[PMBM2]

How soon does an allocation come? How do you get notified of an allocation? I signed up for my bmw garage but needs a vin.

First new car ever. The m2 is mostly stock, I did not want a carbon fiber roof or any of the driver aids.

6speed Portimao Blue with black wheels, m color seats and non carbon fiber trim. Im on the east coast. I will obviously back out if I have to pay tariffs

[Bimmer Frank]

Your dealer should have told you what month the allocation was for, if it was end of February it likely would be an April allocation, or if they're a low volume dealer, they may not have allocations each month and put you on a waiting list. If they had available March or new April allocations, they should be able to give you an order number right away as well as build week. If you're on a wait list, I'd advise finding a different dealer.

[PMBM2]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Frank

Your dealer should have told you what month the allocation was for, if it was end of February it likely would be an April allocation, or if they're a low volume dealer, they may not have allocations each month and put you on a waiting list. If they had available March or new April allocations, they should be able to give you an order number right away as well as build week. If you're on a wait list, I'd advise finding a different dealer.

They said I was priority one allocation, something about deposit received. “Waiting for allocation” They are the number 2 dealer in a 25 mile radius in a city of about 100k people

[Mech Spec]

If you don't have an allocation yet you've probably ordered a 2026 model

[LateBrake8]

Have you considered asking the dealership? You know, the people you ordered the car from?

If they gave you a production number you can also call the BMW Genius hotline.

[Bimmer Frank]

Originally Posted by PMBM2

They said I was priority one allocation, something about deposit received. “Waiting for allocation” They are the number 2 dealer in a 25 mile radius in a city of about 100k people

If you don't have an production number, your allocation is imaginary. They can give it to someone else who spends more money than you and jerk you around until they are ready to order your car.

An allocation indicates the build month. Dealers get their allocations the last week of the month for the month after the one about to start. It's rare they will have an allocation for the subsequent month, because if they don't use them, they will get less allocations.

There might be a dealer who still has March allocations right now for example - this is unlikely however, and more likely that you might still be able to find an April allocation (car would be built in April and likely would not get to US before May).

They should at least give you the courtesy of telling you approximately which month their next available allocation will be based on their historical allocations.

I paid msrp for my car when I found a dealer that told me exactly how it worked and had just gotten their allocations for the month after the next month - I got a production number immediately and knew which build week I had. In my case I placed my order on Dec 21st for a February allocation and I got a build week of 6 (Feb 7th). I received the production number the evening of same day I ordered.

This was after I had visited a couple of dealers that had the nebulous bs you're now dealing with. "Oh, we have this spreadsheet here and you would be 3rd on the list and we'd be able to order in 3-4 months" - no thank you.

Edit: Apparently the cars are price protected as long as the Production date is before May, so if it's an April allocation it technically shouldn't be tariffed, but as someone pointed out in the other thread, that doesn't prevent dealers from putting dealer markups.

[CactusDweller]

Priority 1 is the order type for a customer order, as opposed to one a dealer orders to park on their lot.

I placed an order with my dealership on 30 January. They didn't have any allocations available at the time, but said I would get one in February. I was given an allocation on 25 February. BMW NA accepted the order and I received a production number. The allocation is for build week 14, last week of March/first week of April. I placed a deposit once the allocation was available.

The allocations are at the whim of the dealership. Your order can be put in the system without an allocation but it sits in the BMW NA system with no action until assigned an allocation by the dealership. Then BMW NA schedules a production date.

[Mike Honcho]

Originally Posted by PMBM2

How soon does an allocation come? How do you get notified of an allocation? I signed up for my bmw garage but needs a vin.

What is the status on BMW garage? Seems like I'm in a similar location to you. For reference, I put down my deposit late September, got an allocation by December and a week 3 build. It really all just depends on timing

[PMBM2]

Originally Posted by LateBrake8

Have you considered asking the dealership? You know, the people you ordered the car from?

If they gave you a production number you can also call the BMW Genius hotline.

He told me I should probably get the car in three months. I suspect I may get jerked around considering I got $1700 off msrp

That said, between family and friends we’ve ordered 5 new cars from this dealership and salesperson over the last year or so

[PMBM2]

Originally Posted by Mike Honcho

What is the status on BMW garage? Seems like I'm in a similar location to you. For reference, I put down my deposit late September, got an allocation by December and a week 3 build. It really all just depends on timing

Can’t see anything without a vin

[Mike Honcho]

Originally Posted by PMBM2

Can’t see anything without a vin

If you have a production number, your allocation has been accepted and you can use that on the BMW garage website. I just thought you had it if you signed up for BMW Garage

[Mech Spec]

Do you guys read the thread?

He said the dealer doesn't even have an allocation yet.

[ednir98]

My order took about 4 months from allocation to delivery. Unless BMW fast-tracks US orders to beat the deadline or something you'd be unlikely to take delivery in time. I'd ride it out and see what happens, I'm sure a lot will change policy-wise between now and May.

[G87inJAX]

Originally Posted by Mech Spec

Do you guys read the thread?

He said the dealer doesn't even have an allocation yet.

This. If you have a good relationship with this dealership and they’ve put your stated below MSRP price in writing for you and signed it, I doubt they’re going to jerk you around. You just need some clear communication. Go back to your Client Advisor and ask how many other customers they currently have on their wait list waiting for an allocation to come in, or if you’re next.

I’ve been in this situation twice, both times with the same dealership who didn’t have any allocations immediately available when I placed my order. In spring of 2023 I was told I was #15 on their wait list and it could be a year or more until they got an allocation. In January of this year with the same dealership, I submitted an order, was next in line for an allocation and I got it about a week and a half later. I also had a fairly simple build. Not an individual color, no carbon buckets. It took around a month and a half from the time I got the allocation until the time the car arrived at the US port of entry and cleared customs.

[techwhiz1]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Frank

If you don't have an production number, your allocation is imaginary. They can give it to someone else who spends more money than you and jerk you around until they are ready to order your car.

An allocation indicates the build month. Dealers get their allocations the last week of the month for the month after the one about to start. It's rare they will have an allocation for the subsequent month, because if they don't use them, they will get less allocations.

There might be a dealer who still has March allocations right now for example - this is unlikely however, and more likely that you might still be able to find an April allocation (car would be built in April and likely would not get to US before May).

[...]

An allocation does not include a definite build month.

An allocation means they have agreed to build a car with a targeted date. Parts availability will affect that date. Currently carbon buckets are delaying build.

Individual paint adds 8-12 weeks due to batching enough cars to exhaust a drum of paint. Also all hanging parts are painted by hand on individual cars.

You only know you are close when status changes to "scheduled for production" and even then you can get dropped back to "order received".

No build week is definitive until they assign a VIN.

[Bimmer Frank]

Originally Posted by techwhiz1

An allocation does not include a definite build month.

An allocation means they have agreed to build a car with a targeted date. Parts availability will affect that date. Currently carbon buckets are delaying build.

Individual paint adds 8-12 weeks due to batching enough cars to exhaust a drum of paint. Also all hanging parts are painted by hand on individual cars.

You only know you are close when status changes to "scheduled for production" and even then you can get dropped back to "order received".

No build week is definitive until they assign a VIN.

Agreed that individual colors and bucket seats for example can delay production. In this case he states that he has a very standard build, which should not be affected.

The point is that the last week of each month BMW assigns allocations to all of its dealers depending on how well they use them up over time.

Most dealerships get 1-2 allocations per month but higher volume dealers can get 3-4. Low volume dealers may only get 1 every 2 months.

The allocation is for a build date for the month after the next one. So at the end of March they will be handing out allocations for May build dates. This is where with your special colors you might not get built in May, but that is the allocation you used up for that dealer nonetheless.

Once the dealer has used up their allocations, they can then put you on a wait list, which is what it sounds like has happened here, and then assign new allocations as they get them to the people on the waitlist. This is the part that I didn't want to deal with, too much room for the dealer to jerk you around on this 'wait list'.

The point is, even if your order gets delayed, you used up an allocation for a specific month that the dealer had and you got a production number right away, which you can put in My Garage to then track your order.

[Hybridizer]

Originally Posted by PMBM2

They said I was priority one allocation, something about deposit received. “Waiting for allocation” They are the number 2 dealer in a 25 mile radius in a city of about 100k people

That is what the order will say on it when they put it into the system. Other than there best guess based on knowing there volume and routine, there is nothing firm for you.

But I will tell you they are pretty good at knowing when the allocation will come in. Mine was with a smaller volume place but I was first in line, sometimes they can trade an allocation if they have a relationship with another dealership, but they wont do that unless they just have an allocation sitting un grabbed.

You won't have an allocation or start the build time line until you get a VIN. Based on your order time frame, my best guess would be April you could start hoping for movement. But again not even your dealership will be able to give you a solid answer, other than past experience. They will likely reach out to you once the have an allocation come in to make sure your good with the spec sheet they put in for you, then you should get a vin in a couple weeks to start the fun watch the phone\update process.

I backed out of my order because all this yo-yo'ing tariff impact got me two nervous and I opted for a low mile 24 spec that I found used that had the must have's I wanted. I'll survive without heads up or heated steering wheel.

Good Luck! Hope you you update us soon.

[Hybridizer]

Originally Posted by PMBM2

How soon does an allocation come? How do you get notified of an allocation? I signed up for my bmw garage but needs a vin.

First new car ever. The m2 is mostly stock, I did not want a carbon fiber roof or any of the driver aids.

6speed Portimao Blue with black wheels, m color seats and non carbon fiber trim. Im on the east coast. I will obviously back out if I have to pay tariffs

The same question everyone is now asking there reps on the build process. I opted to jump out of my build spec request because I was tired of this strong arm game about tariff's. I just opted for a low mile 24 with my must have's vs my exact build.

I'm happy I did it, and I don't see things changing for the better for m2 builds from mexico anytime soon.