Help Needed: Saddle Brown

[jerseyeagle]

I need a favor -- if you were able to order Saddle Brown for your X5 in the US, can you please send me the name of your dealer and the process they followed to place the order.

I have an X ready to be ordered, but my dealer is having trouble submitting LUD3 (Saddle Brown) as the interior code.

Thanks!

[rh71]

resurrecting this thread... I've been to 3 dealers ready to place an order but none of them can commit to this saddle brown... can we get specific instructions for what they need to do... or at least the proper phone number?

[jerseyeagle]

My dealer tried a variety of things and it turned out the process was relatively simple...

Process (for us)

1. Electronically submit order using any interior code.
2. Contact Regional Sales Rep and have them override the system with LUD3 as the interior code

The key is having a relentless SA...our guy went above and beyond even when BMWNA and other dealers in the area were of little assistance.

Once the order is submitted and you have a production number, you can confirm the interior via the Owner's Circle.

Hope this helps....

[proveg]

Originally Posted by rh71

resurrecting this thread... I've been to 3 dealers ready to place an order but none of them can commit to this saddle brown... can we get specific instructions for what they need to do... or at least the proper phone number?

lolol...
Call up Life quality Bay Ridge, I will PM you specifics...
Also, I am sure there were few jersey dealers that got that setup for their customers.

[rodybmw]

My dealer ordered the car in Tobacco (my second choice) and once it was in the system he called BMW NA and asked them to manually change the Tobacco to Saddle Brown. Normally the BMW NA rep should be able to do that, but on that day the computer system was having problems, so my dealer and the BMW NA rep did a conference call with a rep at Munich who was able to enter the required change to Saddle Brown from there. Even though the E70 is produced in the US, BMW's computer system mainframe is still in Munich and all orders are routed through there and back to South Carolina.

Barring any computer problems at BMW the BMW NA rep should be able to do the change. Again, your dealer has to place the order with one of the available interior colors FIRST, before it can be changed to Saddle Brown. I suggest that you have your dealer pick a car from his allocation that is scheduled for production a couple of weeks from the time he is placeing the order so that there is time to change the interior before the order is locked down. In the interest of getting me the car faster my dealer had initially ordered the first available allocation E70, but by the time BMW tried to change it from Tobacco to Saddle Brown the BMW system had already locked in the car and would not allow any changes. So while on that conference call they ordered another car with the same configuration which had a scheduled production date a week later, that way they could go back in the system and change it to Saddle Brown.

By the way, now my dealer is stuck with that car that was ordered first and was locked down before they could change it to Saddle Brown.........it should be coming in a few days before ours.

One thing the BMW NA rep told my dealer is that she thought BMW will soon be adding Saddle Brown to the list of standard US interiors which can then be ordered the normal way by just clicking on that choice. She said she was reasonably confident of that fact, although not 100% sure.

[Investor]

My ordering process was the same as rodybmw. Ordered Deep Green with Tobacco and once in the system call was made to change to Saddle Brown. Confirmed on Owner's Circle. I have had the car three weeks with over 2500 miles on it and loving every mile. Glad I got the Saddle Brown. Good Luck.