The answer is: BMW European Delivery. The European Delivery (ED) is a program offered by BMW North America that allows US Citizens and US Residents to pick up their car in Munich, Germany and enjoy driving it throughout Europe while on vacation.
You can drive your new car in Europe for 14 days (or as long as six months with add-on insurance and registration). If you car is financed or leased through the BMW Financial Services must be exported within 90 days. BMW then ships it as a “used” vehicle, thereby avoiding the steep duties usually levied against imported cars.
I’m going to focus this article on how to save money on the purchase of your new BMW.
BMW offers about 7% off the suggested base U.S. retail price on almost its entire line of automobiles. The only exceptions are the Z4 and the X5 which are built in Spartanburg, SC and the M3 car which has no discount when you pick it up in Europe.
Price reductions with European delivery on 2006-2007 BMWs range from around $2,600 off the lowest model to $7,000 off the highest-priced model. In addition to the discounted base price, costs include standard destination and handling charges ($645 for our car) and the price of optional equipment. There are no discounts on options. All prices include standard U.S. equipment but not federal, state or local taxes.
BMW has a lower invoice base price for European Delivery cars. You can usually find the invoice pricing on edmunds.com, among other places, look for the Confidential Wholesale Price page, find the “Base Price Euro Delivery Price Munich Pick Up” price for the car you want. The invoice price is the amount a dealer claims that’s the base price of the car before they take a profit. With other manufacturers, you can compute a wholesale cost, which is invoice cost, minus holdbacks, dealer rebates, etc., but BMW doesn’t do this. Usually you have to subscribe to a service, like Consumer Reports to discover the wholesale cost, but because of BMW’s sales policy, the invoice cost is all you need. Another price saver is that the BMW European Delivery does not incur the MACO advertising fee, or any other fee other than delivery, taxes and licenses.
There are other savings that you are getting, such as flight tickets. BMW had partnered with Lufthansa Airline, to offer a special 2 for 1 deal all year round. So, basically, you are paying for one ticket and you’re getting the second ticket free, or almost free, since you only have to pay taxes on it.
Another incentive that BMW offers, are the BMW factory tours in Munich which should be one of your trip’s highlights. Free two- to three-hour tours in English are offered Mondays and Fridays and must be reserved four to six weeks prior to departure from the United States.
