates too. Might be a way round it though.

[Chas325]

You used to be able to do it on international transfer plates - a guy on the Audi forums picked up a string of A8/RS6 etc. When he got it back it had to goto the dealers to be register d etc

[teaston]

Damage is very common, fortunately TRL got a proper detailer in to prep mine and he found two of the panels in quite a poor state, which he was able to fully correct.

[AndyEssex330d]

If I had the time to collect from the Factory I'd seriously have to look at my priorities!
I've picked up a car with minor damage on the rear spoiler before, just had it repaired and dealer agreed to replace the spoiler or allow me to reject the car if I wished.
I think its more how the dealer deals with you as the customer and the damage, honesty and transparency goes so far in awkward and sometimes heated situations like that, It is only when the dealer is so far up themselves or don't 'care' about you as the customer is when it can get shitty. VW springs to mind...never met a manufacturer whos dealerships seem to only employ bellends!

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

I collected my last car, an Audi A6, with no apparent damage.

A couple of weeks later I heard something sliding around somewhere, but couldn't see anything. Then, my little boy put his hand in the rear door bin and came out with a handful of shattered glass!

After further investigation, and a few calls, it turned out my new car had been vandalised in the stock compound and both rear windows and the rear screen had been smashed. The people who cleaned it out forgot to vacuum the door bins.

Upon closer inspection I found a couple of tiny pieces of glass in the rear shelf speakers and a tiny cut in the rear seat leather. Plus, you can NEVER fully clear the glass out, the odd little piece would just appear for the whole life of the car.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by AndyEssex330d

If I had the time to collect from the Factory I'd seriously have to look at my priorities!
I've picked up a car with minor damage on the rear spoiler before, just had it repaired and dealer agreed to replace the spoiler or allow me to reject the car if I wished.
I think its more how the dealer deals with you as the customer and the damage, honesty and transparency goes so far in awkward and sometimes heated situations like that, It is only when the dealer is so far up themselves or don't 'care' about you as the customer is when it can get shitty. VW springs to mind...never met a manufacturer whos dealerships seem to only employ bellends!

In my experience the dealership experience is absolutely nothing to do with the brand, it's the management and training. I've been in awful BMW dealerships and really good ones, same with VW and Audi.

Jaguar just the same, Sturgess in Leicester are fantastic, give the best service cars I've ever had......but Sheffield Jaguar sucks.

The worst dealership experience I've ever had was Land Rover in Chesterfield. Went in to test drive a Freelander a few years ago with the wife. She was looking to buy her first SUV that week, with test drives booked there, BMW and Volvo. The salesman asked if we were in a position to buy that day if we liked the Freelander. I honestly said no, we were trying two others and were then going to make a quick decision. After checking with management the salesman refused us the test drive. Surely it is better to get someone behind the wheel and try and sell. BMW in contrast let us take an X3 for a day.

[Lux700]

I get it... it's just too far out of the box for it to be possible. Why am I not surprised?

You'd think that the BMW experience would be made consistent

[njc]

You do have the option to have the car delivered direct to your Home address from the vehicle receiving centre rather than the dealership. By doing this there is one less involved in the physical handling of your car. Your vehicle is delivered in an enclosed HGV and the driver does the handover including demonstrating how things work.

My seats were still in the protective covering as were the carpets and steering wheel.

I have done this twice now and even had one delivered to my work address - which they wouldn't normally do, but because they were 1 day late and I couldn't get out of work, they agreed to it.

No doubt your dealership will probably say no it can't be done - you've paid the delivery cost, they definitely can.

I've attached a couple of photos of the type of vehicle they delivered my previous F11 in.

[vorph]

Originally Posted by moff

Yep it's just ridiculous that we can't do factory collection

You can, just bit of drive.

[AndyEssex330d]

Originally Posted by Alex440

In my experience the dealership experience is absolutely nothing to do with the brand, it's the management and training. I've been in awful BMW dealerships and really good ones, same with VW and Audi.

Jaguar just the same, Sturgess in Leicester are fantastic, give the best service cars I've ever had......but Sheffield Jaguar sucks.

The worst dealership experience I've ever had was Land Rover in Chesterfield. Went in to test drive a Freelander a few years ago with the wife. She was looking to buy her first SUV that week, with test drives booked there, BMW and Volvo. The salesman asked if we were in a position to buy that day if we liked the Freelander. I honestly said no, we were trying two others and were then going to make a quick decision. After checking with management the salesman refused us the test drive. Surely it is better to get someone behind the wheel and try and sell. BMW in contrast let us take an X3 for a day.

Yh I agree, I picked out VW as I haven't had a positive experience with them at a couple of different companies too, and also had a business to business experience with a particular group go quite sour, all due to the hypocrisy of the FD there, so maybe am a little biased.

BMW generally very good, your experience with Audi is shocking, I'd be fuming! My experience with Land Rover was the complete opposite!

[JD6]

Originally Posted by Chasdrury

You used to be able to do it on international transfer plates - a guy on the Audi forums picked up a string of A8/RS6 etc. When he got it back it had to goto the dealers to be register d etc

I have done this twice as well with a new RHD 540i in 1998 and an M5 in 2000 from dealers in Germany and Belgium. Both times the car was put on a temporary plate and I registered it in the UK once I had paid the VAT. I assume this is still possible.

I collected them both on December 20th, which allows you to register it in the UK as January 1st the next year. There was quite a procession of quick cars making their way back to the UK on that day.

[moff]

Originally Posted by JD6

I have done this twice as well with a new RHD 540i in 1998 and an M5 in 2000 from dealers in Germany and Belgium. Both times the car was put on a temporary plate and I registered it in the UK once I had paid the VAT. I assume this is still possible.

I collected them both on December 20th, which allows you to register it in the UK as January 1st the next year. There was quite a procession of quick cars making their way back to the UK on that day.

Ahhh the days of the weak euro and strong pound. I picked up and Audi S3 in 2001 from a Dutch dealer for 20% lower than the U.K. price.