[vrrooom]

Some notes on Performance Center Delivery and comparisons with European Delivery, based upon my perceptions and experiences last week.
The Good
• The management and coordination of the experience during PCD is flawless. With 5 separate activities at the center there was never a wait, and staff was always waiting to pick up the group in the next phase – very superior to ED which has stops and starts.
• The vehicle orientation at the PCD is far superior to the simulator/here’s the car approach in Munich. My specialist actually spent our time wisely focusing on what was different in the X3 (since I owned 3 X3’s and a new 335) and did a great job pre-configuring the many computer system choices. – much more complete than the Welt process
• A full tank of gas (well almost) at the PCD. In Munich your first driving test is to find a gas station when you leave the Welt. – Big winner is the PCD; it was nice to hit the road after the program was finished.
• The on track experience was very good, there is nothing similar offered in Munich. It was great fun, at least for the driver, I suspect that it was not so much for the passengers, many looked a little green. This “on track experience” is the e reason for PCD- period and the instructors are fun loving pros.
• BMW PDC provides an airport pick up, hotel, meals at hotel and transportation to the center. Whereas the ED program rarely provides any of these, just a meal at the Welt restaurant, Gift shop voucher and snacks in the waiting area. The food at the center is very good as is the restaurant at the Welt. Big advantage to the PDC as the cost in Munich for the same services is hundreds of dollars.

The Bad (areas for improvement)
• Factory Tour – A private tour with a knowledgeable guide at the PCD vs. a public tour in Munich (only some tours are in English), but we were not able to see the state of the art X3 assembly building. The PDC is looking on how to conduct a tour of the X3 assembly operation. – Future Plan
• The “on track experience” provided attendees with cars like they were going to pick up. Really a nice touch, but no X3’s were available at this time. Close but no points --- Future Improvement
• Vehicle presentation at the Welt is truly spectacular, long staircase; your car is revolving in spotlights, and a photo by a professional photographer. PDC delivery presentation is similar to what you get at your local dealer. Advantage Welt but the PDC could change this.
• Delivery capacity of the PDC is restricted to up to 12 cars per day, depending on the mix of ED redeliveries and first deliveries. Additional capacity would require facilities/staff expansions and/or process changes such as eliminating deliveries for ED customers, using a computer to configure the car’s driver programmable variables and placing them on a USB stick. Something is sure to happen as PDC delivery is now being advertised for X3’s.

The Ugly
• Getting a delivery date at the PDC. For ED in Munich, you order the car and request a date, and within one week a confirmed date is provided by BMWNA (Corporate has an allocation for ED cars which they use for ED). Not so simple with PDC delivery, you order the car indicating a date when you would like to pick it up, the dealer may or may not have an allocation yet for builds two months forward or worse may not get an allocation if they are not selling a particular model well. The dealer configures an allocated vehicle then requests your date, and the PDC will respond with a date that is available when the vehicle is scheduled for production status 112. Bottom line, your chances of getting your original date are slim to none unless the stars, allocations, delivery slots at the center are perfectly aligned. What are the implications to the customer of this, it is way easier to schedule ED than PDC. In my case the PDC uncertainty from order date to firm date cost me $600 in airfare increases, something BMW could easily avoid if there were corporate allocations like ED associated with PDC which could be committed to customers.

I enjoyed the experience and would do it again with open eyes this time.

[Marmik]

Thanks for taking the time to so clearly describe the PDC experience and compare to ED.

[LEDZEP]

Good writeup, thanks. I had to abort my desire to do PCD this time around (again). Mostly due to the scheduling dilema. Agree this could be greatly improved, or at the very least much better communicated. It's still on my wish list though.

[tuco44]

Thanks to the OP for the post, sounds great. Wish we Canucks could access this service like our US cousins.