I have mentioned it on here before, even in the thread of posts about this car, but I am an anxious person. I have made a lot of progress over the past two years. I meditate every day, I exercise almost everyday, I go to therapy every week. I’m putting in the work. All of that combined with the arrival of my infant daughter has really softened a lot of hard edges in my life. A year or two ago, I wouldn’t have been able to even entertain the idea of wiring a bunch of money to a stranger in Europe for a car from 1975. But hear I am.
Even with all of that progress it will always be something I have to manage, and there are times that I simply cannot control worrying.
The seller has been a fantastic communicator and very transparent. The same can be said for the shipping company who was worked with the seller previously. The seller has responded quickly to every email that I have sent, right up until last Friday. He said “Ok, I got it thanks.” Referring to the wire. I responded two minutes later asking him if a particular date worked for pickup...Nothing. A few minutes later I sent another message (if only to prompt a response). “Also how would you like to handle shipping the documents to me?” Still nothing.
I got through Friday night on the notion that Europe is different, particularly in Holland/Amsterdam. They keep business to business hours. “Maybe that email was the last thing he did on Friday and packed it up for the weekend.” I told myself. Knowing the culture I didn’t bother him over the weekend, but internally I spiraled...
My brain: “Bro, you just wired this guy thousands of dollars. Wired! You idiot!” No escrow, no insurance. You are figgity-fucked if he decides that he wants to keep his car and your money.”
Me: “No dawg, it’s fine he’s a fellow enthusiast, he’s even sold another car on BaT. He has been very accommodating this whole time. I’m sure he just values his time off.”
My brain: “Okay bro, exactly what a super specific ripoff artist would say to get you to send the money, and who’s to say he didn’t rip off that other person too?”
Me: “C’mon dawg, that’s crazy talk”
My brain: Is it?”
Me:
That was just the beginning. I worried all weekend. We had our crew’s Friendsgiving on Saturday, and everyone was asking about the car. I was almost reluctant to show pictures because I was worried about jinxing the whole situation. My wife could see my condition and handed my the baby and a beer. The baby had a nap on me for 40 minutes or so and I forgot all about it for a while. When I get a smile or a snuggle from her I give 0 fucks about anything besides my family.
Then we get home, baby goes to bed and I do my best to distract myself hanging with the dogs, but I’m back to thinking that I’ve just given away thousands of dollars.
This all culminated to another car related nightmare where the seller and shipper went radio silent. BaT would not help me. So I took a flight to Holland to try and file a police report. When I got there no one would talk to me and it was virtually impossible to get in touch with the police. I woke up, shook it off and quickly grabbed my phone expecting that I would have an email from the seller at this point...Nope!
I did however have an email from the BMW group. I had reached out to them to see if they could give me the exact date of manufacture as it’s good to have for the customs documents. I didn’t really expect them to get back to me, but they did!
“Your BMW was manufactured on May 02nd, 1975 and delivered on May 05th, 1975 to Belgium. The original colour was Jadegrün, paint code 078.”
So cool!
Right after that I got consecutive emails from the seller, and shipping company. Shipping company picks up from the seller on Thanksgiving. When it arrives at the port I get connect with the shipping company to fill out all of the paperwork. It should arrive stateside around 12/20! The seller responded saying the same thing and that he would mail out the title and service records this week.
I’m still a little nervous about the whole import process, but I fell a lot better than I did an hour ago!
Happy Monday! I hope it’s a short week for everyone!